Singleton’s ‘Learning’ experienceSingleton portrays university
encounters with racism in latest controversial movie
By Lael Loewenstein
Daily Bruin Staff
He was a novice to filmmaking just a few years ago, but now John
Singleton seems like a Hollywood veteran.
In an interview with The Bruin, the writer-director discussed
his career and his new film Higher Learning, largely shot at UCLA
last spring.
Higher Learning attempts to show what happens when racial
divisiveness and intolerance take over a university campus.The
multicultural tension through the eyes of three very different
students, track star and aspiring scholar Malik (Omar Epps), Orange
County idealist Kristen (Kristy Swanson) and Idaho-raised misfit
Remy (Michael Rapaport).
It’s not hard to guess that Malik, the most fully drawn of these
characters, is the closest to Singleton’s own voice.
"It’s fair to say that the Malik character expresses my
perspective," says Singleton.
Pressed to elaborate, he adds, "[Higher Learning] was inspired
by my experience of spending four years at a predominantly white
private university with occasionally fascist tendencies."
That institution was USC, where Singleton observed how different
students rarely interacted with one another, and when they did it
wasn’t always harmonious. Did he ever encounter anything as extreme
as the Aryan nation skinheads he depicts in the film?
"Hell no," he responds. "If there had been any we’d have kicked
their butts."
But other aspects of the film, such as the way campus cops would
repeatedly hassle black students while barely admonishing unruly
white youths, do resonate of his own experience, he says.
The film’s action takes place at the fictitious Columbus
University, but since it was shot on campus, Bruins will notice a
lot of familiar scenery. One wonders if Singleton intended a
thinly-veiled critique of UCLA.
"No, not at all," he insists. "Filming at UCLA was great, it was
really easy. Actually, we had wanted to shoot at USC but they
wouldn’t let us do it. But they don’t hesitate to use my name when
they’re trying to raise money."
As in his other films, Singleton gives great attention to the
soundtrack. Music was an important means of self-expression in
college, he recalls, and it became a means for communication within
different groups. "We made a deliberate choice [in the film] to use
music that expresses the different characters’ perspectives."
The result is a diverse soundtrack that pulsates with everything
from Tori Amos to Ice Cube.
But it’s not just the soundtrack that makes Higher Learning
unique: this film, his third, is his most ambitious to date. With a
$20 million budget and a deal with Columbia Pictures, Singleton, at
only 26, seems very comfortable in Hollywood. Yet it was just over
three years ago that Boyz ‘n the Hood, his highly praised first
feature, was released. Singleton emerged from nowhere to become the
youngest person and first African American nominated for a best
director Oscar.
Since he rose to national fame, Singleton has become a
significant voice for black culture. Recently, he participated in a
New York Times Magazine symposium with several other prominent
African Americans on the current plight of the African-American man
in America. In the article, he states his need to have "a strong
black man in every picture that is responsible for other black
men."
It is a paramount concern for the director, who feels that black
children don’t have enough diverse role models.
"They’re brought up to believe they should be basketball stars
or rap artists, not mathematicians or teachers," Singleton says.
"It’s a trap for black men. This is the dilemma Malik faces. He’s
an athlete, but he wants more than that. He wants to learn."
Yet because he is on an athletic scholarship, Singleton notes,
sports is the only means by which he can get an education.
Of course, Singleton has become something of a role model
himself. As he continues to work in Hollywood, he wants to make a
variety of pictures. "They’re going to be even bigger than this
one," he asserts. "I like taking chances. My new film does that a
lot."
Does Singleton think that Higher Learning is going to create
some controversy and rile people up?
"I’m hoping to," he says. "Absolutely."