John Singleton creates harrowing and captivating tales about black life in the United States.
Yesterday, I talked about Antoine Fuqua, a black director known more for his movies than his ethnicity. John Singleton is sort of the anti-Fuqua. I don’t mean that to disparage Singleton’s career. Quite contrary, I find it incredibly impressive that Singleton has become so successful making such unapologetically black movies. He’s perhaps best known for Boyz in the Hood (1991), but some of his other works include Higher Learning (1995), Rosewood (1997), and Shaft (2000). Most recently, he directed an episode of the hit TV series Empire.
Singleton’s movies tend to profile, in great and agonizing detail, aspects of the black experience in the United States. Higher Learning deals with racism, implicit and explicit, on American college campuses. Rosewood tells a somewhat-fictionalized account of the 1923 Rosewood Massacre in Florida in which a black town was devastated by violence. Singleton’s films are grim, realistic, poetic, and, when they’re at their best, difficult to watch.
TL;DR
- John Singleton directed Boyz in the Hood.
- Singleton’s work stares racism in the face and doesn’t blink.
What You Should Do Now:
- Watch Boyz in the Hood. (Not my favorite of his films but a classic in his filmography)
- Watch Higher Learning and Rosewood.
- Pick one more movie by a black director to watch this week.
28 Days of Inspirational Black People:
1) Ed Brooke
2)Blanche Bruce
3)Andrew Young
4)Denys Cowan
5)Antoine Fuqua
Photo — Flickr/ Urbanworld Film Festival
A lot of people who are not of African descent have no idea why Singleton’s approach to black culture is important. But I think it’s important to bring the black experience to a more personal level to those who can’t relate. Most of my friends during the 1990’s were black. I remember sleeping over their apartments doing their hair, painting our nails, and talking about everything under the sun. Racial discussions only came up when a friend had a negative experience — or when talking about their hair 🙂 . If everyone had multi-racial friendships, there would be no need… Read more »