27 Oct The movie is based on an African American girl named Starr Carter who lives in a primarily Black, lower income neighborhood, Garden Heights.

Can you please review my essay and provide any changes and feedback.

The movie is based on an African American girl named Starr Carter who lives in a primarily Black, lower income neighborhood, Garden Heights. Starr lives between two worlds, her primary residence Garden Heights and the fancy suburban where she is enrolled in Williamson Prep, a private school of mainly White, wealthy students.  Her world turns upside down when she attends a party in Garden Heights and reconnects with her childhood friend and crush Khalil.  When a gang fight at the party results in gunfire, Starr and Khalil run out and leave in his car.  While driving they are listening to music and discuss Tupac Shakur’s theory of THUG LIFE, an acronym that stands for “The Hate U Give Little Infants F*** Everybody”. They eventually get pulled over by a White police officer (Officer one-fifteen) who claims Khalil has a broken taillight. A terrified Starr pleads to Khalil to do whatever the officer says.  Officer one-fifteen commands Khalil to get out of the car to search him and orders him to not move while the officer returns to his vehicle.  Khalil moves to check on Starr and asks if she’s ok and reaches into the car to retrieve his hairbrush that’s when Officer one-fifteen shoots Khalil multiple times and kills him.  Starr is the only witness to the crime and is conflicted with the decisions of testifying and being a voice for her childhood friend and possibly exposing his connections to gangs and drug dealing or being exposed to her Williamson Prep friends and face the reality of racism that occurs in her school.    

The film addresses a number of deviant/criminal behavior’s that include drug dealing, gang violence, racism, police brutality and the Black lives Matter movement.  The film depicts crime and deviancy at various levels of society.  There are certain crimes that are more socially acceptable than others; for example, in the movie, drug use is more tolerated than murder.  The rationale for the deviant/criminal behavior varies greatly depending on the characters involved.  Some justified the behaviors as self-defense or survival while others times it is prompted by anger or hatred towards the society as a whole.  There are some characters that do challenge such behavior. Starr was torn between testifying and seeking justice for Khalil and also the threat of being exposed to her alter life along with ensuring that King doesn’t come after her and her family. Starr, challenges the behavior of her friends when she does decide to testify against the police in court.  This brought on a lot of different emotions from all sides.  The rationale for the behavior is a way to oppress and control black people.  It’s also related to the socioeconomic status of the characters in the movie.  Starr was also challenged due to the Black Lives Matter movement and through her personal journey of self-discovery.  It’s often suggested that when you come from a lower income neighborhood you would be inclined to committing various crimes/deviancies and this refers to the social disorganization theory.  There are many concepts and theories that we have studied from our course that relate to the film.  One of them is the Strain theory which is represented when Khalil had become a drug dealer to help his grandma out with the financial stresses at home.  She became ill and was unable to work any longer and Khalil had to resort to what he could find to earn money quick to ensure help was provided at home.  Another theory represented in the movie is Social Control theory.  This theory is symbolized when the Maverick Carter teaches his children from what is right and wrong.  Maverick grew up in a rough neighborhood and resorted to various crimes and was in prison due to his actions.  Due to his upbringing he wanted to ensure his children would not follow in his steps.  He had them enrolled in a private school, provided them with a home and a “normal life” and educated the children on how to act around the police and to do whatever they are instructed to do so by the police.  He did not want his children to go through any of the troubles he had growing up so he provided his family the values and beliefs to encourage them not to break any laws.  He had explained to Starr his interpretation of Tupac’s phrase “Thug Life” and that he believed it described a system designed against black communities.  By speaking out can a black community begin to break the cycle.  Code of the street is also portrayed in the film when the King lord gang members threaten and attack Maverick and his family at various times during the movie. They are trying to send a message to the family to not testify and when Starr does speak out during the media interview they retaliate and resort to violence.

The deviant/criminal behavior of racism and police brutality in the movie is often condoned by the characters in the movie, as well by the police.  As an African American student in a predominately white school, Starr had to cope each day with micro-aggressions from students like Hailey who refused to renowned her white privilege.  Starr’s, Williamson Prep school friends, overlooked the seriousness of the crime when they decided to skip school to attend a protest for Khalil.  It was their way of skipping an exam rather than realizing the real issues of racism and police brutality.  It’s also excused when the media reports how Officer one-fifteen is being unnecessarily hassled by the community when he is a reportedly a good officer, has a clean record and is an upstanding member of the community.  The deviant/criminal behavior condemned at various levels of society (officially and unofficially) by Starr standing up for Khalil and testifying against Officer one-fifteen; she decided to stand up for what’s right and fought for Khalil when he couldn’t defend himself. There are also other instances in the film that portrays the condemned behavior that also include when Starr does a television interview with the media.  During the interview Starr reveals Khalil’s truth about why Khalil was dealing drugs and that he was paying and that angers King.  By Starr speaking up it puts her family in danger when the night before the grand jury testimony someone throws a brick and fires gunshots to the Carter household.  The family is unsure if it’s the King Lords or the police who have done it. 

Views about the Police are depicted in this film in many parts; once the shooting took place the Garden Heights community members had a negative view of the police.  The community was outraged that a killing took place on a young black man for reaching for his hairbrush.  Whereas the white community was outraged that Officer one-fifteen was being harassed for doing his job. 

At the end of the film, the grand jury announces their decision not to indict Officer One-Fifteen and a protest starts out on the street that Khalil was killed on.  Starr and Seven attend the protest and Starr leads the chants in front of the protest for her friend.  Eventually the police try to break the protest with tear gas, Seven and Starr both get hit by the gas and their eyes are burning and need milk to help the burning. They head over to the Carter family store and when they are inside someone ends up setting the store on fire while the kids are in there.  Maverick arrives in time to unlock the door and save them and King arrives to taunt them and is proud of getting his revenge on the family.  The police arrive and King denies any actions and is confident that no one will testify against him however, the neighbors all rally around the Carter family and tell the police they saw King start the fire and he is arrested.  In this part of the film Classical theory (Utilitarianism) is portrayed as King assumes that his actions would not provide any consequences and he had more pleasure committing the crime.  In the end he does get arrested and end up going to jail.  Rational Choice theory was also used during this part of the film as King believed burning down the store and attempting to kill Starr would benefit him and his drug business in Garden Heights. 

In conclusion, the Hate U Give (2018) is a movie that represented many of the theories we have studied in class so far.  For example, it shows how race and gender can impact someone’s experience with the criminal justice system.  It also shows how the media can shape the way people can view events on situations.