Movie Analasys: '8Mile' directed by Curtis Hanson - Essay Example

College level 8 Miles Movie Analysis What effect would an Academy winning director Curtis Hanson for the 1997 LA Confidential make by directing a debut movie for the Controversial, Grammy-Award winning rap star Eminem? Well the movie was going to be quite electrifying. This movie, 8 mile, would go on to receive as many as 19 nominations for prestigious awards and win 9 of these awards including an Oscar (IMDb). The movie is inspired partly by incidents Eminem’s own life. The movie that contains profanity in large quantity, as well as sex and violence, struck me as an emotional piece of drama; it feels real, tense, and honest. The writer of the movie 8 Mile is Scott Silver and the director Curtis Hanson. It featured Eminem (Jimmy Smith, Jr), Brittany Murphy (Alex), Kim Basinger(Stephanie), and Taryn Manning (Alex). The plot of the movie tells the story of Jimmy Smith, commonly known as B-Rabbit or Rabbit, an aspiring white rapper struggling to win recognition for his rapping talent in a black artists-dominated market. The whole story took place in 1995 at Detroit, Michigan. The city is rapidly falling prey to economic devastations, where 8 Mile Road demarcates the line separating the black urban streets from the white suburbia. The movie depicts the rough aspect of Jimmy's life from his job at a metal-pressing plant to disappointing love life and his relationship with a self-serving alcoholic mother, Stephanie. In the midst of all this hardships, Smith wishes to have a breakthrough in the rap industry. At first Smith loses, but in the end he makes it though he had to fight many mic battles along the way, the struggles that he is faced with would have by all rights stripped him off any confidence and hope but his determination is so strong. The film begins with B-Rabbit losing a MC battle where he chokes up and is booed off the stage; shatters his esteem to a great deal. His time Jimmy has just broken up with his girlfriend, since she was pregnant. Jimmy is forced to return home where things are no better either his mother is alcoholic and lives with an abusive boyfriend (Greg) and Jimmy’s little sister Lily. Greg happened to have been Jimmy’s friend in high school and therefore Jimmy found it hard to approve the relationship with his mother. The movie then takes the audience through Rabbit’s struggles to make in the competition. Things are not easy on Jimmy at home since Greg, who does not have a job feels that he should find another place to stay. Jimmy feels that he needs to make a life pull out of his status; he also feels sorry for his little innocent sister who felt assaulted by the world they lived in. His job was not working out well for him either and paid very little, Jimmy was really under pressure to make it in rapping and end his misery, yet he had just blown his chances out by freezing on stage. Looking at 8 miles road, it is a long stretch road with buildings, strip malls, food outlets, gas stations, separating the largely poor black population and the white. Jimmy happens to live on road links the urban and the suburban, it is the between the white and the black; between where Eminem was and where he wanted to be. It was a place where he had survival as the key; he had to preserve in order to achieve his dream. His family lived in a trailer park near the 8-mile road. He always wore a grey muffin something that makes the viewer wonder if he was hiding from the world he lived in. His best friend believed in his gift of rapping, but he had many enemies who thought a young white boy knew nothing about rapping. They used to refer to him as Elvis, look down at him, and make fun of him. Jimmy feels encouraged when a friend of his, Wink proposes that he join his rap franchise. He, however, needs to record a demo, and Jimmy starts sparing time to write his lyrics. Together with a few of his black friends, they formed a struggling rap gang, in which they would practice at night after attending their meager paying jobs. His life lights up even more when he meets a beautiful girl, Alex, whom he falls in love with while in an argument with his boss for lateness at work. Alex is an ambitious model, and she promises him her support on recording of the demo. Future, his best friend in the neighborhood, also believe that Jimmy should not be discouraged by the fact that he was white and encourages him to join the upcoming rap battles. Future was the emcee at the Shelter rap club, the venue when Jimmy had been booed on his first attempt of the rap battles. The first time we hear Rabbit rap was in an encounter with a rival rap group called Free World, while he had gone out with friends. The next time he confronts the group is in a battle that