NW Connections

Last weekend i attended the SIFF film "Northwest Connections", which was a collaborated compilation of five short films all locally created and produced in the north-west. Prior to the films commencement i assumed that all the shorts would have a running theme that would connect the ideas from each film and conclude in some sort of resolution at the end, but i was wrong. Each film varied drastically from one another in both content and form, though the concepts were easy to follow and held my interest thoroughly. The first to films featured in this collective sequence, though one being a fictional narrative and the other a documentary, seemed to mirror two films we have watched in class, The Godfather and Boyz 'n' Tha Hood. The first short film was called Shuffle, featuring what is assumed to be an Irish organized crime family that strongly upholds patriarchal values and associates ideas of masculinity with violence and an inability to feel or express emotion. I feel like this film was synonymous with The Godfather in defining what it is to be masculine in a patriarchal society dominated by white, heterosexual males.The second short film that premiered consecutive to Shuffle was entitled White Lines and The Fever: The Death of DJ Junebug. This short but compelling documentary dives deep into the history of hip-hop recalling its roots, rise to recognition as well as its evolution, but most importantly this film focuses on the Bronx's most popular hip-hop club in 1983, Disco Fever, and who is considered by many to be the most talented DJ of all time, DJ Junebug. Through the multitude of interviews in this film, somewhat of a history is built around the club, Disco Fever, which is described as a hub for early hip-hop. A DJ by the stage-name Junebug was hired immediately following the clubs opening and succeeded in drawing large amounts of people to the club every night. Soon people were coming to Disco Fever exclusively to hear Junebug's record spinning because he was so talented. Soon, Disco Fever began hosting turntable competitions of which over Junebug maintained the reigning champion title, even against competitors that would come to be known as the godfathers of DJ'ing such as Grandmaster Flash. Junebug's talent in the growing hip-hop community was undisputed until he began selling cocaine. Starting out just to make a few extra bucks, Junebug soon found himself overwhelmed in the drug world and began accepting multiple kilos of cocaine on consignment from kingpins. He routinely doubled the clubs nightly revenue with his cocaine profits alone, and soon became so preoccupied with his illegal business that DJ'ing became a thing of the past, only DJ'ing a few hours a night at most. One morning Junebug was found brutally shot and stabbed to death in his own apartment, and his girlfriend beaten and drowned in the bath tub. As well he had a young child prior to his death.
This film really made me think of Boyz 'n' Tha Hood in that many of the events that took place in Junebug's life were synonymous with those of the character Ricky, in Boyz 'N' Tha Hood. Both victims of oppression and residents of inner city minority communities, Junebug and Ricky share the same plight of underprivileged, disadvantaged living conditions. Like Junebug's passionate talent for DJ'ing, Ricky's talent for football provides him a progressive opportunity to make a better life for himself and his family. Another similarity is the fact that their lives and careers are cut short due to the fact that they both become targeted victims of internalized oppression. Sadly, it seems almost coincidental that like Ricky, Junebug became a new father a very short time prior to his murder. It seems coincidental that these stories are so synonymous, but we have to realize that unfortunately real life stories like Junebug's are the inspiration for these reoccurring fictional themes in Hollywood.