The background of the story is in the black district of Brooklyn, New York, where a large number of blacks, Asians, Italian immigrants, and Puerto Ricans are gathered. It is a truly diverse neighborhood. However, because cultural differences are not sufficiently tolerant to bear, it has caused mutual misunderstandings between different races, and even worse, it has risen to the level of racial discrimination, which makes the originally mixed neighborhoods full of unstable factors. In the film, the concept of "community" is emphasized, and all dangerous ideas are compressed to be extremely sticky in a limited space, so various conflicts are staged in turn. It could be a quarrel between brothers at a pizza shop over who should sweep the open space in front of the store, or a passer-by's outburst of anger over being doused on a beloved vintage car. There are big and small frictions on this noisy street every day, and there are also twisted faces, but what everyone has not realized is that behind these small disputes there may be a big tragedy brewing.
In order to make the real climax move people's hearts, most of the time in the movie is to enrich the characters. The director's method is to force out the characters' hearts little by little through the lines, and then fully present their way of doing things and basic values. The more distinctive role is the Italian-American young Pino played by John Turturro. This character clearly shows racial discrimination, and he does not hide it at all, like he compares living in a black area to the movie "Ape". Planet", its own sense of superiority is obvious. However, when Mookie asked Pino a series of questions, his answer seemed less confident, because his favorite basketball star is "Magic" Johnson, his favorite actor is Eddie Murphy, and his favorite The singer is Prince, and these people are all black without exception. Even though Pino repeatedly emphasizes their particularity, the fact cannot be erased. It turns out that those prejudices rooted in the heart are so vulnerable, the so-called cultural superiority does not exist at all, and Spike Lee just refuted all the discriminators with a few simple lines.
In contrast to racists like Pino, the oversensitivity shown by many black people also goes to the other extreme. The first is the black youth Buggin Out, just because the pizza shop wall is full of Italian-American stars and no black people touch his fragile nerves, so he launched a boycott of the pizza shop, but no one responded, just another black young man. Radio Raheem is banned from playing music in a pizzeria, and with the same hatred for the pizzeria, the two hit it off and decide to get revenge. It was such a seemingly hot-headed move that eventually turned into a tragedy. The violent law enforcement by the police cost a young life and the pizza shop was also set on fire. Ironically, the camera gave a close-up of the photos on the pizzeria wall, and the faces of Al Pacino, Sophia Loren and other Italian-American stars flashed in the firelight, as if they had experienced a thrilling cultural destruction. , and the fundamental reason for its occurrence is the irrationality related to the issue of racial discrimination. Once you calm down, you will find that most of the things that made you angry at the beginning were trivial matters.
From the ending of the game, we can see Spike Lee's neutral position. He did not overly favor his compatriots because of his identity as a black man, nor did he deliberately slander anyone. He just honestly threw out the facts for the audience to understand themselves. The film does not clearly point out what the right thing is, but from the old black man Mayor, we can see the good side of human nature. His respite in the conflict and his recklessness when saving children are the kindness that the director wants to pass on to the audience. In addition, Spike Lee also showed an indignant attitude towards the idleness of some black people. The trio who often gossip on the street in the film is a typical example of not making progress. They are jealous that even Koreans have their own grocery store, while making excuses for their own failures. In the end, they can only deceive themselves with a cup of yellow soup. . Here we also see the bitterness caused by differences in capital. Whether it is a pizza restaurant opened by Italian immigrants or a grocery store opened by Koreans, these symbols of capital are in the hands of non-black people, so it is easy to lead to disaster. The mess after the fire at the end is the overthrow of capital, and Sal throwing money at Mookie highlights the contradiction of capital.
At the end of the film, two passages from Martin Luther King and Malcolm X are quoted. As black opinion leaders, the former firmly resists violence, while the latter advocates using appropriate violence to maintain their own power. No matter which view you support, you must oppose the other party. Respect, as both have dedicated their lives to the black movement. In 1992, Spike Lee made the movie "Kuroshio" based on Malcolm X's experience, which is a tribute to this civil rights fighter.
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