The film review was written in May 2020 and translated into the Final paper written in my Film class.
"Do the Right Thing" (Do the Right Thing) is a great black classic. This film is a modern fable dedicated to the American society and even the whole world by the black American director Spike Lee in 1989. It took a day in the movie to tell a story about politics , race , and violence in a Brooklyn neighborhood .
As an independent black director who graduated from New York University, Spike Lee uses his lens and unique black perspective to capture American social and cultural phenomena. Race and society are the main topics of his criticism. Taiwanese director Ang Lee, who is also a minority, also graduated from New York University. He also expressed the collision and integration between minority culture and mainstream American culture in movies in the 1980s and 1990s. Compared with the introverted and tolerant cultural atmosphere of Asians, Spike Lee's work magnifies the cross-racial conflicts and confrontations faced by black groups in American society, and reflects on the complex history and reality of black groups in mainstream society.
The film was inspired in part by the Howard Beach murder and the deaths of Michael Stewart and Eleanor Bumpurs in connection with police violence. As a black American who grew up in Brooklyn, Spike Lee decided to keep some elements of the original event while adapting the place of the actual event to Brooklyn. This film was shot by Ernest Dickerson, using surrealism and neo-impressionism styles, using bold and vivid color schemes, to present the audience an unusual summer in Brooklyn in the 1980s. The choice of script and photography makes this film a true reflection of real life, and it is also a political allegory. Although the script of "Being What You Should Be" is semi-fictional, Spike Lee uses a lot of pop culture elements (breakdancing, Air Jordan, etc.) and the setting of real events (pizzerias, Italian Americans and African Americans). The American-American conflict, the death of a black man, etc.) let this film constantly remind the audience: these conflicts and tragedies are happening all around us.
The whole story of "As It Should Be" is a hot day in Brooklyn. In a black community, the owner Sal, his sons Vito and Pino, and a black employee Mookie (played by Spike Lee himself) run an Italian pizzeria together. Sal is an honest businessman. He just wants to guard his store in this neighborhood. He takes pride in feeding his pizza to the generations of this community. Then, Buggin out showed up and asked Thrall to post pictures of black stars on the "Italian Wall of Celebrities." After being decisively rejected, he summoned a group of black neighbors to his shop to cause trouble, including one of the protagonists of the last violence-Radio Raheem. During the conflict, Sal smashed Radio's radio, which was regarded as life by Radio. In the end, this conflict turned into violence between the two, and finally expanded into violence between Italians and blacks. Finally, the situation got out of control, the police intervened and killed Radio, Mookie smashed the window of the pizzeria, Smiley lit the pizzeria, and Sal sat on the ground and wept.
"Do What You Should Do" directly exposes one of the most serious contradictions in American society to the audience- ethnic conflict . The most representative scene is Vito and Mookie discussing black stars. Vito's favorite player is Michael Jordan, his favorite actor is Eddie Murphy, and his favorite singer is Bruce Springsteen. In his worldview, there are all kinds of blacks: some are what he likes, and some he thinks are N*****. In addition, American immigrants of other races—Puerto Ricans, Italians, and Koreans—have also appeared in this community, creating a noisy and chaotic voice in the immigrant society. The final climax of the film is the pizzeria in the fire, which is a deep description and satire of the black affirmative movement in the 1960s. The efforts made in the past for equality have become the little cards and cultural symbols sold by Smiley, and these little cards were burned in the fire at the pizzeria. In the conflict, in the hatred of the hired, in the ruins after the commotion, there is a strange desolation. In the movie, King and X have become symbols of the past society, and Spike Lee satirized the previous efforts for racial equality. The self-awakening of the black society and the mutual understanding and tolerance within the society have not yet been realized.
Racism is an overall problem in American society, but when the lens focuses on a black community in Brooklyn, the tension between races has undergone a subtle change. As the dominant population, blacks are able to manage their own communities in three blocks of Brooklyn. In the United States at the time, community governance was not monopolized by the government or community representative agencies; on the contrary, self-management accounted for a large part of their management. In such communities, blacks are masters because of their population and culture, and young blacks are free to laugh at newcomers or white neighbors.
However, this does not represent the lack of state power. Two policemen appear repeatedly in the film. They drove their cars on the streets. Although they were too lazy to resolve a small dispute, they declared the existence of state power. When two police officers were patrolling the street, there was a striking scene in which two police officers and three old black men sitting on the street looked at each other. This scene marks the psychological activity of white and black Americans towards each other-alert but also fearful. White Americans abuse violence because they are afraid of black Americans, and black Americans are afraid of the power of white Americans. Blacks and whites fear each other, so they stay alert to each other. National institutions are dominated by whites, so this vigilance extends to the national level. The two sides are like vigilant opponents to each other, even if they are at peace now, they do not trust each other.
