Laws of Gravity

The film, Laws of Gravity, depicts a sub-culture of petty thievery in Brooklyn, with a group of young friends who support themselves by stealing whatever they can. The two main characters are Jimmy and Jon, each of whom has a specific problem hanging over their head. Jimmy owes money he cannot pay back, and Jon has avoided a court date for shoplifting and is now wanted by the police. These two do not belong to or constitute a gang. Rather, the kind of sub-culture portrayed is one that is found within the working-class Brooklyn neighborhood in which the story is set. Jimmy's wife has a job, but neither her husband nor most of his friends do. They get by as they can, avoiding work as much as possible.

The remarkable thing about the way this film depicts this world is that this petty thievery is accepted as a given by all concerned. These are not the sort of criminals to make a massive plan and carry out a robbery, for instance. That would require more concentration than they are willing to give to any element in their lives. Their lives are deceptively placid for much of the time--they do very little except hang out at neighborhood sites and talk among themselves, but always beneath the surface there is the potential for violence. Violence indeed is accepted as a way of addressing problems. Jimmy tells Jon to take his girlfriend home and knock her around to teach her a lesson, and Jon accepts this advice as expected. At the same time, when Jon later hits his gi

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uses this as a justification,for knocking around his girlfriend, or at least as an excuse for it. Jimmy's friend from the South also expresses the view of himself as always on the outs with society. These characters seem to regard it as their right to take what they want from a society that has not incorporated them as they feel they should be. They place a high value on precisely those elements noted above--excitement, toughness, risk-taking, fearlessness, immediate gratification, and "street smarts"--though in truth they are only touching on most of them. They act tough, but for the most part they are not as tough as the real toughs of the city, such as the loan shark who comes after Jimmy. They are not as street smart as these other thugs, either, and they only play at being street smart, viewing themselves as taking great risks when in fact they are really only petty thieves who take few risks. Jon in particular is simply not very smart--he avoids a court date for a crime that would have gotten him probation at the most, and now he faces real jail time because he did not show up, which he does because he does not feel like going to court. Another element this theory sees as having an important hold on the subculture is

Category: Film - L