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[WrenchNinja]

https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/the-sex-assault-portrayal-in-the-tupac-biopic-was-inexcusably-bad

For fans of Tupac Shakur—or fans of movies in general—the biopic All Eyez On Me can only be described as a massive letdown. The writing was corny, often reducing the complex and at times contradictory rapper to a Disney-like cliche e.g. the scene where he tells Biggie "We got a big platform. Use that platform to make change."

Instead I want to zero in on the film's handling of one particularly controversial aspect of Shakur's story, the sexual abuse conviction that landed him a sentence of one-and-a-half to four-and-a-half years in jail (he served eight months). In real life, according to both Shakur and the victim, Ayanna Jackson, she consensually performed oral sex on him at a club in November 1993. Four days later, on November 18, 1993, Jackson said she went to a hotel room where Shakur and three other men raped her. Shakur denied this; he was eventually convicted for groping Jackson but was acquitted of sodomy.

We'll probably never know exactly how things played out in that hotel room, but Shakur was convicted a very serious crime, one that men—especially men in positions of power—often get away with. With all that's been said about the pervasiveness of rape culture, you would think that some sensitivity would be evident in how All Eyez On Me tackled this storyline. But no. What viewers see is a thirsty fangirl given the pseudonym Briana who grinds on Shakur in a nightclub and unzips his pants, ostensibly to give him head, while R. Kelly plays in the background. Later, according to Shakur, she basically stalks him with phone calls, but he has no interest in responding. Eventually, we get to the hotel scene. Shakur is in the room with a couple of his friends. He's stressed out and Briana offers to give him a massage, but after she rubs him down for a bit, he gets up and leaves the room to pass out elsewhere. Cut to her bursting into a room where he's sleeping, shrieking that she's been attacked by his friends. In court in All Eyez On Me, Briana, who is previously seen only scantily clad, is dressed in a comically modest outfit, complete with thick-rimmed glasses. It looks like she's trying to be a sexy librarian for Halloween and people in the audience I was in actually laughed. When Shakur is convicted, Briana smirks, as if gloating. The subtext is clear: she's a gold-digging liar and Shakur is innocent.

 

[Guerrillas in the Mist]

Jesus, that's pretty fucking inexcusable.

 

[dyergram]

I mean there's two sides to every story but in this case there's the third side where she was paid to set him up by jimmy henchmen (who as far as I can tell wasn't even in the movie).

 

[nocturnalis]

Didn't Tupac not participate in the rape, but not stop either according to one of his song lyrics or something? Because people say try to make him look better by saying that he his less complicit because he didn't physically do it when he was in a position to stop it.

 

[Fuchsdh]

This makes me wonder about how much they're gonna' gloss over Dr. Dre's "problems" with women in the upcoming Defiant Ones biopic. It's never easy balancing a person's sins when telling their story, especially when they're usually not famous for them, but if the Vice description of the segment of the film is accurate then it's definitely a missed opportunity.

 

[Generalpsyduck]

Wow thats pretty gross.

 

[Bobby Roberts]

This makes me wonder about how much they're gonna' gloss over Dr. Dre's "problems" with women in the upcoming Defiant Ones biopic. It's never easy balancing a person's sins when telling their story, especially when they're usually not famous for them, but if the Vice description of the segment of the film is accurate then it's definitely a missed opportunity.

They already glossed over it in Straight Outta Compton

The Defiant Ones is a four-part documentary, not a biopic. Not as much leeway there.

 

[Puck Beaverton]

lmfao

this film puts him on a pedestal and doesn't treat him like an actual human, doesn't it?

 

[DontBeThatGuy]

I expected nothing less. (and another reason why I won't be watching it, besides it looking lifetime-network worthy in general)

 

[Guerrillas in the Mist]

lmfao

this film puts him on a pedestal and doesn't treat him like an actual human, doesn't it?

This is always a big risk when you bring on-board close friends and relatives to a biopic. The genre is already problematic enough when it comes to fitting complex human beings around the straightforward narratives and tropes that these films tend to stick to.

 

[dyergram]

lmfao

this film puts him on a pedestal and doesn't treat him like an actual human, doesn't it?

If anything it treats him as a passenger in his life and ignores the clear motives behind the first and second shooting while portraying almost every figure in his life as cartoon characters. The dude really nailed 2pac smoking a cigarette though and the costumes were pretty bang on.

 

[Mesousa]

Didn't Tupac not participate in the rape, but not stop either according to one of his song lyrics or something? Because people say try to make him look better by saying that he his less complicit because he didn't physically do it when he was in a position to stop it.

Thats part of his allure with his fans.

Tupac couldnt, and wouldnt, deny his "Boys" any pleasure. With him around they got everything they wanted, and Ayanna Jackson was one of the things he let them have.

Tupac could have easily stopped them, but it would have in his own words been an indication that she was "his", that he cared about her in general, and that was not a hill he would allow himself to die on in the eyes of his boys.

 

[hodayathink]

They already glossed over it in Straight Outta Compton

The Defiant Ones is a four-part documentary, not a biopic. Not as much leeway there.

