Style Wars is an American 1983 documentary film on hip hop culture and its American roots, directed by Tony Silver and produced in collaboration with Henry Chalfant. The film has an emphasis on graffiti, although bboying and rapping are covered to a lesser extent. The film was originally aired on PBS television on January 18th, 1984, and was subsequently shown in several film festivals to much acclaim, including the Vancouver Film Festival. It also won the Grand Jury Prize: Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival. The documentary captures and includes many historical moments of hip hop culture during its earliest days in the 1970s onward towards the early 1980s.
Background
The documentary shows both the young artists struggling to express themselves through their art, and their points of view on the subject of graffiti, as well as the views of then New York City MayorEd Koch, one-armed, now deceased graffiti writer Case/Kase 2, graffiti writer Skeme and his mother, graffiti "villain" Cap, now deceased graffiti writer Dondi, Seen and Shy 147, graffiti documentarian Henry Chalfant, breakdancer Crazy Legs of Rock Steady Crew, police officers, art critics, subway maintenance workers, as well as several "people on the street". While Style Wars promoted the idea that graffiti is a form of creative expression, not every person within the film held this same belief. In fact, throughout the film we see ways in which institutions such as the government and law enforcement tried arduously to prevent graffiti in New York City. For example, the city spent a large sum of money on negative subway advertisements that portrayed graffiti as a crime. On top of this, the mayor pushed for the building of fences, with the intent of blocking off the entrances to subways, where graffiti artists would create their work. Additionally, he had police guard dogs put into these areas to scare away those who may enter. Both Koch and The New York City Police Department rallied endlessly at an attempt to convince the city’s youth that graffiti is vandalism and that if they participated in it they would ruin their futures. Another perspective on graffiti shown in this film is that of well known artists. Many of them state that the reason why these teens spray paint murals on the sides of buildings is because they do not have any other place to do so, not because they want to intentionally break the law. Additionally, these individuals see potential for those that are involved in the culture beyond the streets. In the same way, they appreciate the art while simultaneously disagreeing with exactly how they do it. This in a way makes them middlemen within this documentary.
Reception
In 2009, A. O. Scott of The New York Times examined the film: "Style Wars is a work of art in its own right too, because it doesn't just record what these artists are doing, it somehow absorbs their spirit and manages to communicate it across the decades so that we can find ourselves, so many years later, in the city, understanding what made it beautiful." A 2018 review from The New Yorker also recommends the film, citing its soundtrack and its ability to capture the historical moment it centers on. As of 2020, the film has a 95% audience score out of over 3,000 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, although it does not have an official critical consensus yet. Style Wars also has an 8.1 / 10 rating on IMDb as of 2020, out of over 2,500 reviews.
Commentary and interviews by Tony Silver and Henry Chalfant
Interviews with Style Wars editors Victor Kanefsky and Sam Pollard
Art galleries by Blade, Cap, Cey, Crash, Crazy Legs, Daze, Dez, Dondi, Doze, Duro, Duster, Frosty Freeze, IZ the Wiz, Case/Kase 2, Kel First, Ken Swift, Lee, Mare139, Min One, Noc 167, Paze, Lady Pink, Quik, Rammellzee, Revolt, Sach, Seen UA, Shy 147, Skeme, Rafael 666, Tracy 168, and Zephyr
