Hustle and Flow

· http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otn1YORTxDo

The main character DJay is non working drug dealing pimp who has to manage a single stripper with a baby, a prostitute, and a pregnant wife – race/gender/class

· The dressing room of the strip club is shown full of naked women, most of them black. Djay’s stripper Lexus is shown looking depressed, he walks over to her , grabs her and tells her to hurry up whilst she lays her head on him and seems comfortable– gender/race

· The black stripper is extremely aggressive and rude. She also has a baby. The white prostitute on the other hand is calm, listens to instructions and is successful in the end -race

· DJay’s ultimate dream is to make it as a rap star- race

· When the piano player first joins, DJay Is disgusted and asks “You know he’s white right?”- race

· In the scene where DJay kicks out the stripper, the other two women are shown crying yet they don’t say a word - gender

· The black police officers were trying to pass on their demo tape to DJay in jail- race

Hustle and Flow is a movie that documents the life of a man in Memphis. It chronicles his struggles on the streets as he tries to support his family and realize his dream of becoming a rap star. The film incorporates several stereotypes in trying to define the characters. First off, the main character DJay embodies all the characteristics of masculinity. He is physically tough, rugged and extremely aggressive. Although he is poor, he tries to do whatever he can to feed his family. He lives in a beat down house with his wife who is pregnant. He is also a pimp by trade and therefore has a black stripper who is the single mother to a baby boy. He also has a white prostitute with whom he sits on street corners and waits for potential customers to approach. Djay is also African American, has a perm and sells marijuana. Furthermore, he dreams of moving out of the slums by becoming a rap artist. Also, even though he is poor, he manages to have chrome rims on his beat up Chevy. In trying to depict life in the “hood”, this film incorporates a lot of stereotypes and passes it off as reality. First off, it is stereotypical that DJay doesn’t have a real job. He sells drugs and his perm is consistent with the hairstyles that other self proclaimed pimps like Snoop Dogg and Ice T have. He is shown as being lazy and makes a living off of the women he lives with. He uses his masculinity to force the women to sell their bodies in order to get money which he uses to support his rap career. These are all stereotypes that were attached to the character to try to make him seem more authentic. There are also a lot of instances where this movie feminizes women. None of the women in the show were respected by the men they were around. DJay dictated the life of the stripper and the prostitute. He gave them shelter and they gave him whatever money they make from work. They were essentially his property and he dictated their every move. The women are shown as being extremely passive since they needed DJay’s guidance. Even though they were the ones making the money, they couldn’t take care of themselves without his influence. Furthermore, women are objectified. The two women with DJay sold their bodies and he was constantly yelling at his “baby mama”. The one woman who was in a successful marriage was made to look like a needy talkative. Her husband refused to listen to her and was pretty much only ever at dinner for the food. Women were shown as only being good at satisfying the sexual needs of men and taking care of the home. In trying to give the user an authentic view of the lifestyle in the “hood”, the movie perpetuates several stereotypical notions of gender and race.