Long gone are the days when coming of age movies were only about the white, the rich, and the stereotypical. Young adult movies have been dealing with some heavy stuff recently – cancer (The Fault in Our Stars), mental health issues due to childhood trauma (The Perks of Being a Wallflower), and homophobia (Moonlight) to name but a few.
The Hate U Give addresses systemic racism, police brutality, coming of age while black and a bunch of other heavy, important ideas. Based on a young adult novel of the same name, the film stars Amandla Stenberg (The Hunger Games, Everything Everything) as Starr Carter – a 16-year-old in a limbo between the wealthy white school she attends and the poverty-stricken black neighbourhood in which she lives. Starr’s world is turned upside down when she witnesses her childhood friend Khalil shot and killed by a white police officer. As Issa Rae, who plays a lawyer in the film, says: “It’s the same story just a different name.”
It is virtually impossible to treat this as a work of fiction; social media has provided a relentless record of cases almost indistinguishable to that of Khalil. Starr survives the shooting but her life as she knows it ceases to exist that same night. Starr must make many important decisions before she can even begin to grieve, and Stenberg’s portrayal is as genuine as it gets. Her outstanding performance in the film deserves all the praise and more. Seriously, bring tissues.
The Hate U Give is a blistering critique of the hypocrisy of All Lives Matter, internalised oppression, and gang violence. Starr develops a defence mechanism, aka Starr Version II, while at Williamson – the private school with mostly white kids who say things like “those kicks are lit”. It’s funny to see white kids trying so hard to look tough, yet Starr knows the same mannerisms would make her look “ghetto”. The cognitive dissonance of people cherry-picking aspects of black culture without acknowledging white privilege is relayed flawlessly. Starr fights the world with words and the world fights back with tear gas and bullets.
I am running out of adjectives here, but the point is: go see this movie. Show your support by giving your coin. The movie does have one major flaw, and his name is Chris. I wonder if I can un-see him the same way he doesn’t “see colour”.