ends with Cheddar, one of his friends, shooting himself accidentally on the leg. Wink was friends with the rival gang, and Future uses that to disapprove of Rabbit recording with him. However, Rabbit terms the rivalry between Future and Wink immature especially given the fact that their friend Cheddar was still in the hospital. His fortunes that were building in Wink and Alex fall apart soon after this when Alex cheats on him with Wink. Rabbit is so frustrated and leaves but only after battling Wink. His friend Future encourages him to have vengeance by competing to his best during the next rapping completion and that is what he does Rabbit still experiences more setbacks as the rap battle approaches. His mother rejects him and kicks him out of the house; he is mugged and beaten as his sister Lily watched, and the final of all is when he blows out with Future who signed him up for the battle without his knowledge. The final blow comes only a day to the day the battle was scheduled. On the day of the battle, Rabbit reports to work as usual, feeling frustrated, but then makes a decision to actually go to the battle. He rifts surface with his friends, and he is mugged by rivals. Everything hinges on the next rap showdown at the club. He asks a good co-worker friend to cover up for him on his absence. He shows up at the club, makes up with Future, and is ready for the battle. His friends all rallied behind him giving him confidence. Rabbit had to go up against two opponents, winning against both to set move into the finals- a battle against Papa Doc of the Free World. The final battle is the climax to the movie. Papa Doc won the coin toss to go first in the rap but chose to let the “bitch” B-Rabbit go first. Rabbit had successfully come out in countering the insults labeled against him in the previous two battles, so he knew what to expect from Papa Doc. He delivers a genius approach of using honesty to save himself of further insults. He preempts any comeback from Papa Doc by trashing himself first; he knew his opponent planned to use Rabbit history to make him less credit-worth. He describes himself as a white rapper who lives in a trailer and has been betrayed by his mother and girlfriend, and that he had a dumb friend who had shot himself on the leg. He then skewers his opponent by revealing his secrets to the crowd. He goes on and describes him as a man who went to a certain private school, but he was a gangster, had a good family with both parents having a good marriage, and he did not tell people his real name which was Clarence. Papa Doc is left speechless; he does not have anything left to say in rebuttal, all he could do was hand the mic back to Future. This tells the crowd that Clarence is not a street child gang member from a single parented family as he claims to be. As the beats stop, Rabbit continues as he walks offstage, into the crowd and his future. However, Rabbit does not have the time to celebrate he feels more confident of his future and success as he leaves to go back to work. The film clearly shows that in live there boundaries some of which holds us down preventing us from making it. One has to struggle to overcome them, and that is what Eminem the main actor in the film does. He fights, struggles and faces his fears. His determination is what makes him succeed he lets go his past something that makes him stronger and admirable The movie that spans 110 minutes was released November 8, 2002. The movie debuted with a huge impact opening at the top of the U.S. box office with $54.5 million in its first three days (RTE). 8 Mile would go on to win various awards for its actors, the most prestigious being the Academy Awards, USA in 2003 worn by Eminem for the hit single lose Yourself which was the soundtrack of the movie (The New York Times). Other awards accredited for the movie are Broadcast Film Critics Association, and two Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (The New York Times). The critics for the movie were mostly positive reviews, with much of such praises going to Eminem for a brilliant performance. 8 Mile attained a 77 percent score from Metcritic, which is drawn from thirty four critics including New York Times (Metacritic). I enjoyed watching the movie and would highly recommend it. However, anyone watching the movie must know that the movie is rated R for using strong language, sexuality, some violence, and drug use. Works Cited 8 Mile. Curtis Hanson. Eminem, Brittany Murphy, Kim Basinger, Taryn Manning. Universal Pictures, 2002. DVD RTE. Eminem movie tops at US box office. Web. 21 November 2013 New York Times. 8 Mile (2002). Web. 21 November 2012. Mecacritic. 8 Mile: Universal Pictures. Web. 21 November 2012 IMBd. 8 Mile (2002): Awards. 21 November 2012 Read More