Style Wars

Silver, Tony, dir. Style Wars. Prod. Henry Chalfant. Public Art Films, Plexifilm, 1983. Film. "Style Wars" illustrates the birth of a cultural movement, known as Hip Hop, in the late twentieth century in New York City. The film focuses on graffiti, rap, and break-dancing, which are the three main components of Hip Hop. Most importantly, it reveals the cultural impact graffiti imposed on society and the urban lifestyle. "Style Wars" did a great job at presenting a lot of different perspectives on the practice of graffiti. The writers considered it art, while others looked at it as vandalism. In addition, many people regarded the practice of graffiti a race-relating issue. Middle-aged individuals and the media associated graffiti with Hispanic and African American teenagers. However, "Style Wars" presents some white graffiti writers in the film, to convey that the movement involved teenagers of all races, and not just teens of minority groups.