Stomp the Yard

In Stomp the Yard (2007) DJ is a college freshman at Truth University in Atlanta, Georgia. In ATL Atlanta is always in the foreground, a luminescent postmodern city whose history has clear significance for the main characters. The director and cinematographer of ATL were clearly influenced by the films of Michael Mann, for whom the city becomes almost a character. In Stomp the Yard Atlanta as a visual presence is more subdued and in the background, though several scenes in a museum of black social organizations make clear its significance as a place of important events in the civil rights movement and as the home of such leaders in the movement as Martin Luther King.

Although we see little of DJ's home life, it's clear early in the film that he comes from the lower economic class. Students at Truth U speak of him, disparagingly, as having come from the ghetto. Most of the students at Truth are middle or upper class African American students, and those who belong to the fraternities that play such an important role in the film are clearly among the elite. DJ at first refrains from joining a fraternity because he believes that all the brothers see in him is a step dancer. Even after he joins a fraternity, he often feels that he doesn't belong. Of all the characters in the film he has much to prove, and more to lose.

Stomp the Yard takes the position that African American fraternities are positive sources of brotherhood, character, and service. They possess many of the same traits in the film as white fraternities, and there are clearly "good" fraternities and "bad" ones. DJ is invited to join both types. Fortunately he chooses a "good" fraternity, Theta Nu Theta.

Class conflict is a major issue. So too is the issue of ambition, of getting ahead—of what one must do to get ahead, and of whether getting ahead is worth the compromises one may be asked to make. This is true for both male and female characters. When DJ is invited to join the most popular fraternity on campus, Mu Gamma Xi, one of the members tells him that if he joins he will be able to get any job he wants when he graduates without any difficulty—all he will have to do is say that he is a Gamma. (Interesting that the Good Old Boy network thrives in HBCUs just as elsewhere). The fraternity he finally does join tells him that it fosters brotherhood, and this is in the end a more lofty quality that that of mere ambition.

The main female character in the film, April Palmer, knows she will have and a high-class lifestyle if she remains engaged to Grant, a member of the Gamma fraternity. He treats her as a lapdog. She chooses DJ instead (though it takes her half the film to do so).

The class and ethical conflicts are complicated by the fact that April's father is the provost of Truth University. He believes she will ruin her life by associating with DJ. He prefers Grant for his daughter and makes his feelings known to both. DJ spends time with his aunt and uncle, who live near Truth. His uncle is in charge of the ground crew at Truth. It turns out that Dr. Palmer loved DJ's uncle when they were both in college at Truth, but that she chose her husband over Dr. Palmer, who has nursed resentment over the fact ever since. There is an underlying theme here: that of the existing power structure that will take all necessary steps to preserve and bolster its position, and to cast out those whom it sees as a threat. Dr. Palmer, Grant, and Gamma fraternity are part of this structure. DJ and his uncle are not.

The basic plot in this film is two-fold: DJ must lead his fraternity to victory in a national step-dancing competition. He must also come to grips with the guilt he feels for his brother's death, with his own sense of social inadequacy, his own insecurities. At the start of the film DJ and friends are taking part in a step dance competition which his team wins. Afterwards, a fight breaks out, gunfire erupts, and DJ's brother is killed. Throughout much of the film he feels responsible for his brother's death and comes to college only because that is what his brother wanted for himself. Stomp the Yard sense is thus a coming of age story whose unwilling hero must step up and shoulder the burdens of responsibility and history and enter into life as a mature adult.

There are holes in the script, and some unlikely coincidental connections—the link between Dr. Palmer and DJ's aunt, for instance. When an ethics panel suspends DJ from school (someone from Gamma passed on information that DJ has a criminal record he did not reveal on his college application), Dr. Palmer declines to uphold the suspension because he does not want his daughter to be with DJ. She tells him that if he does not overturn the suspension, she will never have anything to do with him again. He quickly capitulates and revokes the suspension.

DJ's character is well drawn and interesting. Columbus Short does an excellent job in the role. The dancing in the film at its best is truly exciting and impressive. Another underlying theme (it's part of the focus on class conflict) is the distinction between street dancing and step dancing. These two forms of dance are clearly related. Step dancing is more conventional and traditional, associated with initiation ceremonies and competitions in African American fraternities. It's practiced by the middle- and upper-class students who attend Truth University and other similar schools. Although Stomp the Yard treats step dancing with due respect, it suggests there's more vitality and force in street dancing, DJ's kind of dancing. I suppose the underlying premise here is that street dancing is a more immediate reflection of real African American culture than is step dancing. DJ's enrollment at Truth University, his talent as a dancer, and his ghetto background force the middle and upper class students to acknowledge the energy of street dancing and of the culture that produces it. Not only does Theta incorporate this style of dance into its step-dancing routines. So does Gamma, whose members spy on the practice sessions of the Theta team. Therefore everyone emerges from the film strengthened and vitalized by DJ's presence at Truth University. The film benefits from his presence as well—Columbus Short is the strongest element in Stomp the Yard.