"Clockers", a movie by Spike Lee, 1995

Résumé du document

The movie ?Clockers' hit the theatres in 1995. The director, Spike Lee, was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on March 20th 1957. His mother, a schoolteacher and father, a jazz musician, raised him in Brooklyn, New York City. He graduated from Morehouse College in Atlanta before attending a graduate film program at the Tisch School of Arts. It is interesting to see that his movies often deal with urban and social issues. For instance, School Daze (1988) mainly took place in a "historically black school" whereas Do the Right Thing (the next year) was about racial issues in a Brooklyn neighborhood. Spike Lee is not only a talented director but has also produced different movies and is often eager to express his political views. The layout of the movie ?Clockers' is mostly in a black neighborhood of New York City where almost everyone that lives there is African American. The other ethnic groups are mostly outsiders and do not really belong to the studied community where the police inspectors are mainly white and the employers are Asian or Latin Americans.

Extraits

[...] He is not completely alienated by Rodney and his business. Moreover, some local initiatives seem to be interesting. André, the African American policeman is highly involved in the neighborhood life. He takes care of Strike and Tyrone and is deeply hurt by what he might interpret as failures”: Strike's activities and Tyrone's crime. André participates to the life of the community by organizing a judo or gymnastics club for children. He even asks Strike to provide him the necessary mattresses. Victor's mother is also an honest woman. [...]

[...] Beauregard, Voices of Decline, The Postwar Fate of U.S. Cities, Second Edition. Charles Murray, Destruction of Status Rewards,” in Losing Ground, American Social Policy, 1950-1980, p.188 Marvin Olasky, “Down the Drain?” in Renewing American Compassion, p.137 Michael B. Teitz and Karen Chapple, Causes of Inner-City Poverty: Eight Hypotheses in Search of Reality,” Cityscape William Julius Wilson, When Work Disappears, Ch “From Institutional to Jobless Ghettos,” Robert A. Beauregard, Voices of Decline, The Postwar Fate of U.S. Cities, Second Edition. Edward G. [...]

[...] However, he earns enough money to live decently and he has a hobby: model trains. He must earn much more than Victor since he is able to pay the five thousand dollars bail for his liberation. Victor, on the other hand, is honest. He has two jobs, which makes him work a lot for low wages. The conditions are quite stressing but his employers are glad of his work. He is seen as the “good and his family is very proud of him. [...]

[...] At ten years old, Tyrone already knows everything about crack and guns. His mother is also frightened for her child. She is frightened before the murder of Erroll because she does not want her son to hang out with young men who spend their afternoon in the park. She is even more frightened at the end of the movie when another crime is perpetrated in the park and she asks her son: know that I love you, Tyrone?” This scene is tragic since it tends to show that there is no hope for families who live there. [...]

[...] Tyrone is smart, he deserves more than a life of dealing and murdering. His school results are quite good and he should have been given an appropriate education. However, after the murder of Erroll, his life will be even harder as it was before. One can consider that the argument of deconcentration is omnipresent in the movie but giving an appropriate education to young people could also be done in the ghetto by improving public schools or the social rewards related to studies. [...]