In Do the Right Thing, many stylistic elements are used that help contribute to the overall feeling of the whole film. The typical viewer would just watch the scene completely through in awe of the immense emotional tension presented. However, they would not understand how the scene so perfectly portrays its message through tiny little stylistic elements. In the selected segment of the film, stylistic elements are used continuously with very specific purpose. The scene is given certain stylistic elements to enhance its impact on the viewer and to also help communicate its message. Within the scene Fight the Power in Do the Right Thing, 5 stylistic choices are used to help carry the scene; canted angles, yelling, silence, low and high angles, and acting style. The canted or also known as the Dutch angle is a stylistic element that is used throughout the entirety of the scene. A canted angle is usually used to show how the world may be in unbalance in a character's life. This is important because the scene represents the unfolding of racial tensions that are presented throughout the movie. A canted angle is given to every character as all of their worlds are being messed with in a racial way. This supports the feeling of a climax of tensions in the movie. If a canted angle was not given throughout the scene, the feeling of the viewer would be dulled, and the climax of frustrations in the film would not be as great. A great example of the usage of the canted angle is when
In the film, Do the Right Thing, director Spike Lee presents the audience with the theme of racism. The title represents the everyday choices that we as Americans of various ethnicities, cultures, and race. Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing allows the viewers to decide for themselves the right thing to do about racism. Everyone has the choice to be accepting of cultures, or people different from them. The film portrays how an Italian American named Sal has a neighborhood pizzeria in Bedford-Stuyvesant, New York. The neighborhood is primarily African American, but there is a diverse amount of other cultures made up of, Hispanics, European Americans, also there is a store owned by Koreans. This film displays the discrimination between the races and how this can lead to violence.
The movie I chose to do my scene analysis on is Do the Right Thing. The scene I chose in the movie is the scene of the 20 “D” Batteries. The scene of the 20 “D” Batteries reflects the movie and the scene because it betrays the ethnic and racial tensions between each race and the cross-cultural communication between them. Throughout the movie the filmmaker Spike Lee uses wide variety of angles but in this scene he uses high angle and low angle. The character Radio Raheem is walking down the sidewalk listening to “Fight the Power” by Public Enemy on his Boom box, the director Spike Lee uses a low angle to make Radio Raheem seem as if he is powerful. In contrast when Radio Raheem walks into the store we see the little Asian boy
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.
Spike Lee’s camera technique in “Do The Right Thing” enhances racial tensions between characters. uses a lot of canted frames, tracking shots, close-ups, high and low angles, parallelism, and music to achieve this. The heat wave going through Brooklyn is exemplified in many ways: on the radio, through discussion between characters, people’s dress, and actions, etc. Lee also uses cinematography to get across how hot this day really is. For example, the film begins with a montage of people in the neighborhood trying to cool off, struggling to get through their morning routines: a shot of someone taking a cold shower, cuts to a shot of someone sticking their face in ice, to someone sticking their head in the freezer, men drinking beer, someone
Spike Lee does many fascinating things from a directorial standpoint, which makes his film (dare I say, joint), Do the Right Thing so interesting to watch. Writer, director Lee makes much use of the high and low angle shots. He does this to draw clear contrasts between the two elders of the block, Da Mayor and Mother Sister and to make conflict more apparent.
As I sat in class to watch Spike Lee's "Do the Right Thing", I noticed that a 20 year old film could convey such overwhelmingly real, modern social viewpoints. Many of the themes portrayed in "Do the Right Thing" which pave the way to the inescapable disarray of the movie that are issues which we confront today. Bedford–Stuyvesant or better known as Bed-Stuy, this Brooklyn neighborhood has gradually been the objective of gentrification since the mid 90s. Hip hop fans realize that Bed-Stuy is home to some of the most illustrious and well known artists like Jay Z, Notorious B.I.G., Mos Def, Lil' Kim, actor-comedian Tracy Morgan, thus some more.
In an attempt to enlighten audiences with a powerful message about the cancer that hate and violence can bring to a society; writer, director, Spike Lee brings Do the Right Thing to the screen. Fusing a powerful story with creative film making, Lee gives us an insider’s look at life on a blistering summer day in Brooklyn.
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.
In Spike Lee’s film Do the Right Thing, we dive head first into a world of racial and social ills. The movie is set in the African American and Puerto Rican neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, on the hottest day of the year. We follow a young man named Mookie, who lives with his sister Jade, and works as a pizza delivery guy for a local pizzeria owed by Sal. Sal’s “Wall of Fame” is soon questioned by a man named Buggin’ Out, who believes that Sal should place some pictures of African American celebrities on his wall to represent the African American society he serves. Sal refuses and Buggn’ Out attempts to
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 spite of the fact that Do the Right Thing and Jungle Fever are both associated with social and political issues, they tend to navigate through various racial viewpoints using different cinematic elements. Spike Lee uses a variety of techniques in his film to bring awareness to events occurring in today's society. For example Do the Right Thing, is a film that tackles down the social issue of prejudice as well as the controversial issues between Italian-Americans and African Americans in New York City. The whole movie unravels around the “Wall of Fame” located inside Sal’s Pizzeria, which only features Italian actors. One day a local customer name Bugging Out, demands to have black actors, since after all the pizzeria is located within a black neighborhood. Soon enough the “Wall of Fame” becomes a symbolic representation of racism and hate which leads to a riot involving an explicit scene of police brutality. On the other hand Jungle Fever, tends to emphasise on the subject of interracial couples, as well as the controversy between Italian-Americans and African Americans and of course the usage of drugs. The movie is based on Flipper, an African American architect who has an affair with his secretary Angie, who is an Italian-American. The climax of the movie occurs when Flipper’s wife Drew, finds out about the affair and from then on society begins to reject Flipper and Angie because of social norms. Forcing them into a corner where they later learn that they were driven
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.
Do the Right Thing was filmed in the 80’s which is a new movie I have watched from those years. Spike Lee did a delightful job at showing portrayal of cultures, stenotypes, and racial issues in America. Do the Right Thing reflects what all races are dealing with in their lives. Therefore, throughout the movie, hip-hop culture dominates the setting as Raheem walks around with his loud music playing on the boombox. I think he should not have been a target to others because he was only living his life freely but in his own style. Several of my friends often had the same problem, who also are being harassed by others, because of their different lifestyle. When seeing this film. I found that Spike Lee puts an accentuation on the delicacy of a group
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