Heat and What We Learned About Freedom and Racism in Class 

After watching Heat for our class, I kept thinking about how it connects to what we've been talking about with freedom and racism. This movie shows these ideas in ways I didn't notice at first.

Different Types of Freedom

In class, we talked about how freedom means different things to different people. Neil McCauley, the thief, thinks he's free because he doesn't have a regular job or family ties. He can leave anywhere in 30 seconds if he needs to. But is he really free? He's always looking over his shoulder and can't have real relationships.

Vincent Hanna, the cop, thinks he's serving justice and protecting people's freedom. But his job controls his whole life. He can't be a good husband or father because he's always chasing criminals. Both men are trapped by their choices, even though they think they're free.

The Racism I Started to See

What really hit me was looking at who gets treated differently in the movie. Most of the main criminals are white guys, and they're shown as smart and professional. But when we see other criminals, especially the Black and Latino characters, they're often shown as more violent or unprofessional.

The police scenes also made me think about what we discussed in class. The cops are mostly white, and they get to be the heroes even when they do questionable things. Meanwhile, the communities they patrol are often portrayed as dangerous places that need to be controlled.

Economic Freedom and Race

In our class discussions about economic freedom, we learned how racism affects who gets opportunities. In Heat, the white criminals have access to big scores and sophisticated plans. They can afford good equipment and safe houses. This reminded me of what we talked about - how systemic racism affects what opportunities people have, even in illegal activities.

The movie doesn't really show us why people turn to crime or what their backgrounds were like. It just assumes we'll understand why these particular men became what they are.

What the Movie Doesn't Show

After our class talks, I noticed what Heat leaves out. We don't see how the criminal justice system affects different communities. We don't see the impact of policing on families and neighborhoods. The movie focuses on these two main characters but ignores the bigger picture of how crime and punishment work in society.

The freedom that both main characters want seems to only be available to them because of their race and gender. They can move through the world in ways that other people can't.

My Takeaway

Heat is a good movie, but our class discussions helped me see its blind spots. It's about two men who think they're free but are actually trapped by their choices. However, it doesn't acknowledge how race affects who gets to make those choices in the first place.

The movie shows us one version of the American dream - the idea that you can be anything you want if you're willing to pay the price. But it doesn't question who gets access to that dream and who doesn't. That's something we need to keep thinking about when we watch movies like this.

Disclaimer AI was used to format my notes based on the notes i took in class