The extract that I have chosen is taken from Spike Lee’s ‘Do the Right Thing’ (1989). The reason I have chosen to analyze a sequence of this film is that of the interesting storytelling techniques Spike Lee utilizes. More importantly, the film has many underlying meanings that are represented through the film elements. I will analyze the cultural context, cinematography, and symbolism are used to convey meaning in ‘Do the Right Thing’.
‘Do the Right Thing’ is a comedy movie directed by Spike Lee. The film was published in 1989. Lee was responsible for the film in four capacities: who produced, wrote, directed and starred in this scary social commentary on American society and culture. The setting for the film is in Bedford-Stuyvesant, an area in Brooklyn, New York. The neighborhood comprises several ethnic groups, including African Americans, Italians, Koreans and Puerto Ricans. ‘Do the Right Thing’ offers a retrospective look at life nearly three decades ago in urban America. The film takes place on a hot day during the summer. This extreme heat causes tension in the neighborhood between the various races.
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‘Do the Right Thing’ was particularly controversial at a time when it was constructed as a conservative era in US history. The stated ‘conservative revolution’ is essentially a post-World War II story. In the late 1970s and mid-1980s, it moved from focusing on human rights and social-cultural progress to continuous attacks on the ‘welfare state’ and those social groups that were perceived as special interests: minorities, the elderly, the young, the regular workers, the poor-basically, the all-inclusive community living outside the rich and special sectors (Edward, 2017).
‘Do the Right Thing’ sets in cultural context the racial and class lines prominent in the decade of the 1980s; there are African American and Caucasian, poor and well-off. Mookie the main character is an African American working-class man as a pizza delivery who tries to make a living and to support his family. The lines of race and class are clearly drawn.
The scene I'm analyzing takes place in the direction of the climax, the end of the film in which all the racial tensions that boiled over erupted like a volcano and spread. It is at the end of the day after the closure of Sal's Pizzeria. This special scene takes place in the famous pizzeria of Sal, Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn. We can see that the pizzeria is closed and Sal talks with his two sons Vito and Pino about him wanting to change his store's name. The pizzeria has been in the area for many years and most of its customers are African-American.
The film style is specifically manipulated in this scene to emphasize the racial tension between the characters. This is true through camera angles, camera movements and distance. Camera angles are a direct medium throughout the scene to express the relationships between characters. Clark states that Radio Raheem is only shown in low-angle shots throughout the film, giving it a threatening, greater appeal than life (2009). Radio Raheem is shown throughout the film only with low-angle shots giving him a threatening, larger than life appearance (2009). When Radio Raheem enters Sal's famous second time with its boombox, a huge altercation begins between Sal and Raheem. The camera is never straight, but it is tilted to the side, called the Dutch angles, creating a chaotic and unresolved feeling that complements the fight. The Dutch angles are particularly critical in that they visually state that the relationship between these characters is demented or dysfunctional. This confrontation ends with Sal transforming the radio into pieces that are the catalyst for the violent climax.
The camera's movements also contribute to the transmission of racial tensions among the characters. Many of the camera's movements are quick reverse shots again, because characters often shout each other in most of the movie. These fast movements of the camera create an increased sense of tension and confusion. As claimed by Clark, the speed of the camera adds an edginess to the dialogue through which the audience learns that the characters allow their personal struggles to interfere with their judgment about other races (Clark, 2009).
Finally, the distance between the camera and the characters enables the audience to be more emotionally involved with the character perspective. The camera is usually close to characters, for example, and places the audience in the middle of the immediate action line (Clark, 2009). It increases the feeling of mental and emotional stress that characters endure in the extreme heat of the day.
Issues of racism and classism are hidden in the film. Lee's using representations of symbolism in ‘Do the Right Thing’. Tracy states that Lee uses heat as a symbol of the disintegration of the African-American neighborhood into urban conditions on the hottest day of summer (2015). The heat symbolizes the racial differences between white and black (Tracy). For example, this is due to the hostile relationship between Raheem and Sal.
Music has an enormous impact on the storyline in ‘Do the Right Thing’ as it is also a symbol. The song that constantly plays throughout the film is the aggressive song ‘Fight the Power’ by Public Enemy, with its driving, high-tempo beat and powerful lyrics, America's favorite in American culture is knocked down. The song itself is only played when the Radio Raheem character appears. The song can be a signature statement for the male pride, independence and uncompromising strength of African American, which Raheem imperialized. In other words, it is loud, ‘in-your-face’, fearless and demanding of respect in the same way that Radio Raheem is not only seen by itself, but also by others in the neighborhood. One can say that all the male characters in ‘Do the Right Thing’ are constantly testing their manhood, whether it's Radio Raheem, whose boombox, with its size and volume. The film analysis claimed that it is a powerful symbol or Buggin' Out, who uses his calm music to keep his manhood secure. On the other hand, Radio Raheem, probably the ‘quietest’, carries a boombox that constantly plays ‘Fight the Power’, wherever he goes. He doesn't tell a lot, but he doesn't have to. His music is talking to him. Later on, the day Raheem returns to the pizzeria with Buggin' Out and Smiley to protest, he decides not to turn his music off this time. Tracy Shu is insisting that “these scenes symbolize the struggle between the various neighborhood groups and how Raheem overcomes the fight against power” (2015). When Sal crashes the boom box, which symbolizes Raheem 's death, it also symbolizes the loss of control in the community. This is when the uproar, a quick solution to a long- term problem, comes to an end. As the fight went on outside, Raheem was arrested by the police and was killed soon after, as the police kept him in a shock. Then the song ‘Fight the Power’ is finally heard for the first time as non-diegetic (Totaro, 2012).
After the climax, no Dutch angles are used. Kate Bellmore, claimed that this “grilling obstacle tension” is over and complements the hopeful message interpreted by the last scene of the film. She also state, the camera works and symbols intelligently form part of Lee's directorial vision of conveying his film (Kate, 2013). A powerful exploration of racial tension by making the film is the right thing to do, and Lee never wants to forget that. His style is shown and he passes through a complex and controversial narrative with his bold cinematography, namely these Dutch angles.
‘Do the Right Thing’ then is ever more relevant in today’s socioeconomic climate than it was thirty years before, as inequality has continued to rise, and economic caused America's worst disaster since the Great Depression
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