Some people think that "racism is a manifestation of the inherent crisis of capital itself." In this movie, the form of capital is an economic entity that operates and sells, that is, various commercial stores. These shops are all run by people of other races except blacks: whites and yellow races. In the opinion of some blacks (such as ML), the form of goods in such a store is directly related to their thought form. The film focuses on the pizza in the Sal Pizzeria. In fact, it is just a piece of ordinary pizza, but in the eyes of blacks, this piece of pizza also carries a racially intent "form of thought." Let's look specifically at the reasons for the formation of this kind of thinking.
There is a sense of universal identification with "intrinsic value" in black culture. In other words, blacks have a strong sense of cultural identity. Their cultural value is widely accepted by users. There is a kind of "cultural superiority." (The photos of Italian celebrities on the wall of Sal's pizza restaurant in the film arouse dissatisfaction.) The primary enemy of this "cultural superiority" is the strong culture represented by white culture. The conflict with the dominant culture makes black people increasingly unacceptable to this culture. On the contrary, members of strong cultures easily accept the subculture of black culture. The cultural symbol of the photo is enlarged in the film, and alongside it is the black music played in the big tape recorder of the brawny Redio. The juxtaposition of these two cultural symbols may be able to coexist peacefully in other regions, but in New York and Brooklyn, it is not so easy. In ML's view, the cultural symbol of photo is imposed on its object. And all this is because Sa is the owner of this store. He has this right, so that the symbol of the photo becomes a concept with many aspects. The celebrity in the photo is not just the celebrity itself. They were seen as a challenge to black culture.
Spike Lee did not depoliticize the relationship between race and class through the special treatment of the environment and the characters' ideology like most Hollywood movies. On the contrary, he highlighted the racial opposition through the rendering of the environment (showing a group portrait of a black neighborhood and a portrait of a white shop), and the portrayal of the characters (full of black-style dialogue and a lot of quarrels). Through the medium of the police, this opposition is politicized. He used an extremely realistic approach to show race relations. This kind of relationship represented in an ordinary hot summer day, not the usual unobtrusive peace, let alone the indifference in daily life, but The contradictions implied in the calm, until the fierce hatred and conflict erupted at the end of the film. Spike Lee’s brilliance comes at the end. The vast majority of the film is full of complaints, quarrels and intense music. But at the last moment, when all this disappeared, the director successfully pushed it all to the audience. The audience could no longer ask the director to give a clear answer, because the director had already expressed his attitude in silence.
The issue of violence in the film is also worth discussing. For most of the time, we did not see the violence that went with black people in previous movies. But all this accumulation is only for the final ethnic conflict. The direct victims of the violence were whites, but Redio’s death made blacks also victims. In fact, the occurrence of violent incidents made both parties losers. Thrall is white, but should he be responsible for racial discrimination? Mucci thinks so. But the actual situation is that Mucci is dissatisfied with the working conditions provided by Saar first, and on this basis, it is transformed into a racially discriminatory perspective. This seemingly powerful violence finally demonstrated its fragility. With the assembly of the police, the strongest Redio turned into a corpse in a few minutes. And the result of this violence? It just destroyed a pizzeria. Spike Lee adopts an attitude of drifting between pros and cons to violence. On the one hand, it is impossible to obtain due respect without violence. But on the other hand, violence is uncontrollable, and the result is often both sides.
The group description of the black community shows us a real black "discourse society". This kind of discourse in the cultural context that only belongs to blacks is spreading and being disseminated; being produced and being produced; being kept and being kept. A closed circle is formed, which strictly controls the intervention of outsiders. And this is an obvious flaw in black culture: it lacks a kind of tolerance. The rejection of other cultural contexts other than the "discourse community" makes it seem a bit unhuman. More importantly, Spike Lee presents us the internal spokesperson of this "discourse society" and the struggle for the right to speak. Some people in this club have a more friendly attitude towards white people, but others are very extreme. The film's treatment at this point makes the film more dramatic and avoids the narrative of going to the boring "flow of life". Extremely like ML, skin color has become the only criterion for distinguishing enemies and friends in his real life. As friendly as Mucci’s sister, she is in harmony with Thrall. But will they have results? Spike Lee responded with "Jungle Fever" two years later. The identity barrier eventually destroyed a couple of lovers.
In the film, blacks, whites, and yellow people are all portrayed as part of the same subordinate society. Whites and blacks are interpreted on a relatively equal position. But this relative equality and deep-rooted racial discrimination together constitute a contradiction between the real picture and the ideological picture. Equality in reality has been distorted by thought into a kind of inequality. When the black people screamed for the abolition of racial discrimination, in fact, they are the most stubborn guardians of racial discrimination. In their eyes, work that was originally equal has become exploitation and oppression. Mucci, ML, are you too sensitive? Spike Lee rejected a sketched story and created a more realistic and thought-provoking panoramic myth.
As Spike Lee, who regarded Malcolm as his "spiritual godfather," Malcolm never left in his film. The seemingly irrelevant works such as "The Insider" and "25 Hours" also contain Malcolm's willingness to put aside the differences in skin color and race and seek the possibility of communication. In 1992, he used a biographical film to pay tribute to his idol. Of course, Malcolm is even more indispensable in movies that explore racial issues such as "For What It Should Be". The concrete quotations of text and photos at the end of the film, and the abstraction of the plot and dialogue in the film let us see an omnipresent Malcolm.
Malcolm's understanding of black identity stems from his series of tragic experiences. This is also a common occurrence in the lives of black Americans: violent crimes and prison sentences. Malcolm's short life was a life of self-help for blacks. He was assassinated like Martin Luther King, but he could not enjoy the same political status as King. He was attacked and abused by his compatriots. He is not an idealist who "I have a dream"; he is a social practitioner who "we cannot wait for freedom". Spike Lee found the future from Malcolm: communication, communication, cooperation, and sincerity. The violent incidents were all due to communication, and communication problems occurred. You cannot expect everyone to have the same abilities, talents, and advantages. Being born equal, bid farewell to the political utopia, it is just empty talk. Then, how to create acquired equality? Violence or communication? Is this really a paradox?
Malcolm said: "Wrong is wrong, no matter who did it or who said it." Spike Lee said: "Do the right thing." The difference between right and wrong may really be only a few millimeters.
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