8 mile movie analysis

The title of this movie is 8 mile. The movie was produced and directed by Curtis Hanson. It was made in the United States of America.

List of important actors in the movie:  

×          Eminem as Jimmy “B-Rabbit” Smith

×          Brittany Murphy as Alex Latorno

×          Kim Basinger as Stephanie

×          Evan Jones as “Cheddar Bob”

×          Anthony Mackie as “Papa Doc”

×          Chloe Greenfield as Lily

×          Mekhi Thira Phifer as David “Future” Porter

×          King Gordy as Big “O”

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Genre:

Drama, self-biography and music.

Setting:

The movie is produced in the US and the action takes place in the poor part of Detroit,Michigan. The poor part is recognized by how the people live and act. For instance Rabbit live with his mother in a truck, and they have problems paying the rent. The way people act is characterized in a lot of fighting and conflicts as well as it is normal to carry a gun.  Most of the time the action takes place in the trailer park where Jimmy lives, at his work on a stamp fabric and the “rap club” the Shelter.

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Plot

The movie is about a young man named Jimmy “B-Rabbit” Smith. In the opening scene Rabbit chokes in a rap battle, which is predominantly the basis of the movie. People in the town jokes around about the incident and Rabbits friend Future signs Rabbit up for a new battle.

Later he meets Alex who turns out to be an important person in his life. He realizes that he has to take control of his life and decides to enter the rap battle even though he refused to do so at first.

During the movie Jimmy and his friends meets several conflicts and in the end Rabbit battles at the Shelter. He wins this battle and walks away with new hope of a music carrier.

Structure

The story takes place in the present and is chronologically structured.  As far as I remember there are no flashbacks in the movie. The narrator is third person, but the story is told thru Rabbits eyes, the main character. We do not get to know what he is thinking at any point during the movie unless he talks about it to another person.

In one way I would also say that there is a parallel action. This is because there is a story about a struggling rapper, but also about a young man who tries to take care of his family.

When Jimmy loses the battle and Future signed him up for another one, it all adds up to a new battle later. This is an example of a foreshadow in the movie. The suspense in the movie is about if he will receive a record deal or not, will he enter a second rap battle and if he do, will he choke or will he rap.

Theme

The theme of this movie is mainly the American dream. However there are a couple of other themes as well such as poverty and independence.

The theme could be independence because in the movie, Jimmy does not want to be dependent to other. He shows us that it is possible to achieve success without too much help from other human beings.  Achieving success is also a big part of finding the American Dream. Jimmy symbolizes the American Dream because he managed to go from a life in poverty to a life in wealth.  The last theme I think it might be is poverty. This is because you see poverty thru the whole movie, and it basically symbolizes the movie.

Conflict:

I find it hard to find a conflict in this movie and I do not think that there is a main conflict.  I think that perhaps Rabbit has a lot of smaller conflicts and issues about himself. These conflicts include how he does not want to disappoint anyone, but still wants to do what’s best for him. He has to solve these conflicts internal. In addition to this I also think that Rabbit is affected by the environment that surrounds him.  

Characterization

I do not think that the characters are just static people who do not change during the movie. More the other way around. For instance, in the end everyone understands that Rabbit has to do what’s best for himself and that he have to develop his freestyle rap skill in his own way, and they actually respects it.

This is a very serious movie and I believe that both the characters and the action are believable.

Narrator and point of view:

The story is told thru Rabbits point of view, although we do not get to hear his thoughts and feelings. I think that the narrator perhaps is a third person limited narrator.

Imagery:

One of the instruments in the movie is poverty. The colors are mostly dark and cold, such as grey, brown, dark blue and so on.

Sources:

Starpulse «8 Mile Summary»  http://www.starpulse.com/Movies/8_Mile/Summary/ (04.12.12)

Wikipedia (2012) “8 Mile”  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8_Mile_(film)#Cast (04.12.12)