Boyz N The Hood

    If you lived in a neighborhood where everyday, people died around you at the hands of the barrel of a gun, where to hear a gun shot while laying in bed at night was a normality, how would you react? Would you be frightened? If you were frightened, would you tell someone you were frightened at the risk of being called names or even looked down upon by others? The characters in the film Boyz N The Hood all put on a " tough guise " so they'd all be accepted by those around them.

     Let's take Doughboy. Even as a young boy we see him putting on a guise when he threatens to kill the guys who took his brother's football. You could tell he was scared by his facial expressions as the guys are kicking him on the ground, but instead of getting upset and crying, he gets up, dusts himself off and beings to walk away making a thousand threats against them under his breath. He continues this guise when he returns from prison as an adult. After the death of his brother Ricky, Doughboy didn't shed a single tear, but something about the way he picked up his brother's dead body showed me that he was indeed upset about what had happened. He didn't just throw his body in the car, he gently placed it in and once they returned home, Doughboy didn't ignore all the screaming and crying and leave, he volunteered to take Ricky's baby so he didn't have to see the tragedy. Through all this, Doughboy stayed calm with a straight face and no tears though it was somewhat apparent by his boy language such as clenched fists and biting at his lower lip told us that he wanted to but did not because he feared what his friends and family would thing if he started bawling like a baby infront of them.

     Though many of the characters showed us a " tough guise ", Trey was a whole different story. Trey was the only character out of the boys that we actually witnessed breaking down and crying in front of his girlfriend and friends. After crying in front of his girlfriend, Trey says " I never thought I'd cry in front of you in a million years." To this his girlfriend says " You can cry in front of me whenever you want." Later in the film, Trey breaks down in tears again after Ricky's shooting unlike the rest of his friends, yet after things were settled, his friends did not make fun of him or reject him or think any lower of him. They acted normally. Doughboy even came to comfort him. So what dies this say about men who put on a " tough guise "?

   I think this film shows us that a " tough guise " should never be needed. The one person of all the boys in this film that can truly be called a man is Trey for showing us how he felt about the events going on in his life. What good would our society or any form of society be if we all acted the same, dressed the same and spoke the same just to " fit in? " If we were not meant to show emotions, we would not have any. It's easy to fake a smile, but it takes a real man to show his frown an shed a tear. Trey shows us that showing your emotions, even when those around you do not, is okay. He shows us that not everyone will but you down for it. He breaks that cycle amongst his friends and comes out on top successful and still alive and that's what makes him a real man.