In the article “Hertz, Don’t It?” Becoming Colorless and Staying Black in the Crossover of O. J. Simpson,” Leola Johnson and David Roediger juxtapose O. J. from the progressive movement in that tumultuous time of 1968.
Students, African Americans, Californians, and, to an unprecedented extent, athletes played central roles in the struggle of 1968. Thus Simpson’s glorious Saturday afternoons, his disdain for “politics,” his ability to socialize one moment with Bill Cosby and the next with John Wayne, and his smiling California and American dreaming stood out in sharp contrast to other televised images and realities of campuses, of the Bay area, of southern California, of black America, and of the world of sports (203).
Of major concern in the …show more content…
Police misconduct and the history of brutality and murder within the Black community was rampant in L.A. and other major cities. Blacks in the inner cities are intimately familiar with this history, and the documentary exposed it with the archives showing the black man killed with his pregnant wife in the car, the sister shot in the back over a delinquent utility bill. The choke holds where so many black men were killed by police and the controversy that enraged the community, and then police chief and his ridiculous statement about the anatomy of Blacks contributing to its ineffectiveness. All of the history reminded me of the issue with S.T.R.E.S.S., the killing unit that took the lives of so many young folks in Detroit. This history would have so much of an effect in the jury’s decision in the O. J. case. I did not realize until the Part 4 and 5 of Made in America, that one of the jurors was involved in the protests of the judge’s decision to give the Asian grocer who shot the young black woman over some orange juice in her store, probation. No person, as much as it is tried to be portrayed goes into any situation as a blank slate, with no preconceived ideas and prejudices. The idea of being a juror and just make determinations and decisions based on just the evidence is a …show more content…
American Crime Story was highlighted by Emmy award acting performances that focused on the murders and trial of Simpson, which was edited superbly, mixing actual film of some events with dramatization of most scenes. After being charged with the murders of his ex-wife Nicole and a waiter who was supposedly returning some lost glasses when both were murdered, Episode One “From the Ashes of Tragedy” shows O. J. (Cuba Gooding Jr.) setting off a chain of events that would be a movie in itself. The major difference in content shown with the ESPN film, in American Crime Story there were only references to his sports career and some historical content showing the Rodney King incident, and the L.A riots after the acquittal of the police officers. Episode One delves into the murder case of Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman, and opening after the historical piece, with the dog with the bloody paws at the murder scene, captured me as a viewer immediately. Exquisite use of the camera angles, using close-ups, panning, and transitional fade in and out, blended in with actual footage of the crime scene made me feel I was present at the gate of the Brentwood home. Once the actors start to make their appearances, the level of acting is established for
Students, African Americans, Californians, and, to an unprecedented extent, athletes played central roles in the struggle of 1968. Thus Simpson’s glorious Saturday afternoons, his disdain for “politics,” his ability to socialize one moment with Bill Cosby and the next with John Wayne, and his smiling California and American dreaming stood out in sharp contrast to other televised images and realities of campuses, of the Bay area, of southern California, of black America, and of the world of sports (203).
Of major concern in the …show more content…
Police misconduct and the history of brutality and murder within the Black community was rampant in L.A. and other major cities. Blacks in the inner cities are intimately familiar with this history, and the documentary exposed it with the archives showing the black man killed with his pregnant wife in the car, the sister shot in the back over a delinquent utility bill. The choke holds where so many black men were killed by police and the controversy that enraged the community, and then police chief and his ridiculous statement about the anatomy of Blacks contributing to its ineffectiveness. All of the history reminded me of the issue with S.T.R.E.S.S., the killing unit that took the lives of so many young folks in Detroit. This history would have so much of an effect in the jury’s decision in the O. J. case. I did not realize until the Part 4 and 5 of Made in America, that one of the jurors was involved in the protests of the judge’s decision to give the Asian grocer who shot the young black woman over some orange juice in her store, probation. No person, as much as it is tried to be portrayed goes into any situation as a blank slate, with no preconceived ideas and prejudices. The idea of being a juror and just make determinations and decisions based on just the evidence is a …show more content…
American Crime Story was highlighted by Emmy award acting performances that focused on the murders and trial of Simpson, which was edited superbly, mixing actual film of some events with dramatization of most scenes. After being charged with the murders of his ex-wife Nicole and a waiter who was supposedly returning some lost glasses when both were murdered, Episode One “From the Ashes of Tragedy” shows O. J. (Cuba Gooding Jr.) setting off a chain of events that would be a movie in itself. The major difference in content shown with the ESPN film, in American Crime Story there were only references to his sports career and some historical content showing the Rodney King incident, and the L.A riots after the acquittal of the police officers. Episode One delves into the murder case of Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman, and opening after the historical piece, with the dog with the bloody paws at the murder scene, captured me as a viewer immediately. Exquisite use of the camera angles, using close-ups, panning, and transitional fade in and out, blended in with actual footage of the crime scene made me feel I was present at the gate of the Brentwood home. Once the actors start to make their appearances, the level of acting is established for