One of Tre’s friends proposes that they go see a dead body-not an uncommon dare or scare tactic, at least in the movies. But unlike Stand by Me (1986), where the search evokes a coming of age story about friendship that takes a crew of young boys through forests and river banks, Tre and his crew know exactly where the corpse is-right around the block, behind a long stretch of abandoned property.
During the introductory scene of John Singleton’s 1991 Boyz n the Hood, ten-year-old Tre Styles (Desi Arnex Heinz II) is walking home from school with his backpack-clad classmates down a suburban sidewalk. A direct route home, of course, is not an option: they’re kids being kids, and they want to go on small adventures.