School Daze.

This past summer I decided that I was going to FINALLY watch this well-known movie, School Daze. I heard so much about it...saw clips here and there...but never actually sat down and watched the movie in its entirety. I couldn't find the movie in Blockbusters...Hollywood Video...the $5 bin at Wall-Mart...anywhere! I have no idea why I have not been able to find such a popular movie in one of these stores...so...needless to say...School Daze continues to be on my list of movies that I should have seen...but just haven't gotten around to it yet list.

But anyways...

From what I have seen from various video clips and musical selections...one of the topics the movie highlights is the issue of light and dark skinned African Americans. The movie showcases these people as traveling in packs and hating on each other simply because of their shade of “blackness”. I find it crazy to think something like this could have actually occurred in our history...but sadly I can believe that this form of stereotyping really did exist.

In School Daze, the dark skinned people were showcased as brash and belligerent while the light skinned people were portrayed as "siddity" and prissy. These portrayals are not always the case but of course there are exceptions which include people that actually embody these generalizations.

I feel that it is beneficial that Spike Lee chose to shine light on that subject matter in a humorous way. Although stereotypes are a sensitive subject, it needs to be highlighted and discussed so people can see how ridiculous some of the stereotypes we discuss on a day to day basis truly are. As people, we need to not judge others. We need to be accepting of all races and shades that come within a race until they prove that they should be treated otherwise. Far too often, people are not able to progress through life because they are cut short of opportunity by people who think they are going to act a certain way in which they may not in reality.

Coming together as a whole and stopping the use of generalizations of people will only further our human race.

Films like School Daze are beneficial and add a humorous touch to a serious subject that we all need to be aware of.