. The film has an emphasis on graffiti
, although bboying and rapping
are covered to a lesser extent. The film was originally aired on PBS television in 1983, and was subsequently shown in several film festival
s to much acclaim, including the Vancouver Film Festival
. It also won the Grand Jury Prize: Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival
.
Style Wars shows both the young artists struggling to express themselves through their art, and their points of view on the subject of graffiti, as well as the views of then New York City Mayor Ed Koch
, one-armed graffiti writer Case/Kase 2, graffiti writer Skeme and his mother, graffiti "villain" Cap, now deceased graffiti writer Dondi, Seen and Shy 147, graffiti documentarian (and co-producer of the film) Henry Chalfant, breakdancer Crazy Legs of Rock Steady Crew
, police officers, art critics, subway maintenance workers, as well as several "people on the street".
When you first against a train, it's like everything seems so big, like, wow! It's like you're in a yard of like metal giant, like I mean everything is like so hard and so steel like you're just there. You're like a little dude like in the midst of these metals and like you're here to produce something, well, like you're here to try to produce something.
People look at a person and like, 'What? You write on trains,' and, 'You vandalism,' and all that. Yeah, I vandalism alright, but still in general, I know what I'm doin'. I did somethin' to make your eyes open up, so why is you talkin'?
That's some never forgive action!
No, I ain't running the system, I'm bombing the system.