"Crooklyn" Film Analysis

Analysis, Pages 3 (514 words)

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Crooklyn is a film that was released in 1994 by Spike Lee. It is about the Carmichaels, a middle-class family that lives in the Bedford-Stuyvesant part of Brooklyn, New York around the 1970s. Centered around nine-year-old Tony Carmichael, this film tells the audience about her family struggles such as how her father, Woody Carmichael, is an aspiring jazz player but is not making any money off of it and her mother, Carolyn Carmichael, is a school teacher but is struggling to keep up with her bills seeing as though Woody isn't paying any of the bills.

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They also have to take care of Tony and her four brothers, Clinton, Wendell, Nate, and Joseph. I believe that this movie has the overall theme of facing reality, not all families are what they seem to be on the outside.

One example of facing reality in this movie is when Carolyn Carmichael and Woody Carmichael get into an argument about money. Carolyn complains to Woody that she feels as though they waste their only income on his musical aspirations when they are already struggling to pay for their bills which causes them to yell back and forth.

As Carolyn is already getting upset because the kids are watching tv, she goes upstairs in the middle of the argument while Woody follows. Carolyn ends up reprimanding the kids and Woody grabs and drags her down the steps to which all of the kids witness their father hurting their mother. Tony knows that her family struggles with money and that causes her to start stealing from the corner store.

The kids get exposed to the fact that they are struggling to make ends meet and end up living in a single-parent home.

The second example is how their family is brought up to almost take care of themselves at a very young age. Carolyn expects the children to do all the house work for her when she is at work and during the day, the kids are outside by themselves, going to the store without adult supervision, and also trashing their neighbors' area. It is not traditional for kids under the age of ten to be leaving out of the house to get candy and snacks late at night without an adult, which Tony did. Her sneaking out caused her to witness a man dancing "sexually" with another man in the corner store and on her way home, she witnessed Vic getting arrested. As the movie progresses, Tony gets exposed to more of the reality surrounding her, understanding that things are not as good as she thinks it is.

Lastly, when Tony comes back from her Aunt Song's house in the South, she learns that her mother is sick with cancer. I personally believe that this made the movie more real seeing as though it didn't have a happy ending.