Do the Right Thing Essay Spike Lee’s film Do the Right Thing portrayed the struggle between young Blacks and the problems that they face. They are put in situations where whatever they choose to do could be considered wrong by people that aren’t Black, hence the title Do the Right Thing. How do they know what the right thing to do is? Has the violent culture in their neighborhoods and their relationship with police officers given them limited choices? Do the Right Thing brings about many questions, while also leaving it up to the diverse audience to decide what they feel the right thing is. The movie also brings about the animosity that is forced between different ethnicities and races because of the way the culture in America has been …show more content…
Do they succumb to the stereotype they’ve been thrust into? Do they act with violence or hate? These questions are running through the character’s heads, and they really make the audience question themselves. In the movie, Buggin’ Out tells Mookie, “Stay Black.” (Lee, 1989) For these boys, what does it mean for them to be Black? At the time of this movie, there were a lot of other films that were portraying Black youth as a certain stereotype. In the article “Musing New Hoods”, Spike Lee is quoted as saying, “… ‘all black people people lived in ghettos, did crack and rapped...’” (Ramsey, 2002, pg. 11) In Do the Right Thing, the characters challenge this stereotype and show the audience what it’s really like to be Black kid. Not every Black kid raps. Not every Black kid does drugs. And finally not every Black kid is a troublemaker. Spike Lee knew that many of the people that would go to his movies wouldn’t be Black, and he successfully showed the audience an accurate representation. This representation was revolutionary because it made you as an audience member question how you think and feel about Black youth. Maybe you’ve become biased by recent films and music. Maybe this movie can change your mind about what you
Although the movie does seem to want to get a point across about racism being relevant even in mainly black neighborhoods, it mostly furthers society’s institutionalized racist thoughts towards the black
When compared to a movie like Do The Right Thing by Spike Lee, Goddard uses the actors-looking-at-the-camera shot in a way that not only sometimes draws your attention to the fact you’re watching a movie, but it also puts the audience into the movie as a character in a way. For example, when Patricia looks into the camera both times that were mentioned above, you do (or atleast I do) feel like her eyes address the audience members. Meanwhile, in DTRT by Spike Lee there is a hilarious scene where Mookie, Pino, Gary Long, and the latino dude all look into the camera and spout those stereotypes and racial slurs, however they’re not directed at the audience, but serve as a first person POV shot, as if the subject they’re talking about were actually
Speaking realistically, most policeman would either take the whole business or arrest blacks for illegal business. What can be learned from the movie is how blacks sort of dealt with the racial discrimination and used their own talents to make a living. Every one back then wanted to make a
In the film “Do the Right Thing”, Spike depicts the problem in society regarding racial tension to provide understanding of the suffering of African Americans and minorities. As the film escalates, bits of tension build in every character
Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, two authors, two activists who advocated different strategies to achieve a shared end, have since their deaths, transcended the local, pragmatic potency of their respective narratives of African-American resistance (Garrow, 1991). The film 's use of the metonymic figures “King” and “X” as well as the ethically divergent meta-narratives of which they are the cultural signifiers suffuses its dramatic structure with the ideological tension generated by the trope of “double-consciousness” (Garrow, 1991). The vehicle by which Do the Right Thing represents the black community reminding itself, so to speak, of the presence of these figures is the ubiquitous Smiley, a young man with cerebral palsy who earns money selling photographs of African-American heroes to his Bedford-Stuyvesant neighbors. The film calls attention to one image in particular: the famous photograph of King and Malcolm X shaking hands and smiling during their first and only meeting.
The opening scene of Do The Right Thing, gives the audience a brief glimpse of several eccentric characters actions on the morning of a hot summer day in New York City. Although each shot appears unrelated, each of the characters exhibited will play a significant role in uniting or dividing the neighborhood they all inhabit during a riot which emmerges in the climax of the film. At its core, Do The Right Thing, directed by Spike Lee, is a film which explores race relations, following the lives and actions of several characters as a growing conflict emerges between the Italian-American and African-American residents of the community. Lee effectively builds tension throughout the film by following conventional narrative elements in some cases,
If you ever want to start a debate on racial issues, just screen Spike Lee’s ‘Do The Right’ to a group of people. Right from the title of the movie the controversial messages start to bring out what someone really thinks on racial injustice. The movie shows racial tensions between groups in a neighborhood. Present in the film are the Italian pizza shop owners that have selectively opened their business in a black neighborhood, while having a racist son. There is the black protester who boycotts their business since the owners do not have any black legend’s placed up on their wall of fame.
