What I see when I watch other peoples movies, Boyz-n-the-Hood.
Let's talk about the opening shot of the stop sign, simple and straight-forward: push-in on a standard American stop sign with a slight tilt up to a descending flight - on the downwind as it makes its final into LAX. No music, just ambiance - preceded by the sound of street violence over black.
What I see is a filmmaker, in this case, John Singleton, telling us to STOP, and LISTEN - STOP and LISTEN to what I have to say. STOP and LISTEN to the story I have to tell. But that's not all, because the stop sign is preceded by the sounds of violence, it's also saying, STOP THE VIOLENCE, STOP KILLING ONE-ANOTHER. Yet there's more, the STOP plea also comes after a series of title cards informing us that 1 out of 21 black men in the United States die at the hands of other black men. So... Just... STOP.
Now if you take that opening message, and you weave in all the other themes of the movie: broken families, broken neighborhoods, communities destroyed by police, neighborhood properties being acquired by bankers and real estate investors who work a little too hard to keep black families from creating multi-generational wealth - then we can create an overall retroactive meaning with the opening shot, it becomes STOP, LISTEN, WE MUST WORK TOGETHER IF WE'RE GOING TO SUCCEED TOGETHER BECAUSE WE'RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER, THE ODDS ARE AGAINST US SO IT'S ALL ON US - BUT WE'LL NEVER BE ABLE TO IF YOU DON'T STOP.
By the way, this is my favorite opening shot of all time. Like, in any movie. It's so incredibly powerful and gets me invested right away.
I have thoughts on the descending airplane too - mostly pertaining to the idea of being stuck, trapped, there's no escape... but that's for another episode.
Subscribe to my YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@EricNorcross/
Eric on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ericnorcross
Subscribe, Like, Share - and get Cinema Theory with Eric Norcross and my original podcast, The Eric Norcross Podcast, on Youtube or wherever you get your podcasts!
Please contribute to my PATREON by visiting the URL: https://www.patreon.com/ericnorcross
And learn more about me at: http://www.EricNorcross.com
Eric Norcross is a filmmaker, writer, and artist.
Reach out, ask questions, and let's create! https://www.ericnorcross.com/contact
Copyright © 2023 Eric Norcross - All Rights Reserved
