Movie Analysis Essay on Lords of Dogtown

Introduction

Lords of Dogtown is an American movie based on a true story of the Z-boys. Stacy Peralta wrote it and produced it in the year 2005. Catherine Hardwicke was the director of the film. John Linson produced it in collaboration with two production companies, that is Columbia Pictures and Tristar Pictures. It was released in the United States on the 3rd of June, 2005, and Germany on the 8th of September, 2005 (Johnson, 2009). It can be found in English or Spanish.

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The movie shows three passionate skaters and surfers. Stacy, Tony, and Jay loved skating and surfing the pier in Venice Beach in California. They were excellent friends with a passion for the waves. They had a friend named Sid who could not surf as the rest because he has balancing issues. Sid worked in a particular shop that sales surfboards and skateboards. This shop, Zephyr Surf Shop, belonged to Skip. Skip had a known surfing team. One day Skip received a bag full of urethane wheels. These wheels, when attached to the skateboards, enable the skater to make moves that the other skateboards could not.

Seeing this, Sid decided to invite Stacy, Jay, and Tony to come and see the performance of the wheels. Understanding what the wheels can do, Skip decides to add to his surfing team a skating team. He brings the Z-boys, that is Tony, Stacy, and Jay, for training. The boys use the wheels to transform their love for waves into a road skating moment. They broke the rules and took risks.

A period of drought in Venice could slow down surfing around the pier. In that time, drought was declared officially, which meant the swimming pools were not filled with water. Stacy, Jay, and Tony saw that as an opportunity for them to train more. They kept on sneaking into the empty pools of the local backyards. This made Skip angry though for skipping their lessons with him, the boys did it anyway. They started winning contests as they continue winning significant games, they appeared in magazines once in a while. As a result, they became even more famous, attracting big skating companies.

One day Skip decided to throw a party to celebrate the boys for their efforts. They had won some robust content. Hence, they deserved some celebrations for their success. During the party, one company owner going by the name Topper, approached Tony. He told him how wasted he is by Skip, who is drunk most of the time. He promised Tony a good career where he would be known globally. Tony, who is very ambitious and willing to betray his friends to achieve it, accepted the offer. Tony left the team. Soon than later, Jay, to goes the team to find ways to earn money so that he could help his mother to pay rent (Etrangeres, 2019). Skip tried to convince Stacy to stay, but he left too after getting several offers to skate and appear on T.V. Skip had to let go of the team since Tony, Stacy, and Jay were gone.

Skip took the time to settle down. He continued to sell skateboards as usual as the boys were away. He sold out his shop too to cover his financial crisis. The boys continued to be famous after that. Tony and Stacy continued to skate, but this time around for money. Jay did slip because of his passion. His motive never changed. He was the least able to cash in on his skills. Stacy and Tony became competitors hence rivals (Davies, 2015). They would compete on specific significant contests. The rivalry was severe in that when Stacy joined a show on skating; Tony started his commercial.

On the other hand, Jay was offered money to be in a commercial, but he refused. His motive for doing things remains the same. He did not want to do things for money.

There came a time the three boys were in a significant skating championship. The rivalry was still there. Tony hot into a massive fight with another skater, which lead him to lay off temporarily from skating since he was kicked out very bad. Jay then decided to leave the company because they had trade quality for cheap materials making Stacy the winner of the competition in the end. Sid is diagnosed with a brain tumor, which was the cause of his issue of balancing. The three boys, Tony, Jay, and Stacy, went back to Venice to see their friend Sid. They skate again in the empty pool with Sid to be able to remember their friendship before the team was formed. Sid dies in the end, Stacy opens his company, Tony becomes a successful skater, and Jay lives his career dream of being known as the motivator or starter of a flame.

During the story, there were some social and cultural issues. The social aspect of family is one of them. The three boys lived as brothers in a family. They surfed and skated together. Even though Sid could not race as Tony, Stacy, and Jay due to his equilibrium issue, he remained to be family to them. He was the all-purpose sidekick. Sid even invited his friends to see the new wheels brought to the shop he was working in.

Nevertheless, this social issue was affected by the cultural aspect of competition. The boys were split due to competition. First, Topper porched Tony from Skip when he saw the potential so that he could gain for his company (Beato, 2019). Then the boys had a competition between themselves too hence forgetting their friendship. Anyway, family always come together; the boys reunited again for their friend Sid who was sick. Through the social value of family and friendship, the boys overcame their differences brought by the cultural significance of competition in the area.

The sports experience told in the story has some implications on the evolution of sport - the rise of skating shoes. The skateboards with the wheels enabled the skaters to make turns and directions that they could not before they arrived. They bettered their way of skating. This made skaters look for even better ways of improving the skating experience, which led to skating shoes. Skating shoes are shoes with wheels that can turn at three hundred and sixty degrees. The added advantage of having skating shoes is that they do not get off your legs. This is not the case with skateboards. The skater can jump with the skating shoes on unlike with the skateboards. For skateboards, if the skater is not carefully, he or she might miss the board on landing, or it might slide, leading to accidents. The other implication is the growth of skating in terms of sports. Many people became interested in skating. Due to the passion shown in the story, many other people were motivated to start racing. For example, Tony wanted to be known for being a spark that led to a flame, so through living his dream, he drove others.

In today's life, children learn how to skate even in the streets at a very early age. Skating has become an everyday sport enjoyed by many. Many people have gotten scholarships due to racing to be able to achieve their dreams (Peralta,2016). The skills of skating have become more advanced due to having modernized skateboards and skating shoes since people saw that someone could improve daily. If the Z-boys were able to achieve their dreams with so much fun after getting better skateboards, why not improve on what we have to enjoy skating even more.

Conclusion

In conclusion, to encourage more competition, prices have become even bigger and better. Companies have offered rewards and recognition to motivate skaters. Championships have become more frequent with so many competitors. Improved technology has enabled skaters to have fewer injuries and better medication if there is one. As portrayed in the movie, Tony got injured in the Stadium, and he had to stop his career temporarily. Today there are fewer instances where a skater has to put to a stop his or her career due to injuries. This is because of good attendance and increased precautionary measures. Technology has also made research even easier in the field of skating.

References

Beato, G. (2019). The Lords of Dogtown. In Spin (Vol. 15, No. 3).

Etrangeres, U. D. L.(2019). Representation de l'adolescent Dans Trois films americains independants: Lords of Dogtown, Donnie Darko et Elephant.

Davies, S. (2015). 'Lords of Dogtown.'

Peralta, S. (2016). Lords of Dogtown (p. 88). Universal Pictures Norway.

Johnson, D. T. (2009). Playgrounds of unlimited potential: Adaptation, documentary, and Dogtown and Z-Boys. Adaptation, 2(1), 1-16.