Style Wars

Thursday night I attended the "Style Wars" movie night. The movie is centered around a couple groups of kids (and I really mean kids, their ages ranged from 14 to early twenties at most) who are pioneers of the hip hop movement (brake dancing, some rapping, but mostly graffiti), and those in the government trying to stop them (the graffiti, not the dancing). So it switched from interviews with kids talking about why they "bomb" and how their styles have evolved and grumpy old (primarily white) people complaining about their tax dollars. I think that the makers of the documentary were probably legitimately trying to present a balanced view point on the movement by portraying both sides, but they really just made those complaining look even more ridiculous. There was one guy in particular--I think we was a police officer or some sort of government official-- that they spoke with several times who people couldn't help but laugh at.
I found what the kids were saying very interesting. It really came through how difficult it was for them to put the graffiti up (getting up in the middle of the night, stealing paint, practicing and outlining for hours). There was one kid who was interviewed alongside his disapproving mother. He would always say, "it's all about the bombing" and you knew it really was because they never got anything out of it: not recognition beyond their little groups (though they're writing their names, the names are cryptic and they keep low profile for obvious reasons), not money, just the pleasure of knowing that they had some impact on the scene of New York City.
About half way through the film, we're introduced to this one guy who calls himself "Cap", who's been painting his name in boring white print over other people's 10-hour-masterpieces. He represents another motivation, I think, besides art. For him it really seemed to be a game. The objective is to get your name up as much as possible, pretty or not. The others got really mad at him--which I think was justified-- because, though writing is a very informal, rebellious activity, rules evolved inside the graffiti writing communities that Cap was breaking (like don't write over other people's art). In a sense he has as much right to write anywhere that the others do, but it still seems to be an inconsiderate thing to do.
Then there's an art showing and some people are interested in buying art from the new movement, but most people are still complaining.  And the grumpy police/government officer goes on incoherently about his plan to put up a double fence with barbed wire on top and a dog--no, a wolf-- in the middle. And, as ridiculous as it sounds to put all that effort into stopping kids from doing art, the fence was built (although the wolves were replaced with German shepherds). And the kids are talking about how they wont be able to stop the movement, but the trains in the footage from that point on are spotless, and the movie sort of seems to end the story there, as if the campaign against the writers had been successful. So my question is, 'what then?' Did the government actually manage to make a notable dent in graffiti writing? Did this sort of thing effect the entire movement or was this important to one neighborhood in particular?
It was a very cool movie. I really knew very little about graffiti before watching it. I feel like you don't usually learn about graffiti as a legitimate art form in school. I'm very glad that this is the education I'm getting.