Textual Analysis

GanGstaA
The scene that I am going to analysis is a scene called Gangsta , this basicaly is when you see the transition from Young Marcus to the rapper. It starts off with Marcuse walking into an abandon alley way the lighting is quite low key as you can only make out Marcus's outline, the clothing is part of the mise en scene and his clothing is a baggy grey hoody which connotes a dull vibe that could compensate as his personality and life. While walking closer to the man 50 Cent the voiceover says : " I don't know why I wanted a gun for all I know is that I wanted it". That statement sets up the whole scene for the gun connotes protection in Marcus's eyes but the dennotations to it would be lethal weapon. The man is wearing baggy clothing and a bandana, associated with gangs around the 1970's the type of clothing was quite famous in the Hip-Hop years aswell, this shows a representation of Black males around the 1970s and how they used to dress however, the way they dress then is still the same even now in society. The lighting on the gun handler is quite dark, there is a use of Front key lighting and we can see the silhouette of his shadow on the wall connoting the darkness and he is hididng.

Moving, on to Marcus's bedroom where the camera pans from a dark screen to his face being lighted quite dark the colours are reds, browns and balcks which is quite an sinster look on a 12 year old. As the camera, pans across his face in the mirror we see his reflection and in the reflection we see the gun. Marcus is reciting a KRS ONE's lyrics " watch my 9 millimetre go, bang!". The look on Marcus's face coincides with sinister look on his face however, his face seems quite comfortable with holding this gun. The music is non diegetic but also, parallel to the situation. The editing from now have been cuts and the shots have mainly been longshots and in the basement ( Marcus's room) close ups of his face in the mirror.

The camera continues to pan across but, we see a change in time also known as the "zeitgeist" because Marcus is older a teenager in fact, played by 50 cent. He is wearing the identical hoody as he did when he was purchasing the gun and he does not have the gun in his hand but, he still covers his whole face with the hoody. The type of lighting is from the bottom where we can see the facial structure of Marcus's face but, in fact see that he has no emotion for he looks very strong and is not smiling which is a common stereotype for Afro Americans for they do not like to smile. The representation so far is quite negative for it is a simplistic stereotype for the scenes title explains it quite neatly.