Friday

The movie Friday is a comedy, but it also depicts many important social issues. The story is set in the city of Los Angelos, California, in what could be called a high class ghetto. The main theme of the movie is about a young black man who looses his job and is influenced by his best friend to smoke marijuana. The movie also shows the relationships of his family and other members of his neighborhood. With a zany cast of characters and a hilarious script this movie touches on everything from gang v lence to the use of drugs, crime, guns, relationships, sex and life in the ghetto. Because of all these issues, I found this an interesting movie with a wide variety of topics to address.

Marijuana has been around for a long time. It's use is once again becoming popular. Although it's not legal, many people use it socially and for medicinal purposes. The Hollywood elite smoke it. Musicians such as Dr. Dre and the Black Crows celebra it's use. Television shows like Saturday Night Live and Kids In the Hall depict it as harmless fun.

Marijuana fashion has grown into a ten million dollar industry, with the seven branch marijuana leaf showing up on caps, T-shirts, earrings and tattoos. Studies show that after a decade of declining drug use, marijuana use has increased sharply among gh school students and college students in the last two years (Duschbaun 8).

In the movie Friday, rap star Ice Cube plays the character Craig. Craig has never smoked marijuana. However, his best friend "Smokey" smokes marijuana everyday. Craig looses his job, leaving him home all day with nothing to do to occupy his time. H just hangs out in the neighborhood with his friends. Smokey tries to convince Craig to try some marijuana. At first Craig doesn't want to. Smokey is persistent. He points out to Craig that he doesn't have to work and doesn't have anything better to . Craig and Smokey eventually sit on the front porch and get stoned. Peer pressure is obviously the only reason Craig gives in. Actually he had other options, but he chose not to use them. Common sense and a simple explanation would have worked for aig just fine (How to Say No and Keep Your Friends 23) Everyday we are faced with choices. It is up to us to decide what's right and wrong. Craig decides to try it and things start to happen that he really doesn't like.

Craig and Smokey get into some trouble with the neighborhood dealer, Big Worm. Smokey sells pot for him, but can't pay him the money he owes because he and Craig smoked the pot. Big Worm threatens them and sends a gang of "hoods" after them with mach e guns. They just barely escape and are scared shitless. The amount of gang violence that can be contributed to the use and sale of illegal drugs has risen dramatically in the past seven years (Gates 67). It's no wonder that this is happening with th use of marijuana becoming so popular again. Violence and crime are issues we hear about every day. We can watch any news broadcast and see the evidence of these increasingly worrisome problems. In Friday, both of these issues are very apparent. Debone, the neighborhood thief and "bully" is co tantly harassing the people in Craig's neighborhood. He breaks into their homes, steals their possessions, beats people up to take their jewelry and other items and is just generally a pain in everyones ass. He is the most violent person in the movie Craig gets into a fight with him and pulls a gun on Debone. Craig feels confused and not sure what to do. His father convinces him to give him the gun. He insists that Craig should fight like a man with his fists. I don't think that was very good a ice. Debone was twice as big as Craig and probably 100 pounds heavier. They do fight and surprisingly Craig wins. You would think that most problems can be solved without violent acts. The reality is that sometimes, under certain circumstances, that ust doesn't work. Obviously, this was one of those times.

Sexual promiscuity was also depicted in this movie. Craig's neighbor has an affair with a preacher. His sisters friend sleeps around to get drugs. Smokey puts the moves on anything in a skirt. To so blatantly condone this kind of behavior is repuls e. With the rampant spread of the Aids virus and other sexually transmitted diseases anyone with common sense would know better than to behave in this manner. Unwanted pregnancies and the abortion rate or serious issues that should also be considered. Craig seemed to have a loving and supportive family. His dad was a real trip. His ideas about how to handle certain situations were a bit far-fetched, but he meant well. Because there was