Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Do The Right Thing - S. Bihary



     
        As the Roger Ebert review states, Do the Right Thing is a very controversial film. Many people could quickly be turned away from the movie by just assuming it is about race and violence. This is a movie that could cause a lot of problems if people take some of it too far. Some people could just simply be offended that the people buying food are the African Americans and the ones selling it are everyone but African Americans. Another example of this is the way that the different cultures interact with each other. An example of this is how the white man scuffs the black man's shoes and does not really apologize or anything. He just says it is his right to be there.
            Like the Washington Post review states, a lot the movie is left for the viewer to interpret it. For example, a lot of the different actions could be seen in different ways. Going back to the scene where the man's show got scuffed, you can interpret that in two different ways. The first way being it was an accident the man truly did not mean to mark up the other man's shoe. The next way being he did it on purpose. But then, why did he do it on purpose? I think this scene could be seen different depending on the viewer's race.
            The last review states that there is not a clear cut villain. I agree with this. There is not one single person that is the bad guy. I think there is a point in the movie that everyone did something bad that they should not have. This raised the tension immensely.
One film technique that made the movie seem very "real" would be the oblique camera angles. It really made the viewer feel uncomfortable which they most likely would have been if they were viewing it in person as well. Also, low angle shots were used effectively in the film. I interpreted it as everyone feeling like they had the power in the neighborhood. 
            Going back to the shoe scene, it is a great use of mise en scene. When the two men are arguing afterwards, mise en scene really kept the emotions up. This really helps the audience feel the tension that would have been going on in real life. 

Works Cited
Ebert, Roger. "Do the Right Thing." All Content. N.p., 30 June 1989. Web. 09 July 2013.
Emerson, Jim. "Do the Right Thing." Do the Right Thing. Cinepad, n.d. Web. 09 July 2013.
Howe, Desson. "Do the Right Thing." Washington Post. Washington Post, 30 June 1989. Web. 9 July        2013.

Do the Right Thing, D. Crawford


            
Do the Right Thing by Spike Lee was a film with very mixed views and opinions. Spike Lee has always been known for his different styles of filmmaking and plots. His ideas and perceptions of “what is and what was” are shown throughout many of his modern day and current day films. “Of course some of the characters are sympathetic and others are hateful. And of course some of the likable characters do bad things. Isn’t that the way it is in America today?” Ebert on his interpretation of Do the Right Thing. When you look at Spike Lee’s artistic style, camera, and shot angles, shadows, and sound, what stands out more than anything is the acting. Like Ebert reflected on, the acting done in this film can be reflected upon what America really is. Spike Lee directed this film in order to better portray what were current events during that time, and his views on America. When viewing this film to many viewers, as well as myself this film had no since of direction or plot. In many cases with the stereotypes and racist remarks throughout the film it looked as if Spike Lee placed actors, and actresses together and told them to “be themselves”. As a viewer, when the plot began to move in more of linear direction you start to see how powerful this film really was and the genius ideas of Spike finally coming to life. Spike directed this film in order for the viewer to have his or her own interpretation. Unlike many other films where the majority of the time the film is straight forward to the point, where at the end one either liked the film or hated it. This particular film was either liked or hated because of what it represented, not because of how it was directed or produced.
Throughout the film you see many Korean immigrants, Latinos, African Americans, Whites, and Italians living in one community together, a “black community” as Buggin’ Out stated in the film. I think this film is so powerful because it showed the many problems that went on between different races at that time and the struggles America went through to become “one”.  You watch as many African Americans gave police officers stern hard looks throughout the film “what a waste” which was displayed by close up and extreme close up shots to show the hatred they had for each other. The film cinematography effectively added definition to the plot and linear direction the film was moving in. Spike Lee used the weather to help show how significant temperature played with the actions and attitudes of people. Typically hot weather called for many angry people “hot tempered” as if the good in them was sucked out. Warm and bright colors were displayed throughout the film, vibrant red, yellow, and orange displayed in almost every scene and surrounded every character. “In both School Daze and Do the Right Thing, those words Wake Up, are aimed directly at the movies characters and audiences” Emerson wrote. Lee uses his films as a voice to the public. Wake up, a meaning in my opinion that can still be used today as it was by Lee back then to the public. Desson Howe explains how Spike Lee uses race in New York and stereotypes, along with political messages and gripping drama to develop a film with “sheer power and originality”. In my opinion Lee used camera angles more than anything to help create such a masterpiece of work.
The scene that stood out to me the most was when Sal broke Radio Raheem’s radio in the pizza shop. The first thing that stood out to me was the music. I noticed how Spike Lee used background music “hip hop” during the most important or significant scenes in the movie. Inside the pizza shop you notice Spike use low angle shots when Raheem’s face was displayed to help give him a more intimidating look. You see extreme close up and mid angle shots during the argument between Sal, Raheem, and Buggin’ Out at the counter. We are able to see many cuts throughout this scene to help display the setting and the environment around the argument. I noticed mid shots of the background characters and sometimes a zoom on the characters faces. The movie went from bright colors, sunny, and clear to the inside of the pizza shop, which were dark shadows, and a blur of pictures and colors on the wall. As soon as Sal broke the radio it was complete silence as if the broken radio symbolized the broken hearts of African Americans at that time. Music was something that African Americans were able to easily relate to, and was something that was part of their culture. Once Sal broke the radio it was almost like something went missing in the lives of the characters.

