One of the most majestic things about cinema is its ability to tell the same story in different ways. Each component of a cinematic text adds to its underlying theme, giving directors the ability to control the narrative that they want to push through the use of different elements such as soundtrack, characters, setting, dialogue, etc. A great example of movies conveying a similar message through different formats is Sinners whose theme resembles that of the movie The. Hate. U. Give. with notable differences in contextual details.
Sinners’s ability to personify racism through the dehumanization of racist characters was absolute brilliance. The representation of racism through painting it as a vicious, mind-altering disease is peak symbolism and offers great depth into how racism is a poison to our society. The movie is set back to the 1930s in rural Mississippi where racism was at an all time high. The Jim Crow Era is the perfect era to capture just how quickly racism spread from person-to-person, and how it deeply affected Black culture, making members of the community even turn on one another. The overall theme of the movie was quite incredible, and the movie’s execution was nothing short of impeccable.
The. Hate. U. Give. also tackles racism by centering around main character Starr Carter, an African-American teenage girl who sadly witnessed the death of her friend Kahlil after a police officer mistook his hair brush for a gun. The movie strives to speak out about the racial injustice and abuse of the black community at the hands of police brutality. Sabrina Carpenter stars as Hailey, the “friend” —which I say loosely—-of Carter. Hailey and Starr clash several times throughout the film as Hailey’s microaggressions and apathy towards racial injustice create heavy tension between the two characters. Eventually, the two find themselves in an intense altercation after Hailey seemingly justifies the murder of innocent Khalil in an attempt to defend the officer, causing Starr to explode out of frustration. The majority of the story takes place at a high school, and many of the characters featured are younger. The movie does a great job of exposing racism through the means of abusive law enforcement and ignorant friends who implicitly hold racially discriminatory beliefs.
The two movies share the same message through different perspectives. The. Hate. U. Give. emphasizes more contemporary racism in which it is often exposed through subliminal means. It is a text of its time as it protests against police brutality and sheds light on the innocent African American citizens who have been killed as a result of higher authorities jumping to inaccurate conclusions. It features common, modernized acts of protest such as staged walk-outs and school protests. Sinners offers a blast from the past where we see the raw and unfiltered nature that the Jim Crow era enabled for racists. The way that blacks were treated was subhuman, an ironic detail considering that the racists were eventually depicted as vampiric monsters who looked to spread their venom. Sinners highlights the idea of influence, showing how ending up with the wrong crowd of people can completely alter your mind and change how you act, think, and feel. Both movies do an excellent job of storytelling and show how directors can convey a similar message through several different means.
