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Friday's Treatment Of Controversial Social Issues

    The movie Friday is a comedy, but it also depicts many important
social issues. The story is set in the city of Los Angeles,
California, in what could be called a high class ghetto. The main
theme of the movie is about a young black man who looses his job and
is influenced by his best friend to smoke marijuana. The movie also
shows the relationships of his family and other members of his
neighborhood. With a zany cast of characters and a hilarious script
this movie touches on everything from gang v lence to the use of
drugs, crime, guns, relationships, sex and life in the ghetto. Because
of all these issues, I found this an interesting movie with a wide
variety of topics to address.

    Marijuana has been around for a long time. It's use is once again
becoming popular. Although it's not legal, many people use it socially
and for medicinal purposes. The Hollywood elite smoke it. Musicians
such as Dr. Dre and the Black Crows celebra it's use. Television shows
like Saturday Night Live and Kids In the Hall depict it as harmless
fun.   Marijuana fashion has grown into a ten million dollar industry,
with the seven branch marijuana leaf showing up on caps, T-shirts,
earrings and tattoos. Studies show that after a decade of declining
drug use, marijuana use has increased sharply among gh school students
and college students in the last two years (Duschbaun 8).

    In the movie Friday, rap star Ice Cube plays the character Craig.
Craig has never smoked marijuana. However, his best friend "Smokey"
smokes marijuana everyday. Craig looses his job, leaving him home all
day with nothing to do to occupy his time. H just hangs out in the
neighborhood with his friends. Smokey tries to convince Craig to try
some marijuana. At first Craig doesn't want to. Smokey is persistent.
He points out to Craig that he doesn't have to work and doesn't have
anything better to . Craig and Smokey eventually sit on the front
porch and...