Racial Inequality In Do The Right Thing By Spike Lee

Christy Chandra Professor Sole Anatrone Italian Studies 170 Viewing Log- Do the Right thing Movie title: Do the Right Thing Director: Spike Lee

The film “Do the Right Thing” Directed by Spike Lee takes us through what life is like and what people do in a small town of Brooklyn, New York. According to Sanjek (2000), diversity in the United States has caused major decrease in the white population and has caused increase of the minority population. The neighborhood in which the film revolves around is filled with many different races and ethnical groups such as Koreans, Jews, Whites, Latinos, and Italians but is mainly inhabited by African Americans. And although they all reside in the same community, there still seems to be some struggles and misunderstandings between them from time to time because of ethnical and cultural differences.

Selecting a sole script out of thousands of remarkable writings, is quite a task for me. But, I suppose that in terms of tackling "the tone" and "language," the script for the film Do The Right Thing serves as a perfect example. The 1989 film Do The Right Thing was a controversial film depicting life in a Brooklyn neighborhood, and the racial tensions that flare on a hot summer day. The attitudes portrayed in the film are those of dozens of angry neighborhood locals. The attitudes of the locals grow more and more angry throughout the script, as they grow tired of the oppressive system.

Get Out (2017) is a horror film directed and written by Jordan Peele. The film is about a black male named Chris, performed by Daniel Kaluuya, who is going out of town with his girlfriend Rose, performed by Allison Williams. The purpose of this trip is to meet her parents for the first time at their estate located deep into the woods. Little does Chris know Rose’s parents do not really care to meet him but are more interested in auctioning off his body. Chris figures this out towards the end of the film and he barley figures out a way to escape.

Feminism is a huge movement during this era. However, the patriarchical society still dominates the Western films. A notable example of this is Red River, where the image of the mythic Western hero is the center of the movie. Both articles agrees on how John Wayne’s masculinity is at the center of the movie as Dunson goes through the journey of emotional maturity. O’Brien’s article mentions how the narrative and camera angles are of pivotal importance in establishing the standings of the three main characters of the movie: Thomas, Matt and Tess.

Throughout the semester this class has presented information that wasn’t known to me, for example that there is a specific definition for the term genocide, there are deeper reasons into committing genocide, and that there are other genocides besides the Holocaust. With my new found knowledge I plan on discussing and answering two question that have been presented after completing this course, first, while studying the Holocaust, the Armenian Genocide, and the Rwandan Genocide, one has to notice that all three incidents take place during times of war whether from outside aggressors or internally between one another, so one must question why are genocides (these in particular) more likely to occur during wartime? The next question that must be answered deals with the first-person accounts of these acts and how the accounts reflect the events that took place? Do the recollections help explain what truly took place, are they truly accurate or do they contradict anything we’ve learned and introduce more questions than they answer. To ultimately answer the first question of why genocides tend to take place during times of war, one has to think that there is some type of advantage of committing genocide during times of war and for this question I have decided to compare two cases to help answer this question, The Holocaust and The Armenian Genocide.

Oppression District 9 and Do the Right Thing both deal with problems of society. Do the Right thing views racism from a realistic setting. District 9 uses an alien group called prawns. Instead of viewing racism, District 9 deals with oppression of an alien species that is able to think in a humane way. While the groups are being oppressed in different ways, the statuses and the area they are forced to live in are the same similar, and they are seen as animalistic.

I believe that the film accurately captures the reality of racism in the United States. All through the film several scenes take place that examines racism and create a point of view. In the film, two black males were portrayed as the “bad guys” and the robbers. This itself shows a sense of racism. In our society racism is immoral and not right.

Bonnie & Clyde: Criminal Duo Bonnie & Clyde, the name, film, and likeness evokes the irresistible mix of crime, sexiness, and forbidden admiration of miscreants on the loose. The very term is meant to describe any duo or power couple known to society. While both Bonnie and Clyde historically wished for notoriety, they would have never expected that their first names would ring on forever thanks to the wildly popular film. Breaking many film codes, and crossing quite a few barriers along the lines of sex, violence, and the connection to the story therein, Bonnie & Clyde is the foremost crime drama of the 20th century. Bonnie & Clyde broke the mold for its genre just like the real protagonists themselves did when the swept across the US in same aggressive style as the film in and of itself.

After watching “Philadelphia,” I have a better idea of how far we as a society have come regarding LGBT rights. In contrast to how North America used to view AIDS and the LGBT community, we have become so much open minded, compassionate and accepting in recent years. The themes of homophobia and the discrimination of people infected with AIDS are prominent throughout the film, and sheds light on how people like Tom Hanks’ character was treated at that time. Currently, being ‘gay’ is fully accpeted all over Canada and in the United States. Although there is still a lot of work to be done, we have come a long way from the time that Philadelphia is set.