Fruitvale Station Reflection
Fruitvale Station is a touching construction of the final hours of Oscar Grant’s life. The camera follows Oscar as he lives out his final moments with his family members and his friends. The camera orients the viewer to be temporarily placed in Oscar’s life, through the use of tracking shots and subjective lens. By the end of the film, the viewer has met all of the important people in Oscar’s life and feels connected to him through them. His relationships with his girlfriend, his mother and his daughter are the most powerful, and the most heartbreaking to watch knowing of his tragic fate.
With the exception of cell phones, the role of media remains relatively quiet throughout the film, until the scene that depicts his death. Oscar’s cell phone is almost a character of its own. It is what connects him with the people in his life: his girlfriend, his mother, and his friends. Phones play a role in capturing and revealing his violent death and is the form of media that proves the existence of such racial injustices. His death is caught on camera by the cell phones of the bystanders. Their cell phones are their instruments of political resistance. The bystanders are forced to stand back and watch as their encounter unfolds, therefore, they take to their phones to record the events taking place. Their digital recordings prove the tragic reality of many black people in America who face prejudice at the hands of law enforcement officials. Oscar is unarmed and on the ground, in a position of absolute submission when he is killed, which is representative of his position in society. He is face down with a white police officer on his back, who is limiting Oscar’s movement. He is controlling Oscar and holds the power, with his gun, to take Oscar’s life from him. Oscar’s death sequence is a microcosm of the racial relations in society.
The sole scene that disrupts the continuity and flow of the film is a flashback that shows Oscar in jail a few years prior. This scene is prophetic of the tragedy that strikes at Fruitvale Station. It displays Oscar’s position in society, as he is physically caged and controlled by the white guards. Oscar has to be held back by the guards at the prison when he chases after his mother for a hug. Oscar has a temper, but it is clear that his temper is a response to his oppressive surroundings. It is evident that Oscar has been belittled and plagued by many injustices due to the color of his skin.