Works Cited
·      Ebert, Roger.  "Do The Right Thing."  Rogerebert.com.  Chicago Sun Times, 30 June 1989. Web.  8 July 2013.  

·      Emerson, Jim.  "Do The Right Thing."  Cinepad.com.  Web.  8 July 2013.

·      Howe, Desson.  “Do The Right Thing."  Washingtonpost.com.  Washington Post, 30 June 1989. Web.  8 July 2013.

Do the Right Thing- Bologna, M.


            “It’s clear that everyone in the movie could use a cold moral shower by the end of the day” (Howe).  This movie was created knowing that there would be mixed feelings.  There is an immense amount of racism for African Americans, Asians, and Caucasians.  They each struggle to live in their neighborhood together.  Their compromises are unspoken but assumed until one side is unhappy, which is most of the time.  They deal with problems concerning money and fairness.  In this movie money is a large part of how these characters get by in life.  Money seems like an odd concern for people that are not financially struggling but Sal uses money as a solution to the trouble makers who stop by his store by paying them to leave him alone.  But Mookie on the other hand uses money to solve financial issues with his family and for personal use.  The last scene is even based around money.  Sal pays Mookie to leave him alone and take his trouble with him and Mookie takes it knowing that it is his and he needs it to help his family.  The clashing cultures also struggle with compromising.  They find every decision to be unfair when its really society that is unfair.  The characters are one minded letting you understand how they each feel but we have a far enough distance to stay mutual while we can relate with our own instances in certain situations.  Lee uses colors to emphasize our mood in certain moments.  From the second the film begins, we are given the image of heat.  There is a red tint to just about every picture.  Then we are given the news that it will be a hot summer, which combines with the color red to emphasize the sweat running down each character’s neck.
  
          In this clip Radio Raheem is in the shot by himself.  The camera is just a bit lower to give him a larger more powerful angle than his already larger body.  Because the camera is placed at a high angle, Radio Raheem looks as large as the buildings behind him.  Even his hands look larger than the car with the close up shot that only captures half of his body.  Lee even uses the bright colors on Radio Raheem’s shirt to capture the audiences eye’s attention to the center of the scene along with the glare of light coming off of his rings.

"Do the Right Thing," Nick Manolis


Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing sprouted much controversy at its release in 1989 because it provided viewers with a truthful, yet unbiased approach to racial segregation within the United States.  The film has kept “things open to wide interpretation,” giving reason as to why such a sensitive subject matter is considered “unbiased” toward one side of the racial spectrum (Howe).  Even by today’s set of standards, the film holds up as a rather monumental development in establishing the “space between right and wrong, justice and retribution, reason and outrage, that Spike Lee wants to urge his audiences to explore for themselves” (Emerson).  In other words, there is not one “true” protagonist or antagonist, but rather a combination of societal-based differences that eventually lead up to the film’s ultimate conclusion.  One could agree that many of these racial issues are still heavily prevalent in modern society.

