Artistic Apathy

A Commentary On Menace II Society (1993)

Warning: *spoilers ahead*

The film Menace II Society takes place in the city of Watts during the 1990s. The riots are over, drugs have made their way into neighborhoods and now gangs and violence wreak havoc in the streets. It’s the perfect portrayal of the American nightmare. A haunting tale about the cycles of poverty and violence that grip neighborhoods all across America. This movie is still relevant today, covering major issues in the urban black community which are explored throughout.

The opening scene gets right to the nitty gritty when O-Dog and Caine walk into a store hoping to buy beer and end up involved in a crime scene.

Such seems to be the life of poor Caine who from a young age saw death and corruption around him. His father was a drug dealer and his mother was a drug addict. Needless to say they didn’t play a very active role in his life. He’s sent to live with his religious grandparents, who just can’t seem to get through to him. His grandfather even asking him if he cares whether he lives or dies. Caine is deep in the streets. Has been ever since he came out on that stoop when he was young and got initiated by Pernell.

Pernell brought him up on the G code but was absent in his life when he got sent to prison.

Caine manages to graduate high school. An extraordinary feat for someone like him. Everything seems rosy for a while but as others would be knee deep in books, Caine is getting knee deep in the streets. He gets involved in a cycle of hatred and violence so hopeless and never ending. Violence being a common theme in the movie portrayed in a gruesome, raw, and unfiltered way. Caine and his comrades are desensitized to violence. As a result they have no problem taking a life or parading around a stolen tape of a murder they were involved in.

I just knew I could kill somebody. If I had to I could do it again. – Caine

This is the environment that Caine is growing up in. After going to a house party, him and his cousin have an altercation that lands him in the hospital and his cousin dead. Caine is lucky to be alive. This isn’t the first time he ends up in the hospital either. The difference this time is that he came close to dying. You would think Caine would turn over a new leaf after coming so close to death. Still, he can be seen watching old gangster movies in the hospital room. One of many foreshadowings in the film.

Another one being when later in the movie, the son of Caine’s love interest, Anthony, asks if Caine is going to die.

Caine even ends up in jail albeit for a short period of time. This still isn’t enough to set him on the straight and narrow. They bring him in for questioning. In the interrogation room we can see two types of light coming through the windows. On one side there’s red. Which could easily signify peril, doom, fatality and on the other, a brighter more lighter shade. Caine is at a crossroads for most of his life.

There are many voices of reason throughout the movie. Sharif, one of his closest buddies is a converted muslim and very pro-black. He doesn’t want Caine to go down the wrong path. And although he’s different from Caine and the rest of them, he’s kept throughout the movie. Caine even narrates as someone who sounds like they are reflecting on their choices. There are subliminal messages throughout the movie as well.

Another voice of reason is Ronnie or Pernell’s girlfriend. Ronnie sobered up after having Anthony. The connection between Caine and Ronnie is more than Pernell however. There’s love interest brewing here too. Caine gets even more-so attached via her son Anthony who is exactly like him when he was younger. Anthony is meant to symbolize Caine in a lot of ways. We even see things come full circle when Anthony comes out on the porch to hang with the grown folks much like Caine when he was younger.

No father, growing up in the hood without a role model. In the movie Caine is being asked to step up and be a man, if not for Anthony then for himself.

This movie’s core theme seems to be cycles in the urban communities. Caine is just being the way he was brought up to be and Anthony is mirroring what’s in the environment around him. There’s a certain street code you follow and that often leads to more violence. Caine is provided with an out on various occasions. Eventually he accepts to go away with Ronnie to Atlanta although reluctantly only to end up another victim. In a tragic irony, he does leave the life but not in the way we had hoped. Sharif is shot dead as well as Caine. Leaving O-Dog to grapple with the reality and possibly continue the cycle of violence.

The theme comes full circle with this quote as Caine narrates:

I guess in the end it catches up to you. My grandfather asked me one time if I care whether I live or die. Yeah I do and now it’s too late.

The final words at the end convict the viewer and cause them to reflect on all the past events that led to this young man’s fatal demise. It seemed like he was doomed to repeat his mistakes or suffer the consequences for his actions from the very beginning.

Yo Soy

I sometimes forget to screw the cap back on the toothpaste

I always watch Netflix with subtitles on whether or not it’s in my native language

My phone is the first thing I check when I wake up

I like going on long walks by myself

I like my water cold, not room temperature

I like listening to strangers’ problems

I like my coffee almost black

Money is a nice commodity but it’s not what I’m after

I like being the most well dressed person in the room

One of my pet peeves is when people don’t clean up after themselves

Another one of my pet peeves is when people think they’re smarter than me

I place everything in my room in a coordinated way, nothing out of place

Yo Soy.

