"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>.