Fruitvale Station Analysis

Fruitvale Station is a biography, drama, romance film that was directed and written by Ryan Coogler. It was produced in 2013 by Nina Yang Bongiovi and Forest Whitaker with Forest Whitaker’s Significant Productions and OG Project. It was distributed in the USA by The Weinstein Company. The music was by Ludwig Goransson, the DOP was Rachel Morrison and the editors were Claudia Castello and Michael P. Shawver. Fruitvale Station had a budget of $900,000 and went on to make $17.4 million in the box-office, with $16 million coming from the United States alone. This resulted in the film winning 49 awards including an AAFCA for the best independent feature film and an AFI for movie of the year. Starring Michael B. Jordan (Oscar Grant), Melonie Diaz (Sophina), Octavia Spencer (Wanda), Ariana Neal (Tatiana), Kevin Durand (Officer Caruso) and Chad Michael Murray (Officer Ingram), Fruitvale Station is based upon the true story of Oscar Grant III who was shot by a BART policeman at Fruitvale Station on January 1, 2009 at 2:15 am. The film follows Grant’s last day and we learn more about him through his encounters with friends, family, enemies and strangers and how he tries to make himself a better person.

Fruitvale Station was Ryan Coogler’s first feature film and when Oscar Grant was shot, Coogler was a graduate student at the University Of Southern California School Of Cinematic Arts. He then wanted to make a film about Grant’s last twenty four hours and in order to do this, he had to work closely with Grants family and their attorney, John Burris in order to gain realistic and heartfelt information. Coogler quotes: “I wanted the audience to get to know this guy, to get attached, so when the situation that happens to him happens, it’s not just like you read it in the paper”. I believe this is very significant because it truly fits to the conventions of a biography as it allows the audience to know as much as possible about Oscar in a short amount of time, allowing them to be affected by his death as if he was family to them. Of course it has been dramatized in places to allow Coogler to embed more meaning but only in a way so the audience are forced into reality, experiencing Oscars final day almost through his own eyes.

It was shot in the actual places of the event: Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) platform and San Quentin State Prison in Oakland, California and actual footage of the Grant’s murder was used at the beginning of the film. Promotion wise, in the lead up to the film, The Weinstein Company arranged three paintings to be made by street artists: Ron English, Lydia Emily and LNY in LA, New York and San Francisco and the company also set up a campaign called ‘I Am…” which encourages people to share stories and photos of social injustice. Since Fruitvale Station, Ryan Coogler is currently at the post-production stage of his next feature film, Creed and previously he has directed three short films: Locks (2009), Fig (2011) and The Sculptor (2011). Michael B. Jordan has gone on to act in That Awkward Moment (2014), Fantastic Four (2015) and he is going to be starring in Creed.

Fruitvale Station mostly follows a linear narrative structure but the first moving image shot the audience are introduced to is the actual real-life footage of Oscar Grant being shot by a BART officer in which the films portrayal of this is shown at the end which is a non-linear approach. This means the audience are aware of the ending before the films narrative begins but I believe Coogler has done this to create a juxtaposition between newspaper portrayals and the way his film represented the event. The footage makes the black people appear rowdy and almost aggressive because all you can see is them shouting at the officers and because we do not know the full story, we automatically follow the medias stereotypes and assume the gang was to blame in the situation. However, once we have watched the film, we feel as if we know Oscar so gain an emotional attachment to him, meaning that when we see the films version of the shooting at the end, we watch it in a different light, this time feeling empathy towards the gang and Oscar, and hatred towards the officers. This further illustrates that newspapers represent stories in similar ways each time and because we are so used to the consistent stereotypes, the story does not affect us as much as it should and it does not stick in our minds, however after watching the film, the event stays with the viewer because we have that additional information that newspapers seem to disregard each and every time. Therefore, by inserting the actual footage at the beginning of the film, Coogler may have intended for the audience to have a change of perception and he may have wanted them to realise this so they understand the construction of the news and how they are not always given the full story.

Additionally within the narrative, there is a manipulation of time by showing a flashback of when Oscar was in prison. This was very significant to the film because it portrays the relationship Oscar had with his mother and how it had changed and it also introduces the audience to Oscar’s violent and angry side which is illustrated through an argument he has with a fellow prisoner. However, his mannerisms are completely different when talking to his mother, he is calm and affectionate which conveys the amount of love he has for her and when she leaves after having an argument with him, he gets extremely upset when she doesn’t hug him and he repeats the words “I’m sorry”. This also shows how much Oscar cares for his mother and at this point, she was clearly the closest thing to him so he was afraid of losing her.                                                                                                                                                 

The representation in Fruitvale Station does feature racial inequality but it is not the typical ‘good vs evil/ black vs white’ and instead, Coogler focuses on humanity whilst challenging the stereotypes we hear, read and see in the media. A scene which I thought was particularly symbolic was when Oscar finds a stray pit bull which is moments later, hit by a car followed by Oscar holding it in his arms, covered in blood and then leaving it to die in the street. Pit bulls are often shown by the media to be dangerous and violent and you are likely to hear only negative stories about how they have been killed or killed someone. African-Americans are also portrayed in negative ways and they most often are seen in the media regarding death or murder. Therefore, the pit bull represents the negativity that is associated with African-Americans and it was as if Oscar realised this which is why he spends the dogs last moments holding him because he can emphasise and almost relate to him. Coogler said in an interview with The Huffington Post “so, there’s a commonality with us and pit bulls- often we die in the street. That’s where we die”.

There is another key scene which underlines one of the main separations between black and white people in a very subtle manner. Oscar is left talking to a white man as his wife and Sophina use the toilet. In this scene, we learn that Oscar plans on asking Sophina to marry him but money is a huge barrier to this and when he tells the husband this, he admits that he used to be broke and even had to steal a ring for his wife. He then goes on to say that he now has his own business and has managed to get his life well back on track whilst Oscar is struggling to get his job back at a grocery store (he was fired for being late) but still manages to put his family first and do the best that he can for them. This highlights how much harder it is for black people to reach a stable equilibrium than it is for white people and Oscar is clearly aware of this because there is a look of respect but also jealously on his face when he is handed the man’s business card as he realises that getting to such a stage is not so easy for him.

The scene towards the end of the film, in which Oscar is shot by a police-officer, brings out the strong theme of humanity. Although at first, there is a clear binary opposite between the black friends and the white officers, after Oscar is shot, the separation of race is no longer the focus and the audience are drawn to the reaction of the officer who has a sheer look of panic, fear and shock on his face because he realises what he has done, especially when Oscar informs him that he has a daughter. The officer may have appeared cruel, heartless and ‘evil’ at first, but his real human nature is gradually un-ravelled to the extent that he can express his true emotions and I believe Coogler did a fantastic job of portraying this and bringing out the humanity in each of his characters and therefore illustrating that one of the values in Fruitvale Station is about the tiny details and elements of life which all matter as they build up to a series of events.

In conclusion, I loved Fruitvale Station because I became very emotionally attached to the protagonist, Oscar and the fact it was based upon a true story really enhanced this. As a member of the audience, I was able to understand more about the event than if I had read it in a newspaper because I was given an insight into how his family reacted and into Oscar’s personal life and the media often does not focus on factors like this, meaning readers may struggle to emphasize as much as they would if they watched this film. I would recommend it to anyone and I rate it a 10/10.