Racism In Spike Lee

Another quote from the book that proves that racism and prejudice “they said that that he had two good hands and he had made it, and he was moving fast.and they but seventeen bullet holes in him”pg 235 the quote shows that even police will let the emotions guiding their actions and not their

The black stereotypes in Spike Lee’s film “Bamboozled” are very evident in the main characters in the minstrel show, Mantan and Sleep n’ Eat. For the show, Mantan and Sleep n’ Eat are depicted as lazy, unintelligent, and foolish. Their stereotyping is intentionally obvious to shock and shame the viewers of the show using satire. In addition to the obvious stereotypes in the television show, Lee uses the other character in the film to showcase other stereotypes. Lee uses the characters: Pierre Delacroix, Thomas Dunwitty, Sloan Hopkins, and Big Black Africa and his group as additional, slightly less obvious views of black stereotypes.

Furthermore, this scene also depicts racial profiling in America. According to Silva “blacks and dark-skinned Latinos are the targets of racial profiling by the police,” (2). In many cases, blacks are automatically assumed criminals and “always up to no good.”

Fruitvale Station depicts the real-life case of Oscar Grant III, a young unarmed black man shot in the back by a white police officer on January 1, 2009 in Oakland. The movie begins with cell phone footage of Oscar Grant’s death recorded by bystanders. Grant’s life was tragically cut short due to a white man’s racism and stereotypical perception of a young black man. The BART police officer Johannes Mehserle abused his authority and shot Grant for no other reason but hatred and racism. At the time of the shooting, Grant was unarmed and pinned on the ground in handcuffs. The movie then walks you through the last twenty-four hours of Grant’s life. As you watch the movie and research the aftermath of Grant’s death you a forced to ask yourself a few questions; why does the media have the right to take away Oscar Grant’s humanity? Where do we draw the line between racism and holding others responsible and will the public’s perception of black men and women ever change? Lastly, we must focus on how this case and others impacts African American society and culture. We also must focus on the necessary changes African Americans must make in order to survive in a world that does not value black lives.

The tension begins when Radio Raheem ask for 20 D batteries but the owner doesn’t understand what he is saying so he replies by saying 20 C energizers. This part of the scene shows that the African-Americans and the Asians do not understand each other and can’t get along with each other. This scene reflects most of the movie as we see throughout the movie how the African-Americans butt heads with not only the Asians but also with other race and ethnic backgrounds. The dialogue of the scene shows each of the characters cussing at each other and how they feel about each other. The Dialogue shows how the African-Americans in the movie don’t respect these people businesses even if the business are doing something positive in the African-American neighborhood. In the movie we hear the song “Fight the Power” by Public Enemy played in most of the movie but in this scene Radio Raheem is listen to this song in his Boom-Box and then out the nowhere his stereo batteries start to die. The batteries dying shows him losing a piece of him because when he listen to his music he is calm but when his music stops he gets aggravated and

The Australian film ‘Jasper Jones’ directed by Rachel Perkins showcases the ideas of racism, prejudice, sexual abuse and bullying. The film is based in the small mining town Corrigan in the year of 1965. In this period, the Vietnam War had Australia sending troops to fight. The war divided cultures, victimising the Vietnamese Lu family because of their race and frequently abusing against them verbally and physically. Sexual abuse and infidelity are other issues that lurk throughout the film as the truth of Laura Wishart’s disappearance displays how prejudice occurs within the small town in outback Australia in the 1960s.

One of the most striking scenes begins in the first forty minutes of the film. The scene starts off with the music becoming slow and haunting, a difference from the high beat music that was playing before, while a police car slowly drives down the street in the neighborhood of mostly people of color. The camera then cuts to the three black men who sit on the corner, Sweet Dick Willie, Coconut Sid, and ML. The camera pans across the three faces, all showing critical glares at the police car. The policeman in the passenger seat is then shown, displaying a similar glare to the black men. The tension can be felt in

The film ‘The Sapphires’ directed by Wayne Blair in 2012 focused on four indigenous Australian women that strive to achieve their dream ;while they also encounter serious issues that they must overcome and face which are racism and the stolen generation. The Sapphires consist of four indigenous women Gail [Deborah Mailman], Cynthia [Miranda Tapsell ], Kay [(Shari Sebbens), Julie [Jessica Mauboy] and one white man the manager Dave also known as the sole man. Wayne Blair is an Indigenous Australian that had directed this film based on a true story and had also set this in the 1960’s in Australia. The Sapphires uses cinematic techniques and goes through several of genres. The film captures the essence of each the individual scene.