Yup, they don't mention Dee by name at all, and only vaguely refer to some problems he's having when he meets his wife. But at least the press after the movie actually got a public apology from Dre, which is something I don't think he had done up to that point.

 

[Staccat0]

I'm trying to remember the last "warts and all" biopic.

Thats part of his allure with his fans.

Tupac couldnt, and wouldnt, deny his "Boys" any pleasure. With him around they got everything they wanted, and Ayanna Jackson was one of the things he let them have.

Tupac could have easily stopped them, but it would have in his own words been an indication that she was "his", that he cared about her in general, and that was not a hill he would allow himself to die on in the eyes of his boys.

When did he speak on this? I would be morbidly curious to check that out.

 

[Matt]

Thats part of his allure with his fans.

Tupac couldnt, and wouldnt, deny his "Boys" any pleasure. With him around they got everything they wanted, and Ayanna Jackson was one of the things he let them have.

Tupac could have easily stopped them, but it would have in his own words been an indication that she was "his", that he cared about her in general, and that was not a hill he would allow himself to die on in the eyes of his boys.

Well that's monstrous.

 

[NYR]

As soon as I saw the trailer where he is talking about using his platform for change I laughed and decided I wasn't seeing this shit. I expected him to end the trailer yelling "California Love" or something corny like that.

 

[Messofanego]

lmfao

this film puts him on a pedestal and doesn't treat him like an actual human, doesn't it?

A hagiography, as it's called.

 

[sixteen-bit]

smh

 

[dyergram]

Thats part of his allure with his fans.

Tupac couldnt, and wouldnt, deny his "Boys" any pleasure. With him around they got everything they wanted, and Ayanna Jackson was one of the things he let them have.

Tupac could have easily stopped them, but it would have in his own words been an indication that she was "his", that he cared about her in general, and that was not a hill he would allow himself to die on in the eyes of his boys.

Source?

 

[timetokill]

I'm trying to remember the last "warts and all" biopic.

First one that jumps to mind is maybe The Aviator? I didn't see J. Edgar.

 

[lightskintwin]

Shakur is in the room with a couple of his friends. He's stressed out and Briana offers to give him a massage, but after she rubs him down for a bit, he gets up and leaves the room to pass out elsewhere. Cut to her bursting into a room where he's sleeping, shrieking that she's been attacked by his friends. In court in All Eyez On Me, Briana, who is previously seen only scantily clad, is dressed in a comically modest outfit, complete with thick-rimmed glasses. It looks like she's trying to be a sexy librarian for Halloween and people in the audience I was in actually laughed. When Shakur is convicted, Briana smirks, as if gloating. The subtext is clear: she's a gold-digging liar and Shakur is innocent.

It's been awhile since I've gone over all the Pac interviews but I'm pretty certain that was Pac's perspective on the situation with his biggest regret leaving her alone with those dudes. I swear I remember Pac joking about how the victim/accuser showed up to court dressed in the over the top fashion the Vice article describes in the film. Not to mention, if I'm not mistaken those dudes weren't his "friends", but dudes that were hanging around at the time. Like I said it's been awhile, so I could be wrong in several details. I mean it's clear the film chose to show the events from Pac's perspective, and I'm certain with the shoddy script writing and direction it probably came across ridiculous.

 

[Frozenprince]

They already glossed over it in Straight Outta Compton

The Defiant Ones is a four-part documentary, not a biopic. Not as much leeway there.

When we as a society allowed the most pop culture crossover of a man who's now one of the wealthiest human beings on the planet beating a woman half to death to be a joke line from an Eminem feature on one of his albums 20 years ago.

Knew then and there A) he'd never feel consequence for it and B) people don't give a shit about physical violence against women as long as the person that does it entertains you.

 

[enzo_gt]

It's been awhile since I've gone over all the Pac interviews but I'm pretty certain that was Pac's perspective on the situation with his biggest regret leaving her alone with those dudes. I swear I remember Pac joking about how the victim/accuser showed up to court dressed in the over the top fashion the Vice article describes in the film. Not to mention, if I'm not mistaken those dudes weren't his "friends", but dudes that were hanging around at the time. Like I said it's been awhile, so I could be wrong in several details. I mean it's clear the film chose to show the events from Pac's perspective, and I'm certain with the shoddy script writing and direction it probably came across ridiculous.

My memory of this is similar, and yeah, I agree.

 

[mackaveli]

two interviews of Pac talking to Media about the case while it was going on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9j8fs6SSfc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxoLTpXCCng

Must listen.

 

[LifEndz]

Thats part of his allure with his fans.

Tupac couldnt, and wouldnt, deny his "Boys" any pleasure. With him around they got everything they wanted, and Ayanna Jackson was one of the things he let them have.

Tupac could have easily stopped them, but it would have in his own words been an indication that she was "his", that he cared about her in general, and that was not a hill he would allow himself to die on in the eyes of his boys.

Can you link to where this was said? I've seen a few docs about Tupac and I don't recall this ever being stated.

 

[ahoyhoy]

I love how everyone has to be about something bigger than what they accomplished. Like everyone who wants to get rich and famous doing what they're good at is doing so for a higher purpose.

These biopics turn people in benevolent demigods. They're not even good myths because the best myths treat gods as petty and fallable.