Just some notes of this interesting film

Laurie 2022-03-24 09:01:53

Spike Lee films a one-day story in Brooklyn, a black metropolis. What interesting is that it is not a story about gangs, drugs, but an ordinary story about neighborhood and daily life, although it ends with a unordinary riot and looting. We all know a good story should have contradiction even confrontation. In this story it is not a confrontation as we imagine between black and whites, but black and immigrants, no matter the Italian, or the Korean, who are actually the minority in this community or in the American. Another interesting thing is that a number of scenes in the film are linked with real incidents and issues happened before, eg, the place Pizzaria, the mayoral campaign, etc. Scholars tend to interpret this as expression of Spike Lee's political view .

In terms of the race issue, It is very interesting that Spike Lee hold a neutral position. on the one hand, he portrays a discrimination image against black Americans, eg, in the beginning of the film, the worker can not repair the air conditioner in the Sal's pizzeria unless accompanied by policeman, and Sal's son Pino, although he's idol are all blacks, he also feels priority on the blacks and discriminate against blacks, and the policeman's attitude towards blacks. It is real in the society. One the other hand, he portrays a negative black image. For instance, the 3 black men sitting in the corner, Radio Raheem, Mookie's friend. They have sth in common, that are no jobs, sensitive about the racial issue, hating people who are richer than them but not black, using violence to relieve their unsatisfactory about life. It is also real,and will not be covered purposely because of the director himself is a black man.

The name of the film is do the right thing, but what is the right thing? For the black, is it the right thing to drive out other race and ethnicity to make sure the purity of the community, in other words, to find a safe and comfortable living environment by keep segregation. Or is it the right thing to achieve the target through violence or non violence? For the others, is it the right thing to keep the stereotype on black people? There is no answer given in the film , Spike Lee seems to put everything on the table, but give no clues to solve the problem. Actually it is difficult to give any answer. It seems that Spike Lee gives one solution that is to elect a new mayor to do the right thing, which is implicated at the end by saying the election is near, and encourage people to vote for people like Le Mayor,but Le Mayor in the film can not help solve the problem as well as the mayor in the reality.

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Extended Reading
  • Raphael 2022-04-21 09:02:08

    Being beaten up in the theater all of a sudden, the whole person became very sentimental, which made me fully understand my personality for the first time/spike lee's ability to create tension is a must for contemporary American directors. It seems to be negligible, but it is an atomic bomb-level lethal movie. It is like the growth history of a bad boy. At the beginning, it was just a naughty child who occasionally scratched and gave you a little barb on the road. Later, the conflict began to escalate into teasing you. It's very intimidating to create a little chaos for you. The director seems to be testing our resistance to stress. When we find that our tolerance has improved, we will escalate step by step until the urchin takes the opportunity to kill people to the point where they can be sent to a juvenile detention center. And being tested, the feeling runs through me all the way through the movie, and I ended up with nine fingers out of control, crying in pain, mlk and malcolm x are just the tip of the ideological iceberg. The scariest thing is that human nature's passion for chaos fanned the flames and used collectivism to achieve ulterior motives.

  • Mercedes 2022-03-26 09:01:05

    "Radio Radio Radio" is now "Floyd Floyd Floyd", nothing has changed; it mainly talks about the neighborhood conflicts between blacks and between blacks and whites in the black community before the police. Lazy but strong self-esteem, black people do not understand each other. The final conflict is not caused by someone with strong discriminatory thoughts (Brother Pizza), but by a usually kind father (this setting is a bit confusing). Of course, it is the rabble trio who are mainly engaged in troubles, and their thoughts are basically extreme. Among the three, the demented white people are the audience in front, but he put the match at the end. He represents the environment of discrimination. You don't realize him, but like strangling radio, this fire is very clear. He let it go. As for mookie's identity as the initiator of violence, I also imagined that he, like Mayor, saved Sal and drew the attention of the rioting black people. But from the perspective of the dialogue, it is not. He is for the death of radio, and he is also venting; when the slogan is shouted, the crowd no longer thinks, and the violence is venting; the four corners of the intersection, white, yellow, black, great harmony

Do the Right Thing quotes

  • Sal: The fuck is wrong with you? This ain't about money. I could give a fuck about money. You see this fucking place? I built this fucking place with my bare fucking hands. Every light socket, every piece of tile - me, with these fucking hands.

  • Mister Senor Love Daddy: Whoa. Y'all take a chill. You got to cool that shit off. And that's the double-truth, Ruth.