The idea of these so-called “societal-based differences” occur on a number of occasions throughout the film, however, one in particular happens when the characters Buggin’ Out (Giancarlo Esposito) and Radio Raheem (Bill Nunn) confront Sal Fragione (Danny Aiello), owner of “Sal’s Famous Pizzeria,” about his “Wall of Fame” neglecting to include photos of famous Africa-American figures.  It is here where things become heated to say the least.  Now, it is obvious that both Buggin’ Out and Radio Raheem show little respect toward Sal in their attempt to confront him, but so too does Sal when his short temper causes him to blurt racial slurs and stereotypes to get his point across.  The two African-American characters avoid belittling remarks.  Sal’s anger, and one could say the extreme outside temperatures, causes him to resort to such derogative terms. 
Anger can release a person’s true colors, and, in this case, Sal’s anger displays his inner racial tendencies.  In this sequence, both sides, neither bad nor good, fuel the inevitable riot.  The late Roger Ebert puts it best in his review by stating, “It requires you to decide what you think about it” (Ebert).  The “it” factor promotes the question, “Who did the right thing?”  The answer to that question is hard to decipher because each side has pros and cons.  And if the film were biased than the viewer would not have the option of choice.  Furthermore, the conclusion would succumb to presenting viewers with a clear-cut antagonist.  Instead, it becomes the job of the viewers to thoroughly conduct an open-minded answer for his or herself. 
Every race has faults and is guilty, one time or another, of racial stereotyping, which is made evident in one sequences of the film.  Within this sequence, a dolly shot rolls up from a full shot to a close-up of each race depicted within the film such as, an African, Italian, Mexican, Korean, and a white.  Each race fumes racist comments directly at the camera lens.  The shots are supposed to be the internal thoughts of each race and what they think truthfully of the other race(s).  The reason to think that these shots are meant to be internal thoughts is because in each shot only one specific character is visible within the established frame—no one else is included to see or hear them speak out offensive comments.  

In terms of the film’s photography, the formalistic tendencies in style helps to convey the build up of tension, especially in the final sequence of events.  From the second Buggin’ Out and Radio Raheem step through the door, the oblique positioning of the camera angle, followed by the dolly back shot at a low angle, signals something that will lead to a violence outcome.  The high angle on Sal puts him into a vulnerable position, adding a preemptive sense of entrapment to the scene.  Notice that the characters stare directly into the camera lens.  Each shot is from the characters point-of-view, looking directly at one another.   Buggin’ Out and Radio Raheem, standing opposite of Sal, feel that they had an advantage in power.  Sal is being ganged up on.  The high angle also shows that Sal will lose control of whatever existing power he has left if he does not stand up for himself.  
In addition, the song, “Fight the Power,” brings forth another dimension of meaning, and it symbolizes, perhaps, the idea of white society as the acting “power.”  The so-called “minority” characters are fighting this “power” to obtain equal ground rather than continue to be segregated.  It turns out, though, that the song’s lyric “fight” does little to resolve the problem because Sal goes on to refers to it as “jungle” music.  He then positions himself on equal footing as the eye-level, medium shot illustrates this when he smashes the radio into piece.  Destroying the radio separates a once cultural melting pot of a neighborhood into a street corner of racial hatred and violence.  Fighting does not help the cause, and, as a result, Radio Raheem is murdered.  The death regresses the progress of becoming one as a society of people, both from a mental and physical standpoint.

