From 1997 to 2025: The Evolving Relevance of 'Ma 6-T Va Crack-Er' in Modern France

Authors

  • Stéphane Narcis Académie de La Réunion, France

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.6000/2817-2310.2025.04.04

Keywords:

Banlieue, Cultural representation, Jean-François Richet, Ma 6-T va crack-er, Social inequality, Systemic neglect, Urban violence, Youth discontent

Abstract

This study investigates the continued relevance of Jean-François Richet's Ma 6-T va crack-er in addressing France's persistent socio-political issues related to the banlieues. Combining historical analysis, theoretical frameworks, and comparative film studies, the paper explores how themes of urban segregation, cultural identity, systemic inequality, and youth rebellion remain pressing in 2025. It also examines how successive policy failures and media representations have entrenched negative perceptions of these marginalised communities. Drawing on the works of Hall, Balibar, Wacquant, Gilroy, and Crenshaw, this paper offers a multidisciplinary analysis while proposing policy solutions to address the long-standing issues in the banlieues.

References

Alba, R., & Silberman, R. (2002). Decolonization immigrations and the social origins of the second generation: The case of North Africans in France. International Migration Review, 36(4), 1169–1193. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-7379.2002.tb00122.x

Almeida, D. (2021). The Republic's inner borders: Rethinking French banlieues through critical border studies. Journal of Borderlands Studies, 38(3), 377–396. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/08865655.2021.1913066

Archer, N. (2010). Virtual poaching and altered space: Reading parkour in French visual culture. Modern & Contemporary France, 18(1), 93–107. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09639480903504284

Body-Gendrot, S. (2010). Police marginality, racial logic and discrimination in the banlieues of France. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 33(4), 656–674. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870903348646

Body-Gendrot, S. (2016). Making sense of French urban disorders in 2005. European Journal of Criminology, 13(5), 556–572. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1477370816640819

Brady, J. (2022). Reflexivity, third space, and representation: Radical reimaginings of the banlieue in Swagger (2016). Film Matters. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1386/fm_00202_1

Chebinou, E. (2019). "Banlieusarde," the empowered (fe)male: Man up! Her body is gaining back her space in Divines (2016). TrayectoriasHumanasTrascontinentales, (6). DOI: https://doi.org/10.25965/trahs.1847

Dikeç, M. (2006). Badlands of the Republic? Revolts, the French state, and the question of banlieues. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 24(2), 159–163. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1068/d2402ed

Fanon, F. (1963). The wretched of the earth (C. Farrington, Trans.). Grove Press.

Hall, S. (1996). New ethnicities. In D. Morley & K. H. Chen (Eds.), Stuart Hall: Critical dialogues in cultural studies (pp. 441–449). Routledge.

Haddad, Y. Y., & Balz, M. (2006). The October riots in France: A failed immigration policy or the empire strikes back? International Migration, 44(1), 23–34. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2435.2006.00362.x

Hargreaves, A. G. (1996). A deviant construction: The French media and the 'banlieues'. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 22(4), 607–618. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.1996.9976563

Higbee, W. (2001). Screening the 'other' Paris: Cinematic representations of the French urban periphery in La Haine and Ma 6-T va crack-er. Modern & Contemporary France, 9(2), 197–208. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09639480126467

Laachir, K. (2007). France's 'ethnic' minorities and the question of exclusion. Mediterranean Politics, 12(1), 105–119. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13629390601136889

McNeill, I. (2020a). Music and spatial injustice in banlieue cinema. French Screen Studies, 20(3–4), 317–335.

McNeill, I. (2020b). Music, spatial injustice, and representation in banlieue cinema. French Screen Studies, 20(1), 31–47. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/26438941.2020.1720949

Morán, M. (2017). Terrorism and the banlieues: The Charlie Hebdo attacks in context. Modern & Contemporary France, 25(3), 315–332. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09639489.2017.1323199

Murray, G. (2006). France: The riots and the Republic. Race & Class, 47(1), 26–45. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0306396806063856

Orlando, V. K. (2003). From rap to raï in the mixing bowl: Beur hip-hop culture and banlieue cinema in urban France. The Journal of Popular Culture, 36(3), 395–415. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1540-5931.00013

Richet, J.-F. (Director). (1997). Ma 6-T va crack-er [Film]. Why Not Productions.

Siciliano, A. (2015). La Haine: Framing the 'urban outcasts'. ACME: An International Journal for Critical Geographies, 6(2), 211–230.

Tarr, C. (2002). Gender, ethnicity and space in contemporary French cinema. Screen, 43(4), 415–428.

Tarr, C. (2005). Reframing difference: Beur and banlieue filmmaking in France. Manchester University Press.

Tarr, C. (2007). Transnational identities and spaces in films about West Africans in Paris. Modern & Contemporary France, 15(1), 65–76. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09639480601115292

Tarr, C. (2019). Masculinity, exclusion, and protest in post-1995 beur and banlieue films. Contemporary French Civilization, 44(1), 91–109. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7765/9781526141750.00011

Wacquant, L. (1999). Urban marginality in the coming millennium. Urban Studies, 36(10), 1639–1647. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/0042098992746

Downloads

Published

2025-10-07

How to Cite

Narcis, S. . (2025). From 1997 to 2025: The Evolving Relevance of ’Ma 6-T Va Crack-Er’ in Modern France. Global Journal of Cultural Studies, 4, 25–38. https://doi.org/10.6000/2817-2310.2025.04.04

Issue

Section

Articles