Racism In Fruitvale Station

The 2013 Ryan Coogler directed movie, Fruitvale Station, was a drama movie in which detailed the life of Oscar Grant. An African American man who was gunned down by police on New Year’s in 2009. Grant, along with friends, were at the center of an incident in which law enforcement was called to Fruitvale Station, a subway station in Oakland, California. Many people recorded the shooting, which also shown Grant lying face down, already arrested, and unarmed. The resulting outcome was series of riots and protests throughout the country. The following review that I will be doing will cover a question asked in our class, “how does this movie represent Black culture?” I also will be talking about the different schemas that are presented throughout the movie, and how it ties back to the Black culture portrayal in the film. I will also incorporate how readings from Entman and Rojecki (2000), and Squires (2009), help describe the tones set in Fruitvale Station.
Watching the movie, it is I admit a tough cookie to swallow at first. Regarding the movie itself, I noticed that this movie deals with society would label as a “typical” life of Black man. Gant is seen as a down and out thug-looking guy who struggles to live right, even having a past with …show more content…
More negative depictions for our culture? More unnecessary schemas so that we can always be seen as the bad guys? Yes, the movie shows Oscar being brutalized, but his past and the way he carries himself is ultimately used against him, and is the unfortunate truth with every person of color, I feel. The picture that arises from this film is a young man with a troubled past and a number of strikes against him, who strives to have a better life, but his past ends up being his downfall. This is the case for millions of Blacks everywhere, and we must work to end this