Writer Mark Wooden discusses four New Jack Techniques director Mario Van Peebles uses in his movie New Jack City. He’ll then show you how to use these techniques to become a writer with something to say above the generic story.
A New Jack Writer, if you will.
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Creator Notes
The original idea for this episode was to do a wrap-up for Black History Month that included a bunch of movies you should check out.
Picking up from the last episode’s look at Melvin Van Peebles, I moved to Mario. I started writing about New Jack City, intending to move on to Mario’s other fun movie, Posse, with a segue to The Harder They Fall.
I started writing so much about New Jack I realized I’d never cover all those movies, let alone the others I wanted to mention.
Then I noticed the iconic elements in New Jack City and couldn’t resist talking about them. Then, like LeVert, Troop, and Queen Latifah, I kicked the ballistics by stating how writers can use those New Jack Techniques to improve their stories.
I researched some of the behind-the-scenes of New Jack City. If you’re interested, I can post some factoids on Instagram.
About that “War on Drugs.” Here’s another tidbit anti-CRT/ anti-black history/ don’t hurt the whypeepo’s fee fees crowd doesn’t want you to know.
The American Civil Liberties Union did a twenty-year study and found a 100 to 1 disparity in sentencing. Just 5 grams of crack, more common in the black community, carried a minimum 5-year federal prison sentence.
Meanwhile, the distribution of 500 grams of powder cocaine, more common in the white community, carried the same 5-year mandatory minimum sentence.
I also mentioned redlining, the practice of banks not giving loans to people they felt were high risks for defaults. That sounds good on the surface — until you learned banks seemed to think only black people were high risks.
This article on redlining from NPR can tell you more. Just don’t get arrested by anti-CRT douchebags.
To end on a happy note, here’s that infamous song from New Jack City I’ve referenced so much.
See you in two.