One shot in particular in which mise en scène occurs is when Pino (John Tutrturro) and Sal sit at the front window of the pizzeria.  It starts at long shot, followed by a slow dolly shot moving toward both Pino and Sal, talking amongst each other at the window.  The shot stops at a medium range, two-shot, along with an eye-level shot.  Within the background stands the Korean’s “Fruit and Vegetable Delight” corner store in addition to the red and blue neon lights decorating it.  Three different cultures exist in one shot, African’s, Italian’s, and Korean’s.  The coloring of the shot has spurts of red, white, and blue throughout.  America is the symbol of freedom and equality, yet the society living in it, for the most part, struggles to allow this idea of equality to co-exist with other cultures.  The window is the symbol for saying things behind closed doors.  Pino says that they (whites) do not belong in the same neighborhood as “these people” (blacks).  Therefore, the notion is that Pino is not afraid to express himself when he is separated or closed off from the public ear, metaphorically speaking.  The window is what blocks the words of truth. 
The shot seems to be lit with mainly backlighting, putting little emphasis on fill and key lighting so as to create a dusk effect.  Much continues to go on in this one continuous take, especially when Smiley (Roger Guenveur Smith) comes to the window asking Sal and Pino to buy pictures of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.  The camera does not cut to a different shot, even as Pino gets up from his chair and walks outside, yelling at Smiley to get lost.  The reaction of Sal is made evident as he sits with his hands on his face, while listening to the bickering outside the windows.  Maybe in this moment, he changes his perspective of things, comes to the realization of Pino’s argument, even though he gives his reasons to Pino for staying beforehand.  He does change in this moment, although not entirely, by the way in which he views the people living in the neighborhood.  Plus, Sal really does not do anything to stop Pino from scaring off Smiley, or arguing with the off-screen black man across the street corner.  The frustration is beginning to brew in Sal.  For the time being, however, he is holding his true emotions back.   

Do the Right Thing has a formalistic tone, at times, in terms of its camera work, and whatnot, but the story tends to lean more toward realism.  One way the story can be looked at as formalistic is the presence of a narrator, and the character of Love Daddy (Samuel L. Jackson) adds that undertone.  He acts as the man behind the curtain, looking over everyone else and observing.  The editing style is a form of classical editing because there really is not any noticeable distortions that are meant to be intentional, much of that has to do with the camera work.  The film uses matching action to connect one shot to another, including the 180-degree rule for the dialogue scene especially.  The speed of the cuts depends on the scene.  Some scenes are slow, while scenes like the riot in the latter half of the film contain fast cuts, causing a sense of confusion and distortion in order to simulate, to some degree, a rioting situation.  The camera angles range from birds-eye, close-up, high, long, low, medium, oblique, to wide.  The movements are mostly crane, dolly, pan, and zooms.  Much is formalistic, but highly affective in setting a certain mood for individual shots. 

Works Cited

Ebert, Roger.  "Do The Right Thing."  Rogerebert.com.  Chicago Sun Times, 30 June 1989. 
Web.  8 July 2013.  

Emerson, Jim.  "Do The Right Thing."  Cinepad.com.  Web.  8 July 2013.

Howe, Desson.  “Do The Right Thing."  Washingtonpost.com.  Washington Post, 30 June 1989. 
Web.  8 July 2013.

cory petras, Do The Right Thing



Do The Right Thing was a movie that at first seemed like it had no clear direction but as the movie continues, we see that Spike Lee was trying to make a point about hate and racism in the world and those things need to change. The Washington Post Review, Desson Howe portrayed this movie to be controversial among its characters, where people live in a black New York neighborhood, “Italians serve pizza, Koreans sell vegetables, but blacks do all the buying”  (Howe). This is portraying all the stereotypes given to these three different types of people. This is what Lee was trying to portray in this movie. I feel that Lee was trying to send a message saying that even though there are different types of people we all need to work together to make a working society. The movie showed a community that everybody knew everybody, there were issues but for the most part everybody got along. But there was rising tension and we knew that something was about to happen. In the Emerson review, he mentions love daddys role in the movie, how he starts the movie off by saying wake up, but through the movie he is narrating the movie through his radio show from his view that is above the neighborhood.
 
 

This film was filed with different camera angles. almost every scene of Radio Raheem is shot with low camera angles to show that he is big, and tough, but one scene when Radio Raheem walks up to the counter and is trying to assert his toughness the low camera angle is trying to show that Radio Raheem is intimidating, but when Sal yells at him and doesnt back down, the camera angle changes to eye level.



Monday, July 8, 2013

"Do the Right Thing" David Moore


 “Do the Right Thing” by Spike Lee was not a popular film to everyone many viewers had mixed feelings about the actual film, the viewers were bothered and confused by what he was trying to portray.  Spike fused together political messages, gripping drama and community comedy”(Howe), while creating a bold, bright stylization film that resembled a Hollywood back lot musical don’t street style (Emerson).  Which goes in line with what Lee and the cinematographer created making it a playfully contrast of artificial and the realistic, where the film takes places in a world that isn’t either but both. This makes this film even harder to understand which is why I agree with multiple reviews that the film was confusing.  And the reason I believe that it is so confusing is because Spike made the movie as more of an “open-ended than most, where it requires you to decide what you think about”(Ebert).

