Given the especially large number of students you see each semester, I don't expect any recollection of my presence in your COMM150 class-- I certainly wasn't an exemplary enough student to have left any lasting memories (which is both good and bad). But I wanted to share with you a small anecdote, because four years later I've realized that your class served as an important catalyst in the development of my critical thinking abilities.
As a freshmen at the Altoona campus, I took your class on a whim because I needed a Comm class. Of course I was 'confident' (re: cocky) in my abilities, so I didn't study for exams and ended up in a bad place part-way through the semester. That's when you offered an extra-credit assignment that required
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I didn't 'get it' then--but I certainly do now.
Do the Right Thing is a 1989 film by Spike Lee. According to Entertainment Weekly, it is one of the 25 most controversial films ever. It was deemed culturally significant by the Library of Congress in 1999, and then placed in the National Film Registry. The story follows the lives of citizens of the Bedford-Stuyvesant District in New York City, on the hottest day of the summer, and what they do to cope with the heat. To summarize the entire plot—it ends in a riot. I’d like to analyze some of the situations found in the movie, and discuss how, if at all, it related to race relations in America. When watching the film, I wasn’t overly interested in the plot. Nothing interesting happened (until the end of the movie) and there was nothing that made me (as a viewer) intrigued to continue watching. What I found important, however, was the character portrayals in the movie, and this is what kept me watching. I’m not sure what Lee wanted from this movie, because to me, it seemed as if he was being a) overtly racist towards non African-Americans, and b) stereotypical of his own race. Throughout the movie I was astounded by the portrayal of the black characters in this movie. Specifically, Buggin’ Out’s character. While I realize that the character’s name is a direct reference to his personality, I think Lee went a bit too far. For example, when the white cyclist accidentally scuffed his
In the scene described by the previous paragraph, racial stereotyping far surpassed the feeling of discomfort that many people do not want to deal with. A milder scene of a white man trying to pass through a black neighborhood demonstrates racial problems also. The egotistical attitude of the white man calling the black kids "Mo and Joe Black" ignited the teens to hose down and ruin the car. Mr. Mun Wah comments, "I think racism isn't just about giving out racial epithets. I think it's about what we don't say and what we don't see."("The Color of Fear", 3,4) Every ethnic group had their own name for each other. The three unemployed black men sitting on the corner had their own offensive name for the Koreans across the street, and the Koreans referred to the policeman with their own twist of insults. Even today the racial jokes, either out of jealousy or anger, continue to be told. Lee showed how something so insignificant could plummet into a deep problem. Lee also taught his audience that the stereotypes in his movie are all said in a habitual manner. The characters, like people of today, use common slurs out of habit. James Baldwin states his view on the subject, "I imagine that one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense once hate is gone, that they will be forced to deal with the pain." Perhaps people stereotype to block away the nuisances they so clearly think they can live without. In order to stop
This class taught me that I should avoid taking eight-thirty classes if at all possible. I struggled with missing classes due to oversleeping and struggled with staying awake during the classes when I was present. This was due to my poor management of time, balancing ROTC’s morning PT, getting to class, and homework at night. This has taught me that I need to complete work earlier. This class also taught me some more history
The film has several ethnicities within a small area along a time line of one day. The film has many, informative methods in which it describe the various diversity issues of all the characters within the movie. For example, Sal’s pizzeria which is owned by an Italian American has pictures of famous Italian Americans on the wall and plays Italian music. One character named Buggin Out is always upset. Bugging out hates the fact that there are no black people pictures on the wall especially since the pizzeria is in a black neighborhood. His perspective represents the people in the African American community that always protest, but usually don’t work to improve the community. The
Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing focuses on scenes representing failed communication, dire stereotyping, absence of trust, and wrongful violence that reflects the existing concerns about racism in America. The intense language and strong gestures enhance the film creating a realistic view for the audience.
While the 1970’s and 80’s marked a decline in movies featuring black actors and a lack of black directors, the mid 1980’s through the 1990’s invited a new generation of filmmakers and rappers, engaging with the “New Jack” image, transforming the Ghettos of yesteryears into the hood of today. A major director that emerged during this time was Spike Lee. According to Paula Massood’s book titled, Black City Cinema, African American Urban Experiences in Film, “…Lee not only transformed African American city spaces and black filmmaking practices, he also changed American filmmaking as a whole.” Lee is perhaps one of the most influential film makers of the time, likely of all time. He thrusted black Brooklyn into light, shifting away from the popularity of Harlem. By putting complex characters into an urban space that is not only defined by poverty, drugs, and crime, it suggests the community is more than the black city it once was, it is instead a complex cityscape. Despite them being addressed to an African American audience, Lee’s film attract a mixed audience. Spike lee’s Do the Right Thing painted a different image of the African American community, “The construction of the African American city as community differs from more mainstream examples of the represents black city spaces from the rime period, such as Colors…, which presented its African American and Mexican American communities through the eyes of white LAPD officers.”
