Urban Stories Exam Response (City of God)

How far can it be argued that your chosen films provide a 'realistic' representation of the people and places they focus on?

To a certain extent, my chosen films do provide a realistic representation of the people and places they focus on. 

An example of this in the film City of God (2002), is where the audience is told 'The Story of the Apartment' and we can see that drug use is used throughout the different decades that appear in the film and is a constant way of life for the people of the favelas. Throughout this static montage scene, we see all of the owners of one apartment in the favelas, and all of the activity that goes on there. The audience see that the character Li'l Ze takes over the apartment and uses it for drug selling etc. This is something that is very realistic and does happen in the favelas in Brazil. 

From my own knowledge, I know that young boys, from the ages of 11, are forced to participate in drug selling and similar business as this is the way of life in the favelas. The life expectancy of males in Brazil is an average of 18 years old. A reason for this way of life may be that living in the favelas is a 'vicious cycle' and the people living like this are always sucked into things of this nature. 

'Suck' is a constant word used in the dialog of the film. Rocket says that "Having a hood as a brother sucks..." in the scene where his brother Goose is being told off by their father about him stealing from a motel, and this word relates to the idea that people living in the favelas constantly get sucked back into the drug activity and violence, even if they don't want to. Another example of the cycle is through these individual's friends. Peer pressure and copying others may be a factor of the continuous cycle, as when somebody sees somebody doing something, they may want to copy them and do what they do. This can be seen in the film where Li'l Dice (Li'l Ze) goes with the Tender Trio (Shaggy, Goose and Clipper) to a heist at a local motel to steal goods. Li'l Dice wants to go in with the older guys, however he is too young so stays outside to watch. Li'l Dice wants to be like the other guys as he wants the same amount of respect they get from the rest of the villagers in the favelas. (WRITE ABOUT LA HAINE- YOUNG BOY COPYING VINZ/HIM COPYING AMERICAN FILMS)

There is also the constant thought that if you attempt to escape the favelas, you may die, like the character Shaggy does in the scene where he tries to run away with Bernice, the woman he loves and wants to start a family with.