Racial tensions have been an issue in the United States throughout our country's history. Civil Rights leaders, such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X have acted as social activists to bring light on the issues of race at hand. These two men, while having the same goal at hand, had different outlooks on the means of achieving racial equality. Martin Luther King Jr. believed in a passive means of protesting. He preached non-violent protests accomplished more than violent movements. Malcolm X differed in beliefs, he preached a more pro-violence approach. Both men are held in high regards among the African American community, and the activists words and actions in many ways socialize the community as well. However, it is up to us as humans …show more content…
The overlying theme is simply one of the dichotomy of love and hate. Spike Lee does portrays the message in a multitude of ways. First, is his usage of camera angles throughout the film. Lee utilizes long shots to put the viewer into the setting. Bedford-Stuy is a neighborhood consisting of interconnected housing complexes, and bystanders can be seen outside on the steps in groups. As Mookie walks to work, Lee utilizes a moving camera to follow him from a side subjective angle camera, as the neighborhood citizens say their hello's. Lee also uses strategic angles with certain characters. Radio Raheem has a sort of fearful/dominating presence among the people in his community, due to his independence and individuality. The first scene Radio Raheem appears in the film, the camera pans up from his sneakers, up to his stereo system, and finally up to his face as he turns up his Public Enemy song. In the pizzeria scene, in which Buggin' out is kicked out by Sal, Sal is always standing up while Buggin' is always shot at a downward angle sitting down, further exemplifying the usage of camera angles to display roles of …show more content…
As I mentioned before, the film takes place on the hottest day of the summer in Brooklyn, New York. Not only is the heat mentioned verbally time and time again, the colors that Spike Lee chose for certain scenes in the film show the viewer visually that it is scorching. Lee uses saturated tones of red, orange, and yellow to symbolically remind us further that today is unordinarily hot. In fact, other cool colors, such as blue, seem to stand out more because of the constant usage of warm colors. In the opening scenes, when we are first introduced with Mookie, the room is a very dark red showing us that it is very hot. Reds and oranges are seen throughout the film, however Spike Lee does use other colors in other situations. Sal is always portrayed wearing a green t-shirt with a white apron. I found that to show Sal's neutrality towards the people of the community and African American's in general. So, Spike Lee not only uses color to personify the climate of the setting, but he also uses color as a way to characterize specific characters in the