It is unfortunate that intolerance continues to exist in our nation (or anywhere else for that matter). Racism, one of the largest and most prevalent forms of intolerance, commonly destroys relationships and can eventually lead to violence. The existence of such hateful ideologies is so prevalent in our society that popular culture is constantly trying to challenge the ignorant basis of racial conflict. Spike Lee’s film, Do the Right Thing, connects with this concept of racial conflict that is so foreign to my past. Through the application of my social and political views, I will demonstrate how Spike Lee’s film is difficult for me to relate to and, in my opinion, conveys a misleading message.
At the beginning of the film, we are introduced to a wide variety of characters. Mayor, an older gentleman with a drinking problem, portrays neutrality in the film that is in sharp contrast to the racism and discrimination that is harbored in most of the cast. Throughout the story, Lee has a way of making this hatred between characters seem ridiculous to the point where it becomes humorous. Perhaps as a way to make the audience look at hate as a joke, and to see it that way in their own lives. However, slowly we begin to see that the hate towards others is stemming from frustrations within their own lives, and is taken out on others in increasingly more harmful ways. In the end, we see this escalating hate lead to violence and in turn to destruction for everybody.
The film Do the Right Thing is a very relevant on issues of race. The film shows how there is tension between all races. The film shows racial tension between the communities in the hottest day of the year. The heat is a theme in the film. Heat in general gets people on edge and raises tension. The film relates to W.E.B. Dubois work “The Soul of Black Folk.” Dubois (1903) work includes the concepts of the veil and double consciousness. The African Americans in the film deal with the idea of a veil. Mookie the protagonist deals with the idea of double consciousness.
This was by far the most challenging course that I have encountered while obtaining my Master’s Degree in Educational Technology from UCMO. That is not a negative comment as this course has actually impacted me professionally more than any other course I’ve taken to date. This course has taken more time to complete the assignments, more of my attention to detail, and more of my creativity. The last point was the best part about this course. I consider myself to be fairly creative and this course definitely allowed me to do that while bringing my somewhat odd personality to a professional forum. For this I am grateful. Let’s get to the good stuff, shall we?
Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing (1989) portrayed an important social problem of the time period – interracial rivalry. The movie was one of many ghetto action films made during the era. In the article “Producing Ghetto Pictures” by Craig Watkins, he says that the movies of the ghetto film cycle committed much of their storyline to that of the relationship between young, poor black males and the ghetto (170).
In Spike Lee 's Do the Right Thing, the story takes places in 1989, another year in the long struggle for equality for African-Americans. The film portrays the racial tensions between locals of the neighborhood and an Italian-American family in the majority Black and Hispanic neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant (Bed-Stuy) in Brooklyn, New York. Spike Lee shows us what a day in the life of the Brooklyn neighborhood consists of and throughout the movie he portrays several different aspects of a modern urban neighborhood, using the many unique personalities of the characters in the movie.
The movie Do the Right Thing, composed, coordinated and created by Spike Lee, concentrates on a solitary day of the lives of racially differing individuals who live and work in a lower-class neighborhood in Brooklyn New York. Notwithstanding, this common day happens on one of the most sizzling days of summer. The movie fixates on how social class, race and the ethical choices that the characters make directly affect the way individuals communicate with each other. Furthermore, in this essay I will analyses Spike Lee’s use of mise-en-scene, cinematography, editing, and sound in the film.
In the film “Do The Right Thing” by Spike Lee, cinematography and editing serve as critical components to emphasize the racial tensions between the various characters. Set in a predominantly black neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York, the action of the film consists of a series of unfolding events that take place over the
Do the Right Thing is a dramatic comedic film that was directed by Spike Lee. The movie was released in 1989. Lee served in three capacities for the film: writer, director and producer of the movie, Ernest Dickenson was the cinematographer and Barry Alexander Brown was the film’s editor. For this film, Lee garnered together some notable actors and actresses, including Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis, Rosie Perez, Samuel L. Jackson, John Tuturro and Martin Lawrence. The setting of the movie is in Bedford-Stuyvesant; which is a neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York. This particular neighborhood is made up of several ethnic groups that include African Americas, Italians, Koreans, and Puerto Ricans. The movie takes place on a particularly hot day
The weather is sizzling hot and tensions are slowly coming to a boil in this Bedford-Stuyvesant Brooklyn neighborhood. Slowly but surely we see the heat melt away the barriers that were keeping anger from rising to the surface. The Blacks and the Hispanics own the streets the Koreans own the corner store and of course the Italians own the pizzeria, the Cops who happen to be all Caucasian, prowl the streets inside out, looking for anyone to harass. Toes are then stepped on and apologies are not made. Spike Lee creates the perfect set-up for a modern day in Bed-Stuyvesant. Without fail Spike Lee is transformed into an anthropologist. Spike Lee’s goal is to allow viewers to glimpse into the lives of real people and into a neighborhood they