Fruitvale Station Reflection

In my opinion, Fruitvale Station was the most powerful film we have watched thus far. Over the course of the film, I felt a close connection to Oscar, and when he was shot, I was devastated. The film’s ability to create such a real and caring character in Oscar was impressive and made the final events that much more emotionally impactful.

From a digital standpoint, the film and real-life events were relatively recent. Therefore, text messaging played a major role in enabling Oscar to communicate with his large network of friends and family. The film incorporated the texts onto the screen to create a point of view of what Oscar saw on his screen. This effect was effective in allowing the viewer to see how Oscar was communicating digitally with others.

The most important use of technology was the recording of the shooting both in the film and during the actual event. In the film, the woman that was previously helped by Oscar in the grocery store was seen in the train greeting Oscar. Suddenly, Oscar got into an altercation with a former prison mate and was then pulled off the train and handcuffed. The woman had only known Oscar from one encounter, but we can tell she appreciated Oscar’s help that day. She pulled out her phone and recorded the shooting from the train, and the footage proved to be a powerful piece of evidence against the police officer.

This digital documentation of events is growing more prevalent as our world evolves. Hopefully, this will lead to higher levels of safety as police officers, and other law enforcers become increasingly aware that they are being monitored all the time. Even though the police officer was given a short prison time, the events spread digitally and led to protests. As the digital medium becomes more present in public events, efforts for change will likely grow ever larger.