Using specific examples of either plot themes, characters
and their arcs, or specific scenes, critically discuss in what ways the films
broke away from the typical Hollywood generated stereotypes of the Caribbean
and the people mentioned in the readings. (be sure to reference from the
reading). What types of images or themes does the film/films project about
Caribbean culture and life? Do you think the films capture an authentic view of
Caribbean culture? Use examples to explain why or why not.
I watched the movie Rockers from 1978. It was originally supposed to be a documentary showing reggae culture, rastafari at its peak in a very authentic way instead of a staged hollywood interpretation. It turned into a robin hood tale essentially. The main character, horsemouth, is an actual reggae artist and in the movie he is actually living with his real wife and kids in their real home. This is as authentic as you can get concerning the home life in the Caribbean She works and takes care of the kids while he works and sort of serves as a traditional old school father who lets the woman handle the kids but he comes around and lays a hand down every so often. There are also real scenes involving gatherings in yards of the brethren and such. Instead of showing pothead dreadheads, it was definitely a communal gathering with the showing of ganja just once in the entire movie. The film is about horsemouth buying a motorcycle to sell records, his motorcycle gets stolen by a gang, and then he steals from the gang and gives all the loot to the poor. This message portrays the communal aspect of caribbean, particularly rastafari life. Everyone is happy and wants to be in a positive mood as they battle babylon and stay away from babylon. There were no references to babylon in this movie, no rich white man or anything, because they wanted this movie for themselves and didn't need that presence. I would say this is the most authentic view of caribbean life because as it was shot for a documentary, they made every element in the movie as real as possible by using real people for their roles. (excpet the gangsters obviously).
