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Do The Right Thing By Spike Lee

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Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing is a film made in 1989 depicting racial conflict in Brooklyn New York during the 80's. The plot involves a group of African Americans, Italians and a Korean couple who live in the same block. There are multiple themes that tie in together in the film, one being the animosity and racism the characters feel towards each other throughout the film. The director makes the theme clear in the film by the conflicts that arise between the characters. An example of this is when Radio Raheem is buying a pair of batteries for his radio at the Korean’s store. He treats the owners with disrespect because of their race. Another thing to speculate is how Spike Lee used cinematography. The audience is able to witness how these …show more content…

This scene introduces the theme of negative energy and anger. As the movie goes on, what characters wear and the lighting keep playing a major role in Lee’s use of mise-en-scene. For example Mookie, who is a delivery boy at the Italian’s pizzeria, is first introduced wearing a Jackie Robinson’s Brooklyn Dodgers jersey. Jackie Robinson was the first African American man to play in the Major Leagues (baseball-reference.com). This shows the audience the pride Mookie has for being an African American. Interestingly Mookie is compared to Jackie Robinson in the sense that they both end segregation. In the ending scene Mookie helps the Italians and their sons whenever they are being attacked by a mob. Despite the mob having members of his same race he still stood up for the Italians thus diminishing the segregation between him and his …show more content…

A lot of the characters wear warm colours such as red and yellow. Buggin Out is wearing a yellow shirt and Radio Raheem wears a mix of red, yellow and orange. This not only represents the heat but is symbolic of the rage that the characters have inside because we know that these two characters show a lot of anger and violence throughout the film. Another example of this is the bright red wall that is seen behind the three men sitting at the corner. The colour of the wall represents the anger and frustration the men are feeling as they sit around and complain. The colour blue is also used in the film as the opposite to red. Da mayor is wearing a blue suit and this shows that he is not full of rage like most of the others but instead he is a calm

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It 's difficult to make a solid, entertaining film based closely on life. On the contrary, films are typically used as an escape from it, often as a fantasy in one way or another. This film is more of a documentary than a fairytale, and, as a result, it can be difficult to write an engaging script. In the story of heroes and villains, for example, an antagonist unifies the viewer against a force and provides a clear goal, often with a happy ending or some type of resolution at the end. Without a specific character defined as an antagonist, Jackie Robinson instead faces off against a much broader concept – the popular mindset of the time.

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The blue, was chosen to present to the audience a sense of grounding for the characters. For me, I felt an aversion to Ray and Abby as they were violating the trust of marriage by committing adultery, therefore I had a difficult time finding a protagonist element in them. Mise-en-scene in BLOOD SIMIPLE is abundant, however at times somewhat surreptitiousness. This film moved me to look at the aspects of the moving frame scene to see what the director and production designer’s vison of this film to convey to the

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Spike Lee’s films never fail to spark controversy in the filmgoing world due to constantly dealing with the delicate topic of race and by clearly portraying his pro-black view of the topic. His films point out the corruption of our world and realize the separation of our society, especially in the black culture. In his classic film, Do the Right Thing, he reveals the struggles of an interracial community that doesn 't get along with each other. The climax of the film is undoubtedly when Sal’s famous Pizzeria is vandalized and burned by the community after the police kill Radio Raham because of an aggressive confrontation in his shop.

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The movie 42 is set in the 1940’s, but many of the racial problems and solution are still relevant today. Several examples of these problems and solution can be seen thoughtful the movie. For example, Jackie Robinson is discriminated because of his race; however, Jackie remains calm and plays baseball. During Jackie’s first major game Mr.Rickey describes how sympathy will help people expect Jackie. The 42 brings up relevant racial issues as well as proposes some useful strategies to deal with them.

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In Jungle Fever, Spike Lee focuses on the interracial politics by exposing the audience to the social taboo of the mixed-race relationships. The movie is a social commentary of the directors’ personal convictions about interracial intimacies. Likewise, Do the Right Thing (1989), the film was influenced by a real life incident that took place in the summer of 1989 at Bensonhurst neighborhood in New York City. The opening frame of the film is a dedication to the memory of Yusef K. Hawkins, an African-American sixteen-year-old boy who was shot to death by few Italian-American locals. Hawkins visited the neighborhood with his friends in order to buy a used car, but the gang members attacked him for dating an Italian-American girl from the neighborhood.

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The purpose of “Why, You Reckon?” by Langston Hughes is to accurately display, through the times of that century and human emotion, that despite money, power, and the color of your skin there can still be an unhappiness of the soul. There is evidence in the beginning of the short story of two men’s unhappiness in life the symbol of them being uncontent was their hunger. “Man, ain’t you hongry.... Well, sir, I’m tellin’ you, I was so tired and hongry and cold that night.” (253- 254).

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