Essay: 8 Mile Movie

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.