Revised Final Assignment Proposal

My final assignment will be a social/cultural critical essay revolving around the film “8 mile.” The social/cultural element will concern economics, specifically Michigan’s focus on creating a movie industry, in part to clean up the mess the Big Three auto companies left behind. In this assignment I will argue against building this industry and the methods they are using to build it, for example giving movie producers tax breaks while proposing budget cuts in both arts and education. They are essentially going to be paying people from Hollywood to come in and make movies while drastically reducing the opportunity for homegrown talent. To argue this point I will be using the movie “8 mile” as a metaphor because the movie was made in Michigan and the main character’s life resembles the state’s dilemma. He starts off poor and barely makes ends meet in a decaying auto factory before finding success in show business. However, I will argue that this is not the common scenario because none of the other rappers in the movie achieve success. I will utilize this to argue my opinion that a movie industry in Michigan will only hurt the state. Further, because “8 Mile” was closely based off of a true story, I examine outside research on the fates of the real individuals that the movie depicted.