Woody Carmichale, the assumed head of the household, enjoys bringing treats – cake, ice cream and candy – home for the kids as well as dumping mountains of sugar into his beverages. Of course, it’d be troublesome to have your husband spend your money on food you don’t think your kids need. But hooks extrapolates that Woody’s tendency towards sweet foods hints at a drug problem, although, she concedes, it’s not shown on screen. hooks doesn’t specify what drug she’s referencing – weed, narcotics or what. But her guessing at Woody’s drug use seems to perpetuate black male stereotypes more than the film denigrates female contributions to the household in black culture.

What is interesting is hooks’ summation of black characters being killed on film. There’s a tawdry dalliance with life portrayed in gang films and the like. Crooklyn, while not touching that sphere of life, does in some ways conclude with Carolyn’s death. The topic isn’t introduced slowly with a long illness. Instead, once Troy returns to Brooklyn from visiting her aunt, uncle and cousin – the reason for her visit isn’t ever aptly explained – she’s taken to the hospital where Carolyn’s set to undergo a battery of tests eventually revealing cancer.

With something like twenty odd minutes remaining in the film – a properly edited one from Lee – the brothers all outwardly grieve the loss of their mom. It’s an instance where the loss of life, a black life, is treated with what some (most?) viewers will perceive as an appropriate amount of remorse. Troy, though, remains sedate when she learns of her mother’s fate. An odd caveat being the only other women in the immediate family.

hooks goes on to figure, “The emergence of patriarchy is celebrated, marked by the subjugation of Troy. After the mother dies, all problems in the Carmichael household "magically" disappear.”

While Troy is necessitated to pick up the duties her mother left behind – and it’s not related if a one of her siblings is charged with new duties – she still functions in a positive light. The ending of the film finds Troy fed up with the glue huffers after her youngest brother has a run in with the pair (one of them’s Lee).

In a final gesture, perhaps even reclaiming some control over her shambolic life, Troy assaults Lee’s character whose simply sitting on a stoop huffing something in a bag. This final act can’t undo the odd uncaring she displayed after her mother’s death. It does show that she’s an essential figure in the life of her family. And a strong one.