Pubdate: Tue, 15 Nov 2005
Source: Tribune Review (Pittsburgh, PA)
Copyright: 2005 Tribune-Review Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/trib/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/460
Author: Mike Seate

FILM MAY ONLY SPUR YOUTH TO DIE TRYIN'

Pittsburgh generally trails the rest of the country when it comes to 
pop culture trends, but we're leading the way when it comes to 
hip-hop related violence.

Last week, a gunman fatally shot Shelton Flowers, 30, of Wilkinsburg, 
inside the Loews Theater at the Waterfront in Homestead. Flowers was 
there to watch the movie "Get Rich or Die Tryin'," a fable about 
fabled gangster and rap music icon Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson. So had a 
trio of other young black men, with whom Flowers got into an argument.

Their beef, aired in front of the theater's concession stand, easily 
could have resulted in more deaths. Wisely, the theater chain pulled 
the movie from its schedule immediately afterward, and 50 Cent 
expressed remorse for what happened the day after the murder.

Although it's clear most of the blame for this incident lies with the 
men who think loaded handguns are something you take to the movies 
out of necessity, like a box of candy, it's hard to grant a free pass 
to the filmmakers who brought this story to the screen in the first place.

I saw the film before it was denied to local audiences. It's 
basically a rags-to-riches story about a ghetto drug dealer who gets 
shot nine times on his way to the top. Inspired by 50 Cent's real 
life of crime, it's probably the bloodiest drama to hit the screen 
since the war epic "Black Hawk Down."

After watching the movie, I remember thinking it would take a miracle 
for certain impressionable young folks not to be inspired to emulate 
what they would see on-screen.

And why not? The rapper is portrayed as a man driven to succeed 
despite horrendous obstacles, and the depictions of gun violence -- 
which pop up every few minutes -- were applauded by nearly every 
young man in the theater.

With neighborhood rivalries causing folks to pull guns all over the 
city, it's easy to foresee people with existing beefs converging at a 
screening of "Get Rich" where, despite such a public venue, the game 
would be on.

On the way to the lobby, I spoke with DeMarcus Young, 46, of 
Homestead, who came to judge whether his own teenagers would be 
permitted to see a screening. They wouldn't, he said firmly.

"He (50 Cent) may be a fine rapper," Young said, "but I don't see why 
they have to make a hero out of somebody who sold crack and shot at people."

Unfortunately, if responsible men like Young want their kids to catch 
a more positive portrayal of black manhood in the movies, they are out of luck.

Hollywood's power brokers wouldn't turn a profit giving black 
audiences films with titles such as "Get An Education or Die A 
Janitor," or "Get Rich By Working A Legitimate Job," especially when 
the same, tired old stereotypes about guns, drugs and crime are so popular.
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