4 12 12 Dead Presidents Connects to other films screened in this class Focus of a military figure The Tillman Story Appropriation of elements from Blaxploitation era Jackie Brown Style music themes in a different historical context of the 1990s We can judge the viability of a culture by how future generations respond or react to that culture Resurgence of interest in the 1970s Hip hop Goes onto influence cinema sports fashion etc Even though Dead Presidents doesn t have overt connections to hip hop it is from the era of hip hop cinema Important to think about Hollywood s history relative to the Vietnam War Subgenre of the Vietnam film Began in the 1970s Apocalypse Now started the early cycle of Vietnam films Displayed the war in a more distant way Oliver Stone Platoon signaled a new day in terms of representation of the Vietnam War Born on the Fourth of July Best speaks to what we see in Dead Presidents Focuses on a man s life before and after being in Vietnam Coming back in the midst of the emergence of the counter culture Difference in his fate as opposed to Curtis fate in Dead Presidents Heaven and Earth Full Metal Jacket In this Vietnam cycle there had never been a representation of black vets Why the Vietnam War is so important Referred to as the first war America lost Haunted America for many years All the way up to the 2004 presidential election From a chapter of a book called Bloods Black Vietnam War veterans The film s opening Money being burned one after another Dead Presidents A phrase directly from hip hop culture Refers to the images on currency America literally has money to burn Kirby who fought in Korea points out that America has money to burn and yet they can t find a way to make a living At the beginning What are these high school friends going to do after school Skippy wants to go to college Anthony doesn t care about college he is going to enlist Anthony tells his family he is going to join the Marine Corp Fighting in war made you a man to his father Constructed sense of manhood He learns there is more to being a man than simple physical superiority He respects Kirby because he represents this image Scene when Anthony is running numbers and playing pool The street is a fairly integrated space He is well know Running numbers People would bed money that certain numbers would come up at the racetrack other sources How Kirby makes his living how Anthony makes money When he gets back from Vietnam The lottery now exists A formal institutional version of running numbers Kirby no longer has a way to make money Indicative that life is now drastically different in America Anthony runs from his girlfriend s house straight into the jungles of Vietnam Klingon Extremely hypocritical Kirby Flunked out of college and was drafted A very different attitude from Anthony s He doesn t want to be fighting a white man s war Helping the nation fight a war against other oppressed figures Muhammad Ali who refused to be drafted The Vietnamese did nothing to him Anthony thinks he is doing his job He eventually changes his opinion Anthony must engage in a mercy killing By the time he returns his time in Vietnam has theoretically made him a man But nothing is what he thought it would be When Anthony returns home In a cab Anthony spots Skippy Skippy s behavior is indicative of the fact that he is addicted to heroin Falling asleep throughout the day The neighborhood has changed it is now all black In the 1970s a social phenomena known as white flight When large numbers of white moved out of urban areas into the suburbs Skippy tells him about his life 50 medical something got into me Agent Orange a pesticide used by America to defoliate the Vietnamese jungles Affected and caused cancer in a large number of American soldiers Has developed a heroin addiction while in Vietnam Kirby has an artificial leg Joe s hand has been destroyed All these man bear some physical mark of their time in war Anthony has no physical injuries At dinner with his parents He eats as though he is still in the war Only bad habit he picked up was killing in the name of his country At Kirby s A triumphant return very much embraced in a different way than when he left More respect Greeted as the man Talks to Kirby He isn t running number anymore just trying to get by like anyone else The first time Anthony realizes things might not be as easy as he thought He has returned but the place he returns to is very different from the place he left He is able to get redemption over Cowboy He is now man enough and physically able to beat him His relationship with Juanita Interrupted by Cuddy Represented as a pimp a Blaxploitation era throwback He humiliates Anthony Sticks a gun in his mouth Questions his ability to take care of his family He has physical strength but lacks this aspect of manhood The heist Represented and planned as though Anthony has taken his military training to rob the government Emergence of Juanita s sister Delilah Representative of the revolutionaries who appeared in the 1960s and 70s All of the characters in white face As opposed to black face The heist goes terribly wrong They must run Lack of opportunities lead to a very bad decision that turned into something fatal The end of the movie Skippy has OD d Al Green song from the show Soul Train Anthony s day in court The judge is Martin Sheen as a cameo Star of Apocalypse Now His lawyer says he served his country received medals etc Judge doesn t even want to hear it Fought in WWII a real war Often thought of as the good war Represents the attitude a lot of Americans felt towards Vietnam and Vietnam vets Different from the way vets were embraced after WWII Vietnam vets began protesting the war they just got back from One of the most prominent John Kerry It all came up again in 2004 His record would be sullied and misrepresented Vietnam vets were criticized and hated Anthony finally passionately responds but it is too late Cold depressing scene at the end Bus full of African American men heading towards prison Particularly unsentimental Refusal to sugarcoat the ending Ultimately realistic but not redemptive Dead Presidents as a prequel to hip hop Late 1970s All of the things people would come to rap about would be embedded in the era represented in Dead Presidents