Fruitvale Station, directed and produced by Ryan Coogler, is a narrative about Oscar Grant’s execution. According to the theory of genres, this film can be attributed to drama since it contains genre-specific elements. Grant was a young person from Hayward, California, who was shot and killed on New Year’s Eve during a fight with a Bay Area Rapid Trasit (BART) transportation police officer. The relevance of this actual incident resides in the following of his murder, which ignited a series of protests and demonstrations against police violence. The policeman who shot Grant was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 11 months in prison after saying he confused his pistol for his defibrillator. This work is written to analyze the film Fruitvale Station.
This film focuses on many of the injustices that black communities confront in the present period. The imprisonment and demonization of black males is one example. Throughout the film, this topic is portrayed in a brilliantly complicated manner. The musical accompaniment fuels the atmosphere of the film by highlighting the compositions of African-American performers. Oscar Grant is depicted as a family man living in a disadvantaged area, demonstrating his everyday attempts to lift his family out of poverty. This is a regular occurrence in many low-income neighborhoods. Finding work with a steady income and employment advantages can be challenging at times, and many people turn to illegal activities since it is exceptionally profitable and incredibly quickly.
While buying drugs has a significant risk for everyone who chooses to engage, and black people do not partake at a faster percentage than white people, there is an unacceptably disproportionate number of black men jailed for dealing narcotics such as cannabis than white males. This is primarily due to police enforcement’s proclivity to racially stereotype black people (Elliott & Downey, 2022). Oscar reaches a tipping point when he tosses away his drug stockpile, symbolizing his release from a career that has confined him for many years.
Throughout the film, Oscar demonstrates his loving and sensitive character. He is a caring and dedicated father to his minor daughter Tatiana, and a devoted son to his parents and the rest of his family. He is moved to tears at one point in the movie when he comes across an injured dog that has been hit by a car on the side of the road. All of these moments demonstrate his gentle and peaceful personality. These sequences are crucial to the film’s fundamental theme because they show Oscar’s humanity. The film’s audience falls in love with Oscar and his entire family because of their close and unreservedly loving bond.
When looking at the legal system as a whole, this racial concept of black males is still widespread in current culture. Police brutality is a violent manifestation of these ideals, which have persisted in the community regarding laws granting rights under the constitution to all individuals in our country (Elliott & Downey, 2022). Oscar Grant was one of many people whose lives were cut short as a consequence of social profiling and cruelty in our judicial system.
This film delves deeply into one of the many cultural difficulties that black family men face in their daily lives. It exposes how preconceived beliefs of what a black man should be, systemic racism, and state-sanctioned brutality prevent black males from realizing their full potential (Elliott & Downey, 2022). Oscar is plagued with the choice between supporting his family and participating in illicit drug activities; he is also overburdened with attempting to be the most incredible man and father he can be while being perceived as a violent person by others owing to his skin tone.
Fruitvale Station begins with genuine cell phone camera recordings, then jumps back to investigate Oscar Grant’s final day. Though theatrical license was utilized in reenacting these events, the facts are accurate. Grant had previously been dismissed from his grocery job; he had a girlfriend and a daughter, and his background includes drug dealing and prison time. False claims that the film portrays him in a straightforwardly heroic light are ludicrous. Grant is shown as a complex character whose compassion and generosity are matched by too rapid and occasionally uncontrolled anger and a propensity to lie.
Ryan Coogler’s racial awareness is pervasive in Fruitvale Station since the issue of racial politics is addressed throughout the film, indicating that race is essential to the filmmaker. The fact that relatively few white characters are featured in the movie is the first indication of that racial consciousness. There are still some efforts at interracial dialogue, but they appear pretty manufactured and obtrusive, considering how abruptly they are inserted into the plot. Indeed, Oscar starts a discussion with white characters both times; it is a risky atmosphere that indicates a forced interaction, which Ryan Coogler efficiently exploits to demonstrate his post-racial skepticism.
Furthermore, the scenario establishes a racial divide between the two characters, as Katie’s troubles appear less pressing than Oscar’s since she merely cares about which fish to cook. At the same time, he strives to maintain or reclaim his job. The portrayal of Katie also reflects Ryan Coogler’s distrust of racial blindness (Coogler, 2013). When Oscar queries her about her Black companion, the female character appears to be worried.
Another interracial clash appears in the story as Oscar and Sophina enjoy the New Year. While the wife and Sophina are out of frame, the camera focuses on Oscar, who is examining the guy’s hand when he notices a wedding band. His facial expression implies that he covets the white man or, at the very slightest, that he would marry Sophina if he could. Oscar then speaks with him about the marriage and his likely development prospects.
This dialogue is contradictory in this context because, on the one hand, the discussion between both the two men creates that deprivation and thievery are not a racial group. After all, the white man was once poor and first did steal a wedding band for his girlfriend. Still, on the other hand, it is disclosed that the white man finally became an effective self-made entrepreneur and incentivized Oscar to do the same – as highlighted by a camera near the man giving Oscar his contact information – despite his death at this moment appears to be nonchalant, it is part of the screenwriter’s intention to build a racial gap between the actors, as was the earlier scene with the white client.
In conclusion, the picture turns explicitly political, depicting the later civil-rights fight. However, moment by moment, what makes Grant’s narrative so powerful is its apolitical or non-political element. The odd significance that all the everyday, mundane events of existence attain when scrutinized as time runs out is almost spiritual. As the shadow of death descends across it, every phone call, every contact, every dispute, every foolish or transient idea takes on a new eerily vivid aspect, an occult concentration.
References
Coogler, R. (2013). Fruitvale Station. Significant Productions.
Elliott, J. A., & Downey, L. E. (2022). Broaching intersectionality and social justice: Incorporating fruitvale station into multicultural counselor education. Journal of Creativity in Mental Health, pp. 1-12.