With the way people reacted towards a black man being a cop, you knew not everyone was keen of them having the same jobs as a white man yet. One scene where you knew people didn’t want Tibbs around was when he was being chased by four or five white men. They didn’t want him to be involved with the murder case in their town and wanted to beat him up to make him leave. At one point in the movie those men had cornered Tibbs into a barn up against a wall. The men picked up various tools and chains from inside the barn and were getting ready to beat him since he was trapped. Tibbs began fighting back and protecting himself with the metal bar he picked up. Then Officer Gillespie calmly walks inside the barn, watches what is happening and tells the men to stop what they are doing since they have had their fun and to get out of there now. Of course, the men don’t just leave without saying a few things and warning the officer that he has to get rid of the black man or they will. Officer Gillespie, as one would guess, didn’t like the comments they made and being the kind of man he is, he stood up for Tibbs and told the men off and gave them a few punches. This shows the viewers, that people were still not okay with black men being treated like white men, and didn’t want them to get equal opportunities. It also shows the side where

The film brought on several conclusions from the audience. Bell hooks believed that white viewers would be assured that they are not ‘racist’ because they do not exude the same racism as Sal and his sons and even though it may “legitimate racist folks”, it also permits nonracist modes of interpretation (103). This can be seen in the incident of the two pizzeria owners, who, when commenting on the ending, focused on the destruction of the pizzeria, and not the death of Radio Raheem. When informed of this, they both have different reactions – one with that of forgetting about the death because of all the violence occurring, the other embarrassed and realizing that they did not have to kill him, they just did it out of their own anger and racism.

Police Brutality has stemmed from racist attitudes, discrimination, and prejudice to African Americans. In the movie “Fruitvale Station” the subject of police brutality is touched on through the true story of Oscar Grant III an African American young man who was assassinated in 2009. The movie follows Grant who is played by Michael B. Jordan in his final twenty-four hours of life. The shooting takes place after Grant and his girlfriend are on the subway returning home in the early morning on New Year’s with some friends. After a fight breaks out on the subway the police are called and Grant and his friends are taken off the train and handcuffed after a verbal altercation between Grant and the police officers one of the officers takes out and shoots Grant. Grant is taken to the hospital where he passes away. The officer who assassinated Grant was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and spent a year in jail. The main theme this movie follows is police brutality. The reason I chose to discuss this movie is because Police brutality is a very large issue that has occurred too often in the past few years in this country. Oscar Grant is one of the many African American men who have lost their life and left behind a family because of senseless police brutality. Police Brutality is a very difficult issue to discuss because people should feel protected around police rather than fear for their lives and for many people of color this is their reality. Police brutality solely stems from racist attitudes, discrimination, and prejudice of African Americans in the United States.

The film demonstrated tension and conflict between each minority groups the Italians, Koreans, White Cops, and Blacks. Although, the Black individuals did not like the police nor do they feel that they can be trusted; this is shown in the beginning of the film with the fire hydrant being turned on and the entire neighborhood having a wonderful time running through the water. The people busted open a fire hydrant and everyone is going crazy because it is so hot outside. Once the police come onto the scene they cannot help the white man, named Sal because the young Black man who blasted him with water had run

RACISM AS A CAUSE FOR CRIME AND VIOLENCE: CINEMATIC ANALYSIS OF “BOYZ N’ THE HOOD”

Continually the director uses the subplots- the stories within the story-to show the hierarchy of oppression and privilege in America to show how people think of others in a particular way in which they take people’s dignity. The way people treat and look to others is really off and they go with their thoughts to really far places and they imagine things that may not happen, in which they oppress another person.another scene “-come on man keep driving i said i'm not laughing at you ...fine you want me to show you i will show you ,do you want to see what's in my hands i will show you” In the scene, it shows how the cop mistreats the boy just because he is black. This scene is related to the message because the cop kills a person who did not do anything to him, he just thinks that he has gun but he is not sure about it, then

When we try to understand why the characters act as they act and what drives each of them, the viewers are inevitably drawn to the conclusion that they are just like them. They realize they are human; they have both good qualities and bad qualities. Spike Lee also makes them understand that at times they may make terrible mistakes, and that at other times they may display admirable heroism, and that sometimes they simply act without knowing why. Spike Lee does more than try to show his viewers that despite tensions, this Black neighborhood is a community. What Lee does is he makes the viewers think. He simply presents events as they are leaving the viewer to figure out the motives of the characters and the ‘why’ behind the course of events. Lee doesn’t really put a positive light on any particular race while shadowing the other ones. He doesn’t try to make conflicts have an obvious solution. Lee simply re-creates a piece of life, with a little twist of extreme (yet realistic) drama for deeper effect, and by doing this he tries to simply make his audience think and question.