In the film Mookie and Pino who is racists towards blacks are talking to one another and the camera angle kind of surprised me.  It surprised me because the camera angle that Spike chose to use was point of view, eye level where I would think that he would use more of an elevated camera shot to show how Pino looks down upon Mookie and the black race in general. Although the point of view angle worked very well with the shot so it felt like each actor had something to say and they were saying it directly to you.

“As in heat of the moment racial flare ups in a black New York neighborhood where Italians serve pizza, Koreans sell vegetables but blacks do all the buying”(Howe).   And the particular scene for this statement has many camera angles and cuts to show the sequence of events that about to take place. Like when Mookie throws the trash can through the window it shows the trash can hitting and breaking the glass then cuts the scene to a camera angle inside showing the trash can continue through the window into the store.  Throughout the movie Spike Lee and Dickerson created a world that was in between worlds using camera angles and lens to create the feeling.

Worked Cited:

Ebert, Roger. "Do The Right Thing." Rev. of "Do The Right Thing"27 May 2001: n. pag. Web. 3 July 2013.< http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-do-the-right-thing-1989>.

Emerson, Jim. "Do The Right Thing." Rev. of "Do The Right Thing"1989: n. pag. Cinepad. Web. 3 July 2013. <http://cinepad.com/reviews/doright.htm>.

Howe, Desson. "Do The Right Thing." Rev. of "Do The Right Thing"30 June 1989: n. pag. Washington Post. Washington Post Company. Web. 3 July 2013. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp- srv/style/longterm/movies/videos/dotherightthingrhowe_a0b222.htm>.


Do the Right Thing - Jenny Picot


In the Washington Post review, I found it very interesting that the article ended with the fact that “everyone in this movie could use a cold moral shower by the end of the day.” This is interesting to me because the heat obviously had an effect on everyone’s mood in the day, but essentially everyone’s morals are what lead to this conclusion. The heat is just what pushed everyone over the edge. Even the likeable characters in this movie do some things that are questionable and even hateful, and it makes us see how everyone is not perfect and has some kind of moral issue. The review Emerson wrote talks about how Love Daddy starts and ends the movie. In the beginning of the movie he is telling everyone to “Wake up!” and at the time we do not know that this is directed at the audience and the characters. I think it is a good way to start out the movie because at first it seems like he is just talking about getting up in the morning, but we later realize he is saying wake up to the prejudice you have and that is around you. In the Ebert review, he says that too many people are criticizing the film for arbitrary reasons. He says that the “film comes closer to reflecting current state of race relations in America than any other movie of our time.” Films made about prejudice and racism are often documentaries or they are jokes that foster prejudice in comedies, but this movie deals with the tension that was actually felt at the time. There really were people that were overtly racist trying to get away with some of the racist things they said.
There were some oblique angles in this movie, and a large use of low angles and high angles in this movie. There were often strange angles in shot/reverse shot form when people were shown talking to each other. The person’s face would be close to the camera at such a weird angle that it would almost appear as if a fisheye lens was on the camera. These angles help to build the tension as it heightens throughout the day. The low and high angles also helped to show who was of higher authority in the conversations. Sometimes Sal would be at a lower angle and sometimes someone would be talking to Sal and would be “above” him so they would have the lower angle.

The scene where the white guy runs over Buggin’ Out’s sneakers first shows the guy running over them. Next, Buggin’ Out realizes what just happened and looks at his sneakers. We see a scuff then it zooms out so we can see that it is sneaker. Then the next shot goes to his face at a low angle. This low angle helps to show how upset he is and in shock that this guy messed up his shoes and did not even look back. There is a decent amount of cutting in this scene and this helps to show the events, but it also puts a dramatic emphasis on it. The only short mise-en-scene is when Buggin’ Out is running to the man. The background is blurry and he runs to confront the man. We can tell he is not messing around.