STRAIGHT

OUTTA
COMPTON
Historical context
The 1992 Los Angeles riots, also known as the Rodney King riots, the South Central riots, the 1992 Los
Angeles civil disturbance, the 1992 Los Angeles civil unrest, and the Los Angeles uprising, were a series of
riots, lootings, arsons, and civil disturbances that occurred in Los Angeles County, California in April and May
1992. The unrest began in South Central Los Angeles on April 29, after a trial jury acquitted four officers of the
Los Angeles Police Department for usage of excessive force in the videotaped arrest and beating of Rodney
King. It then spread throughout the Los Angeles metropolitan area as thousands of people rioted over a six-
day period following the announcement of the verdict.

Widespread looting, assault, arson, and killings occurred during the riots, and estimates of property damage
were over $1 billion. Order was only restored after members of the California Army National Guard, the 7th
Infantry Division, and the 1st Marine Division were called in to stop the rioting when local police could not
control the situation. In total, 63 people were killed during the riots, 2,383 people were injured, and more than
12,000 were arrested. LAPD chief of police Daryl Gates, who had already announced his resignation by the
time of the riots, took much of the institutional blame.La Riots of 1992 took place after the time film was set, it
is still heavily relatable to the themes that were blown up in the film.
Historical context
For many people in the United States, the late 1970s were a troubled and troubling time.
The radical and countercultural movements of the 1960s and early 1970s, the Watergate scandal, the
Vietnam War, uncertainty in the Middle East and economic crisis at home had undermined Americans’
confidence in their fellow citizens and in their government.
By the end of Jimmy Carter’s presidency, the idealistic dreams of the 1960s were worn down by inflation,
foreign policy turmoil and rising crime. In response, many Americans embraced a new conservatism in
social, economic and political life during the 1980s, characterized by the policies of President Ronald
Reagan.

Where is the
relevance?
Historical context!!!!!!
Like many other American leaders during the Cold War, President Reagan believed that the spread of
communism anywhere threatened freedom everywhere. As a result, his administration was eager to
provide financial and military aid to anti-communist governments and insurgencies around the world.
Wiki
Product context
F Gary Gray: is a black american director who directed straight outta compton but he had also previously
directed mostly action and crime films but had done films with black americans associated with crime and
drama such as set it off so it wasn't an unusual film to be directing for him as he directed a lot of similar film
genres.
However Gary Gray also already knew the nwa members as he directed some of their music videos such as
“it was a good day” by ice cube and “natural born killaz” by dr Dre and many more so it was quite fitting that
he is the director of the movie as he already knew and he worked with the nwa crew so he would know more
about them and could relate more to their stories.

Written by angelos focus and wiki

Economic and political
context
In the early 1980s, the American economy was suffering through a deep recession. Business bankruptcies
increased to over 50 percent of the previous year. Farmers were particularly negatively impacted due to a
combination of reasons including a decline in agricultural exports, falling crop prices and rising interest
rates.

In the wake of the disastrous Vietnam War, Reagan successfully pushed for big budget increases for
defense spending by arguing that the U.S. had neglected its military
During his presidency, Reagan cut social programs and worked to reduce or completely remove
government regulations affected the consumer, workplace and environment.
Media
ownership
Universal Pictures is an American film studio owned by Comcast through the Universal Filmed
Entertainment Group division of its wholly owned subsidiary NBCUniversal.

Universal are one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies in the development,
production, and marketing of entertainment, news and information to a global audience.

It was quite unusual that universal would produce straight outta compton as they've never produced a
movie like this before which is a documentary and is about black rights and it's quite controversial that
they actually produced this film even if they knew that this was going to cause a lot of controversy but
they still continued to distribute it and did not use one of their many side companies to distribute the film.
So the film got to more people because when you see universal you immediately think that the film is
going to be good as it's produced by a worldwide known massive company.

Films that universal usually get involved with are Bruce Almighty (2003),Casper (1995) and Home Alone
2: Lost in New York (1992)
Media
ownership
Legendary Entertainment is a leading media company with film (Legendary Pictures), television and digital
(Legendary Television and Digital Media) and comics (Legendary Comics) divisions dedicated to owning,
producing and delivering content to mainstream audiences with a targeted focus on the powerful fandom
demographic.

Through complete or joint ownership, Legendary has built a library of marquee media properties and has
established itself as a trusted brand which consistently delivers high-quality, commercial entertainment
including some of the world’s most popular intellectual property.

In aggregate, Legendary Pictures-associated productions have realized grosses of more than $12 billion
worldwide at the box office.
Audience
People who are likely to go and watch the film:
● Fans of N.W.A
(older fans who lived through the period, younger fans attracted to the band for their cultural
significance etc.)
● Fans of rap/gangster rap- predominantly American audience or world-wide appeal, Urban dwellers
who share experiences with the artists, Middle class youths whose lives are vastly different to the
perceived struggles of the artists
● Fans of biopic lms-open minded, educated, older, global audience without a specific interest in
N.W.A.
● Fans of the lm studios/producers- previous releases of Legendary/Universal studios
How they used media
to advertise the film
The use of social media and famous people to help the movie to go viral. This was used in the
“straight outta somewhere” campaign, this gave people the chance to create a meme and
send it to their friends or family. The publicity was great for the film as the awareness was
used to get people into the cinema to watch.
How they used media
to advertise the film
The trailer depicts an action packed movie with car chase scenes and fights. This reflects the Compton
atmosphere and makes it appeal to a young audience. Universal and Legendary are the producers of this
movie. They are featured in the trailer's climax and the Universal brand shows that the movie will be well
made, as it is a reputable company, with vertical integration to Comcast, a media mega conglomerate. The
trailer shows the music in the background that will attract people from that era who enjoyed their music and
will watch it for the nostalgia. The trailer does not give out any explicit storyline so leaves the audience
wanting to see the movie to see what happens. The use of the hip-hop beat adds to the excitement and
reflects the characters' personalities. The characters are a key selling point of the movie as they were a very
popular group so fans will be wanting to see the movie and view their story.
Intertextuality
The logo has black and white colouring only which
references racism. It has explicit design reference to
music parental advisory notice (social conventions of
rebellion and challenge to authority)