Example research essay topic: White Middle Class Forced To Move - 938 words

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The movie, Save the Last Dance, goes along with all of our discussions and conversations about the visual difference between the black and white cultures and the stereotyping that Hollywood does of the two cultures. The movie shows the difference in the two cultures, according to Hollywood. you have your typical white middle-class suburban girl (Sarah) and your typical low-class black boy (Derrick). Save the Last Dance is a love story about the pros and cons that comes along with interracial dating.

Hollywood displays Sarah as your typical white girl whose forced to move into a low-class neighborhood (with her father, Roy), which is inhabited mostly by blacks, after her mother dies in a tragic car accident on her way to one of her audition. The theme of the movie is really plain and simple. Sarah has always wanted to become a ballerina and attend Julliard, a school of performing arts in New York, however, after the death of her mother, she loses the passion for her dream. Like I mentioned above, Sarah was forced to move with her father, Roy, who lived in an old ratty house deep in a ghetto (inhabited mostly by blacks) in New York City. It had to have been a huge culture shock for Sarah, I mean, here is this white middle-class girl who feels that shes to blame for her mothers death.

And in an instant, shes taken away from her home, neighborhood, and friends and forced to live and attend school in a black ghetto. Her first day of high school was horrible, people gave her dirty looks and long mean stares. It took her a while, but she ended up changing her style so shed fit in more, which lead to her meeting a girl named Chenille, who ends up playing a huge part in Sarah's survival in a mostly black school and neighborhood. Chenille walked to school with Sarah, showed her around the neighborhood and helped her make friends by introducing her to lots of different people, including her brother named Derrick. After meeting Chenille, Sarah had no problem adapting to her new surroundings and situation, however, there were a few people who didnt like the fact that a white girl was becoming cool and well known in their territory. Those people consisted of Nikki (Derricks ex-girlfriend and an associate of Chenille) and Malachi (a trouble making gang member and one of Derricks friends).

In the movie, dancing is portrayed as a must in the African American community and played a big part in Save the Last Dance and the social scene in the high school. All the cool and popular people hung out and danced at this dance club like every weekend and I got the idea that if you couldnt dance, you werent cool. Of course Sarah was invited to the dance club by Chenille and once inside, she realized that the dancers werent doing the type of dance that she was use to. After making a fool of herself on the dance floor while dancing with Derrick, they decide to sit down, rest, and talk for while. To make a long story short, Derrick ends up teaching Sarah the hip-hop / urban dance style and despite the obstacles, they end up liking each other and trying to start and maintain a healthy relationship in a neighborhood that seems to be against interracial dating.

This makes Nikki and Malachi jealous and hateful towards Sarah, however, Sarah continues to dance at the club and quickly becomes a crowd favorite. The club scene becomes the setting in the movie where all the action takes place two of my favorite scenes take place at the club. One is the part in the movie where Nikki and Sarah have a West Side Story like dance off, Sarah won, but while she was dancing with Snookie (one of Derricks friends and a want to be thug) Derrick ended up slow dancing and grinding with Nikki, which, of course, made Sarah angry. And another is the part where Malachi insults Sarah causing him and Derrick to engage in a minor fight, which consisted of a few pushes and a punch thrown by Derrick, hitting Malachi in the face. In the end, Sarah auditions for her acceptance to Julliard again and the scenes cut from her being ridiculed by the judges to Derrick running (I assumed that he was running to her audition) and then my assumption was made into a fact as Derrick came running into the auditioning session and gave Sarah a pep talk. Now, with Derrick in the audience, her passion for her dream of becoming a ballerina, and the want to make her mom proud was all she needed to give the performance of a life time and impress the panel of the rude judges, guaranteeing her acceptance to Julliard.

I have to say that the actors, actresses, and the acting itself made the movie great and presented the idea of interracial dating in a way that made it virtually impossible not to accept and embrace the idea of interracial dating. The actors and actresses which played the different characters in Save the Last Dance made the movie realistic and life like. They created a strong sense of suspense by using their emotions and acting techniques, leaving the viewers no choice but to wonder what would happen next and wanting more. The movie itself interested me because it took two totally different people and showed how they could relate, communicate, and maintain a successful and healthy relationship despite other peoples views and the hardships of maintaining a interracial relationship.

Research essay sample on White Middle Class Forced To Move