FMS 394: Lesson 11

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Teens, race, and masculinity in the 1990s

• FMS 394 Lesson 11

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Guiding questions

• What is going on in the early 1990s (and the
  years leading up to that period) that shape
  discourses of race, youth, and masculinity?
• What are the patterns of representing black men
  that Boyz N the Hood disrupts?
• How does Singletons film demythologize tropes
  of black masculinity? What new representations
  does he offer? What are their strengths and
  limitations?

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Historical Context the 1990s

• The dramatic decline in black male life (Dyson,
  121)
• Black men as victims and villains
• Rodney King
• Rap Music and Resistance

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Representing black men

• Long history of stereotypes
• Symbolic annihilation
• Popular film vs. other media
• Cooley High (1975)

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Boyz n the hood (1991)

• Coming of age in the urban ghetto
• Specific NOT universal experience
• How is manhood defined? How does one achieve it?
• What are the limitations of this vision of
  masculinity?

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Next time on fms 394