Mood

Now I’ve already told you and I’ll tell you again.

How many times do we have to do this go around before you get it?

Who knows. It seems like we’ve been in this same position for some time. Waiting for the growth to begin but what exactly details growth? What exactly are we looking for and what meets the criteria? And can this come about by simple exertion?

These are the questions that need answers but while we wait, still something has to be done about the current situation.

There is no guide, no compass that points north. We do the best with what we have. We do the best with the knowledge that we have. But then that is when you need more knowledge. But when does knowledge become too much knowledge and actual action is required on your part?

Life is too tormenting to figure out everything by oneself. Some things need to happen to advance the plot forward.

The Hole

You could get as high as you want to and not fix the hole.

You can drink to your hearts’ content and not fix the hole.

You can eat an entire plate of nachos and not fix the hole.

You could have sex with 1,000 strangers and not fill the hole.

Everyday, moving onto the next thing. Always wondering what is next. What will come afterward and will it be better than before?

But no matter what happens, the hole remains.

The hole can’t be fixed by simple pleasures. It’s in need of a much larger remedy.

No purpose to be fulfilled. Aimless wandering, a life devoid of meaning and satisfaction. How grueling it gets when you don’t even know who you are for a fact!

Identity issues on top of identity issues. Insecurity. Instability. Doubt. Fear. Paranoia. Settling in… it’s creeping in, making its home.

Outside is beautiful but none of it feels real. Your self absorption has made you unable to take in simple beauty.

What a chore life can be when living like this.

No one is there for you when you need them. No when is there for you how you want them to be. Nothing seems right to you.

You can’t point at one thing and say it’s going well for you. The one thing you had the greatest expectations for let you down.

So then now what? When everything is crumbling down, where will you run? Who will you run to?…

The Authenticity of Lady Bird

Warning : spoilers will abound

Last night I sat down and watched Ladybird for the first time. And I might say I’m impressed. Being a sucker for nostalgia that I am this movie was strangely a time pod back to the past, taking us all the way to the year 2002. A year I barely remember as I must have been six years old but still strangely familiar. I’m talking indie rock bands, passing notes in class, failed exams, oh, and trying to be popular!

Yes Ladybird has it all and it follows an adolescent schoolgirl named Christine who goes by the name Ladybird. A name she’s given herself to identify herself. A way of creating her stamp on the world. No doubt Ladybird is misguided and naive. She dreams of going away to college on the east coast. It’s a dream that sustains her throughout the movie.

Often though, to challenge her on these kinds of ideas is her mother, Marion. Ladybird has a gentle supporting father but a sometimes witchy, sometimes lovable mother. Some of us can relate to the whole good parent, bad parent thing. I think many seeing this relationship would think this is a typical mother-daughter relationship and I even found myself drawing parallels to my own life. However, I think the relationship that exists between these two in the movie borders on abuse.

Often her mother puts her down by insulting her intelligence and telling her she’s not fit to do this or that. I think the relationship is a lot more about control than anything else. That is why you see Ladybird manipulating people to get close to them. This must be learned behavior. Later Ladybird gets exposed as a fraud and it all comes crumbling down.

This world that we are seeing is way too real. Everything feels reminiscent of a time when all we had to do was worry about school. Everything about this movie feels shockingly familiar. Everything. Some even served as painful reminders of how cruel I could be. Like in one scene where Ladybird is ditching her best friend to fit in with the cool kids.

The only thing that made it all the more different was the catholic school setting. Which I still found somewhat familiar as I grew up going to catholic church. Everything else was right on the money in terms of what life was like back then.

One particular scene that floored me was when Ladybird had hid the fact that she had applied to schools on the east coast and her mom inadvertently finds out. Ladybird is on the verge of groveling and begging her mom for forgiveness saying “I shouldn’t have wanted more for myself.” It was particularly hard to watch and sets up the dynamic between them well.

In the end Ladybird goes off to college in the east coast and makes a mess of things. Finds herself looking for something familiar in a catholic church. Something that reminds her of home. She resorts to calling her mom and leaving her a voicemail and the movie ends with “I love you.”

I feel like love was a big theme in the movie. The love or lack thereof between Ladybird and Marion. Ladybird looking for love in different boyfriends. The love of friendship that she rekindled with her old best friend.

This movie was a sobering look at how we deal with relationships and the pain and torment that can come along with that. It was all too familiar in its setting but the setting wasn’t its focus. The focus was a person. The titular, Ladybird.

I recommend this movie for film lovers and especially people from ages 22-30. I think they will really enjoy this nostalgic blast from the past. I give it an 8/10.