Victims of TV violence are rarely shown experiencing serious harm, and few programs condemn violence or depict other ways of solving problems (Center for Communication and Social Policy, 1998) (Berk 2006). It is imperative to keep up with children of all races during their development because they are sponges. Positive role models within their community can help with this. “Growing concerns about the experience and achievement of Black pupils (especially Black males)
According to the biography on Spike Lee, Fight The Power: Spike Lee’s Impact On Black Cinema, “it becomes clear that he uses his own experiences of living in an integrated neighbourhood in New York to help express the hidden, if not conflicting, messages on the ideals of racism ‘between African Americans and their non-black New York City neighbours’” (The Film General Website), which makes his films more accurate. His experiences have helped him give an honest representation of the black community. An example is his 1988 film School Daze. School Daze is a musical drama that deals challenge issues of racism, for example, skin tone bias within the black community.
There are several stereotypes that are associated with women in Law Enforcement There are many reasons I chose the stereotype that is associated with the profession I chose to pursue once I receive my Bachelors Degree in Criminal Justice. Being a woman that wants to work in Law enforcement has affected me in different ways. It has also had an impact on my life. It acts as a barrier when thinking critically and it is important to think critically when it comes to different stereotypes so that you won’t get off track.
Many stereotypes of African culture have emerged due to western literature and media and first hand accounts of explorers. Things Fall Apart offers a view into the truth and reality of African cultures, which are often misconceptualized by these stereotypes. Acebe shows how African society functions well without assistance from foreign travelers. In Things Fall Apart, Achebe counters the imperialist stereotypes of Africa by keeping certain words in the Igbo language, as opposed to translating them into English, to fight back against the spreading western culture and to embrace their own way of life. He also counters the imperialist stereotypes of Africa by using Igbo proverbs to show how their culture values many of the same things that western
Black children go through a process like no other child of any other race does. From birth they are taught about what society thinks their place is and how institutions are going to treat them in the future. As a child they experience events of racism and discrimination, but they do not really know why it 's happening or why racial tensions are so bad in the US society. Growing into an adolescent or teenager they understand what racism is, but yet to know the extent to which institutional racism is going to affect their lives. As adults, the stage of resistance begins.
Nowadays, everyone wears the identity with pride. The genre was a testament to triumphing over hardships, to having enough confidence in oneself not to let the world drag you down, and to rising above the struggle, even when things seem hopeless. Violence in rap did not begin as an affective agent that threatened to harm America 's youth; rather, it was the outcry of an already-existing problem from youth whose world views have been shaped by the inequalities and prejudice they have experienced. The relentless wave of heroic new rappers arriving on the scene formed the golden age of hip hop in the 1980s, a newfound voice which rose from the impoverished ghettos during the 1980s and inspiring a generation of black youth to fight the police brutality they faced on a daily basis.
The film Do the Right Thing, composed, coordinated and delivered by Spike Lee, concentrates on a solitary day of the lives of racially different individuals who live and work in a lower class neighborhood in Brooklyn New York. Be that as it may, this conventional day happens on one of the most sweltering days of the mid year. The film focuses on how social class, race and the ethical choices that the characters make directly affect the way individuals interface with each other. It begins with the film's characters awakening to begin their day and peaks with an area revolt after cops too much limit and kill a youthful dark man named Radio Raheem for battling a more seasoned Italian American eatery proprietor named Sal in his pizzeria, and afterward
What I mean is a African American may view this film as a means to diminish their culture, a white person may believe this film makes them look evil and a police officer may believe this film makes officers look like they are above the law or feel like they should be above the law. These differences can cause conflict when