Sara's Dad And Derek example essay topic

Some of the topics this surprisingly intelligent film takes on are peer pressure, violence, pressures of an impoverished urban environment, adolescent pride, black / white conflicts, interracial relationships, single teen parenthood, racial stereotypes, racial prejudice, absentee fathers, loyalty in friendships, and more. While failing to adequately address any of these issues, the film makes it known that they indeed exist, and are not to be ignored. The movie proposes that kids, whether suburban whites or inner-city blacks, have the power to determine the course of their lives using determination and talent. The characters are intelligent and almost believable, and are constantly questioning themselves and their social environment in sometimes very realistic ways. The film deals with both real and ideal aspects of race statuses and relationships. While Derek and Malakai's situation can be very believable, the fact that Sara immediately fits into a society where to say she is a minority would be an understatement is somewhat unrealistic.

Taking a further look at Malakai's character, it's not unheard of for someone of his status and poor / criminal background to feel that they are incapable of doing anything else with their life. The "happily-ever-after" ending is possible, however not very probable; for what appears to be the only interracial couple in the film to live together in peace and harmony is highly unrealistic. The movie idealistically shows and implies only few instances of conflict as a result of their relationship, whereas in reality, especially in a predominantly black society, there probably would have been more controversy surrounding their relationship. The film both supports and denies race relations as described in the text. As mentioned earlier, the movie had a habit of idealizing interactions between Sara and her dad vs. the rest of the society. Derek and Chenille take Sara to "Steps", a hip-hop club they frequent on weekends.

The people at Steps are all black, with the exception of Chenille's friend and Sara, who looks like she jumped right off the pages of a Gap catalog, yet she waltzes right in practically unnoticed. From an aerial shot of the dance floor, Sara stands out like a sore thumb, and yet no one appears even the least bit disconcerted. While this may be the way that we'd all like to view the world, it is sadly inaccurate. Taking a more realistic approach, tension is shown between Sara's dad and Derek. The day Sara gets into a fight with Nikki, Derek stops by her house to see that she's doing alright. Sara's dad follows her to the door and she silently refuses to introduce her close-minded father to him.

This is the way things are. The world isn't pretty and harmonious as it appears in certain scenes of the film. I like that the movie seems to balance their creative license with realistic elements of humanity so as not to create a completely na " ive view of sociological interaction.