Line #1 Film/Crooklyn


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/p17756_v_v8_ac.jpg]]
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3	''Crooklyn'' is a 1994 film by Creator/SpikeLee, which takes place during 1973 in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. The primary characters are nine-year-old Troy (Creator/ZeldaHarris) and her family. Over the film's course, Troy learns life lessons through her four rowdy brothers, mother, and father, along with many others.
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6	!!Tropes for ''Crooklyn'':
7	* ACupAngst: Troy has a mild case of this. This is emphasized a bit more when Song gifts a training bra before commenting, "Oh, you're not going need that for a long time."
8	* AwfulTruth: Troy finding out her mother is sick with cancer and she asks, "Why didn't anyone tell me?"
9	* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Clinton angrily says "I'd rather have a father than a mother any day." Later on...
10	* BilingualBonus: "Puta" is Spanish for "Whore"
11	* BlackComedyAnimalCruelty: Granted, it was very much an accident, but it turns out Queenie went missing because she'd been mistakenly folded up into Aunt Song's sleeper couch. They only discover this when she goes to pull it out for the kids and the dead dog flies out as if spring-loaded.
12	* TheBully: Peanut is the main bully and she does pick on Troy, even stealing groceries from the latter.
13	* TheCameo: [[spoiler:Creator/RuPaul]] as the convenience store drag queen.
14	* CrankyNeighbor: Tony Eyes isn't just cranky, he's annoying and a pretty lousy neighbor overall.
15	* CrazyCatLady: A gender-flipped and downplayed example, with Tony Eyes, as he has more than a couple of dogs living with him in a rather small apartment. However, unlike most examples, he's very unpleasant.
16	* DreadfulMusician: Apparently, Tommy La-La, according to the Carmichaels, but he teeters more on HollywoodToneDeaf. Also Tony Eyes but his case is a bit more obvious .
17	* {{Epistolary}}: Some parts of the story are narrated by Carolyn's letters
18	* FishEyeLens: The whole episode at Aunt Song's is filmed in this manner, to capture the surreal feeling Troy haves about this upscale suburb living.
19	* GenderBlenderName: The only girl in the Carmichael family is named Troy. This has even earned her the nickname "Troy the Boy" by many of the boys, which is the definition of this very trope.
20	* GratuitousSpanish: Briefly, with Minnie and the bodega owner. We don't know what they said but we do know it was an argument
21	* HappilyAdopted: Subverted, as Viola doesn't much care for her adoptive mother, Song.
22	* IronicName: Peanut is noted to be a big girl and she is.
23	* {{Jerkass}}: There's plenty.
24	** Clinton is not only selfish, he picks on his siblings quite a lot. Wendell can have his moments too and he's the little brother.
25	** Tony Eyes is a bitter, unpleasant jerk.
26	** Snuffy and Right Hand Man terrorize the neighborhood when they aren't high (or, at times, when they are).
27	** Peanut and Greg both are bullies who make life difficult for Troy.
28	* KilledOffScreen: We don't see [[spoiler: Carolyn's]] death, just the aftermath.
29	* LighterAndSofter: Compared to just about everything else Creator/SpikeLee has made. Things do get pretty heavy in spots, but mostly it's a simple, humorous SliceOfLife tale about growing up in a poor neighborhood, without much of anything in the way of soapboxing or finger-pointing toward society as a whole.
30	* MrMuffykins: Aunt Song's dog Queenie
31	* PaintingTheMedium: Scenes taking place down south are vertically stretched like widescreen through a standard lens, which is supposed to make the setting feel as weird and alien to the audience as it does to Troy.
32	* PerpetualPoverty: The family is often down, but not out. But barely not out. Carolyn is a school teacher who is overworked and underpaid, and Woody is a classical pianist and composer who doesn't want to compromise his artistry and play more marketable music. This causes a lot of friction between the couple.
33	* PetTheDog: After being a total dick for most of the movie, Clinton holds his sister's hand to comfort her at [[spoiler: their mother's funeral]].
34	* PromotedToParent: Troy, after [[spoiler: Carolyn's death]], elevates herself up to maternal figure, especially due to being the only girl child.
35	* SlapSlapKiss: Woody and Carolyn's relationship could be summed up as this, as most of what we see them do is argue, though they do have loving moments (i.e, Woody and Carolyn going on a date)
36	* ShellShockedVeteran: Vic and he's prone to violent outburst along with being afraid the dark.
37	* TalkToTheFist: Vic wallops Tony Eyes when Tony won't stop screaming in his face... when all Vic was trying to do was get everyone to calm down.
38	* ThoseTwoGuys: Snuffy and Right Hand, who are not seen separately.
39	* TheSeventies: Takes place mostly in the summer of 1973.
40	* TheStoner: Snuffy and Right Hand, who are often seen huffing glue.
41	* TomboyishName: Troy's. Somewhat fitting as she is a tomboy.
42	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Troy's best friend Minnie isn't seen again after a brief appearance in Troy’s visualization of Carolyn’s letter.

Context Film / Crooklyn