![]() |
Eminem as Bunny Rabbit in 8 Mile Movie |
The
movie was telling us about a young man named Jimmy Smith, J.R also known as
Bunny Rabbit who dreamed to be a success white rapper. He had several friends
which formed a rap crew together name Three One Third (313).
After
fired from his job in Little Caesars Café and lost the rap battle in The Shelter,
a club which usually holds a rap battle in Detroit, he moved back to his mother
mobile home at 8 Mile Road where’s the place dominated by black Detroit
neighborhoods and white middle class Oakland County and Macomb County Suburb.
At
home, he often faced with his alcoholic mother who loved playing bingo, fought
with his mother’s boyfriend who also lived there, yet he treated his little
sister gently and lovely. His broken home background seemed already made him
rude, rebel, and fearless especially when he was facing chaotic, he would turn
it into fight. It was compounded by their poor condition which made Jimmy had
to work as a blue-collar worker in an automatic factory. Despite all those terrible
circumstances, he determined to achieve his dream.
One
of his friend named Wink who worked as an employee in radio station offered Jimmy
to record his demo by using his connection while after then, Future, his best
friend, told Jimmy to follow the Rap Battle in Shelter next week in order to
revenge by competing against Tha Free World who was the enemy of Three on
Third. Future told Jimmy that if he could beat them and won the battle, it
would dignify his team and his own self, but Jimmy denied.
One
day he met with a girl name Alex that then became his girlfriend, yet their
relationship didn’t walk long because Alex was cheating with Wink. He
discovered them was having sex when he was about meeting a recording producer in
the Studio. Jimmy then beat up Wink then their friendship ended.
At
the same time, his friendship with Future was in no good as he has confronted
Future roughly because he didn’t want to follow the rap battle and Future
secretly registered Jimmy to. So did in the house, his mother blamed Jimmy because
the abandon of her boyfriend then he was quarreling with his mother and brought
Lily, his sister, to his neighbor.
He
fetched his sister and went home, but suddenly Papa Doc, the leader of Tha Free
World came with all his crew and Wink. He knew that trouble was coming, so he
told Lily to go inside the house. Wink and Tha Free World beat up Jimmy, Papa
Doc wanted to shoot Jimmy with Gun, but Wink prevented him.
On
Friday night, when Jimmy worked overtime Alex came to say goodbye as she was
going to New York for her career. She indirectly asked Jimmy to come to the
Shelter where the rap battle was held until finally he decided to come after
and asked his friend to substitute his work temporarily.
In
the shelter, Jimmy met with his friends in Three on Third and apologized to
Future. All his friends supported him to battle tonight compete against Tha
Free World. For three rounds, Jimmy won the battle against different member of
Three World including Clarence (Papa Doc), the defending champion of the
battle.
He
went back to work after that championship, brought cheerful circumstance to
Three on Third. He was getting closer with his dream.
PREFACE
Culture
refers to the cumulative deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values,
attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles, spatial
relations, concepts of the universe, and material objects and possessions
acquired by a group of people in the course of generations through individual
and group striving. This definition is in line with E.B Taylor, he said, is “…that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom,
and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.”
Culture
is the result of the interaction between human beings with all contents of universe.
Culture exists because human beings created it and people can live in a culture
they created. Therefore, culture also has roles as a guide for human relation
with their group, a ‘container’ to express feelings, skills, and abilities, a
clue about how human should act and behave in their society and environment.
As the role of culture is so much
relates to environment, of course there is some influences which inflicted by
culture toward environment. Hence, there are several variables related to
issues of culture and environment:
1.
Physical Environment
2.
Cultural Social Environment
3.
Environmental Orientation and
Representation
4.
Environmental Behavior and Process
5.
Out Carries Product
ANALYSIS
8
Mile movie takes place in Detroit where there are many seedy neighborhood,
unused buildings, and factories automotive. We can see from the movie that the
residents live in a small mobile home which there is a lot of garbage around.
Detroit City is known as the center of automotive industry, it seems in the
movie when Jimmy Rabbit works as a blue-collar in one of the factory. With such
environmental conditions, associated with physical environment, the theory of
Environmental Determinism believes that physical environment does influence
human action. So, I presume that is the reason why local inhabitant of Detroit tends
to be rude. This can be seen from many scenes of the movie when Jimmy’s friend,
mother, boss and Jimmy itself often say rough words and act rebel.
The
movie represents two races that live in one place: poor black race and middle
class white race. It means there is cultural social environment issue that
encompasses aspects of culture along with its socialization process: norms,
values, and customs. In this movie, the dominance of Negroid or black race make
them feel superior, thus Jimmy as the white race often bullied by them. It
seemed when Tha Free World mentions that Jimmy is just following rapping, one
kind of hip-hop music, assumed not appropriate to Jimmy and they suggest him to
‘go home to mama’.
What
interesting in this film is the issue about hip-hop, we can know how unique a
culture is. In this case, rap is one of the elements of hip-hop which uses the
vocal technique by speaking words quickly. The rapper often says offensive
lyrics especially in rap battle that also as a medium of insulting foe. Even
so, we cannot judge it as something wrong, even when we see it in moral
perspective.
A
class issue also appeared here, local people which mostly in lower class works
as blue-collar worker. They actually desperately bored with such job that
doesn’t change any life better, just in case making everyday survival. The
worker expresses their feel in one day work in rap battle when they are in
break time.
One most interesting aspect from
this movie is how culture and environment can influence one’s personality. It
relates to environmental orientation and representation and environmental
behavior and process. From the smallest neighborhood, family, Jimmy is
broken-home, his mother is an alcoholic who doesn’t care to her kids. She
seldom shows affection, and gets relationship with a man which isn’t her
husband. That makes Jimmy a rebel person. This is exacerbated by his social
environment that also rude. His friend which most of them is negroid talks,
acts, behaves rough is indirectly influence Jimmy’s behavior that becomes rude
and fearless.
From explanation above can be
concluded that the prevailing culture which developed in a particular
environment has implications for the pattern of behavior, norms, values and
other aspects of life that characterizes a community with other communities.
No comments:
Post a comment