The tense atmosphere runs through the whole movie, and conflicts are hidden under the calm surface. Once some trivial things escalate, it becomes uncontrollable. The hot weather has become a hotbed for brewing conflict. With the increase in summer temperatures, conflicts between different ethnic groups intensified and eventually ignited. Residents of Italy and South Korea are also in a state of distrust. They curse American blacks internally, but they are interdependent: Italians and Koreans need blacks to consume their goods, and blacks need to go to their stores to consume. This conflict state is extremely sensitive, because a violent incident may have a chain reaction. After the violent incident in the pizza shop, the black Americans’ sense of belonging to the community has rapidly increased, and the "outside population" has also become the target of the violence. Therefore, after burning the Italian pizza restaurant, the black Americans planned to rob Korean shops. Koreans must emphasize "we are all the same" and "I am also black" to be tolerant. The tension between different races in American society is concentrated in this small neighborhood, and it is also concentrated in the hottest day of the year.
Another important element of "Do as it should be" is violence . Spike Lee used the lines of the old mayor to emphasize the most important point of the film: " Do the right thing ." However, what is the right thing to do? On the political level, the director is more like a moral prosecutor. , Tell the audience about race, violence, and power struggles, and put them in front of the audience, let the audience make their own judgments. The direct victims of the violence in the film are whites, but the death of Radio makes blacks also the victims. In fact, violence made both parties losers. Sal is white, but should he be responsible for racial discrimination? At least Mookie thinks so. Mucci was not satisfied with the working conditions provided by Thrall, and based on this, he turned it into a racist view. This seemingly violent incident finally proved its fragility. The police gathered, and within a few minutes the strongest Radio became a corpse. The result of this violence was the destruction of a pizzeria. Spike Lee saw the pros and cons of violence. On the one hand, without violence, people cannot get the respect they deserve. On the other hand, violence is uncontrollable, and the result is often cannibalism. Both blacks and whites in the film are portrayed as part of the lower class. Whites and blacks are interpreted on a relatively equal basis. However, this relative equality and deep-rooted racial discrimination together constitute a contradiction between the realistic picture and the ideological picture. The equality between Mookie and Sal is distorted into an inequality. When black people screamed for the elimination of racial discrimination, they also participated in racial discrimination. In their eyes, the original equal labor has become exploitation and oppression. The reality is distorted and complicated, and they have to use the most instinctive weapon of mankind-violence-to resolve the contradictions before them. Spike Lee refused to offer a fast food, and instead wrote a more real and thought-provoking fable.
At the end of the film, Spike Lee quoted both King and X. In terms of peacefully resolving racial issues, King is a leader with equal rights. As he said: “ Violence will eventually destroy itself .” Violence creates pain among survivors and atrocities among destroyers. In contrast, X argued that violence based on self-defense is a manifestation of intelligence. However, the "intellectual manifestation" is too idealistic compared to the reality presented in the film. Self-defense violence can easily develop into self-hatred, and inherent racial discrimination may not necessarily change in communication. So, what is the attitude of Spike Lee?
Spike Lee has two identities in American society. He is an American elite and a black elite. This situation requires him to look at racial issues from two perspectives. He is deeply aware of the absurdity of "Fight the power", but the unconscious superiority of white people is real. As a black man, he stood at the forefront of anti-racism and used his works to criticize society. After "Green Book" (2018) won the Oscar for Best Picture, he left angrily and used "Black Party Members" (2018) to fight back against the KKK. As an American elite, he cannot demonize white people in order to cater to racial preferences. Instead, he should pay attention to the tolerance and kindness of blacks and whites, as he did in "The Miracle of Santa Ana" in 2008.
"As It Should Be" leaves enough space for the audience to speculate and reflect on the right and wrong in the story. Whether it is racial, political or violent issues, under the intertwined influences, people cannot make reasonable and correct judgments and evaluations. The film did not receive an Oscar nominations for best picture or best director, perhaps because Hollywood is not yet fully prepared to accept a movie about conflict in the black community. However, whether it is social influence or artistic expression, this film has stood at a high level, showing a modern fable to the audience, and has become a milestone in the history of black American cinema.
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