What role do the media play in La Haine?


Pascal Sevran a TV host for a French channel ‘France 2’ was asked about an excerpt from his book Le Privilege des Jonquilles which read: “The cock of the Blacks is responsible for the famine in Africa” He justified the comment with: ‘It’s the truth! – Africa bursts of all the children who are born to it without parents have the means of nourishing them…It would be necessary to sterilize half the planet” He carried onto say, “Having a black child is a crime against humanity.” French 2 did not penalize or fire Pascal which shows France agree with his opinions. This shows what the French media is like which is also shown in the media scene of La Haine.

The scene begins with a dissolve to show a passage of time, which suggests the trio have nothing to do, as there are no opportunities. We see the characters in an environment that visually represents a compound from a zoo, which shows they are not viewed as human by the media. This is also demonstrated when the reporters car drives past then returns which resembles a zoo enclosure.


When the reporters begin to film the trio they are filmed from a high angle shot making them look small and inferior, they also only film when they are acting violently. This creates and reinforces negative stereotypes which we see the consequences in the Art Gallery scene. The reporters only filming negative shots and actions demonstrate how they instigate the aggression. The reporters are shot wit a low angle shot to make them look more important. 

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