Racism in 'Do the Right Thing' and 'Invisible Man'

Throughout American history, there have been many significant events that have shaped America and where we stand today. Going back to the 1600s, this was the time that introduced slavery in North America as well as leading the concept of racism to form. Racism is a huge controversy in America and one of the big main ideas that have led America to shape our society socially, culturally, and historically. Looking into a deeper and broader perspective of racism, the word comes from the 20th century meaning the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races. According to a source by Columbia University, racism is this idea that “... the practice of discrimination, at all levels, from personal abuse to colonial oppression. Racism is a form of practice which has been tremendously important in European society for several hundred years, important in the sense that it is an essential part of the way the European capitalist system maintains itself”. This gives an overall understanding of how different cultures have different cultural and social backgrounds. There have been many novels and short films produced and written throughout the years leading the main points to be about racism and equality. The film ‘Do the Right Thing’ directed and produced by Spike Lee, goes deep into the meaning of equality within colored individuals and takes racism into the heart of New York overlooking the lower-class standards. Looking into the novel ‘Invisible Man’ by Ralph Ellison, it dives deep into the concept of racism within the black culture and having the main idea on how certain individuals feel invisible within our society. Both of these films and novels overlook the overall theme of racism and how it shaped our society socially, culturally, and historically.

The idea of racism is a huge part of where Americans stand today leading two societies to feel like neither of them belong in certain places or cultures. America has two contradicting points of views based on the overall races between Americans and African Americans. Going into my first idea; looking at the historical background, racism came into America in the late 1600s leading the two races to form a controversy between the two. Racism led America to fall within our culture as well as our social standards due to the cultural differences each ethnicity has. Looking into racism in more of a social perspective within America, an article by the name of ‘The Social Construction of Whiteness: Racism by Intent, Racism by Consequence’ written by Teresa J. Guess states a main idea about the social standards of white individuals. Teresa states, “In Sociology, we find less scholarship about the role ‘whiteness as the norm’ plays in sustaining social privilege beyond that which is accorded marginalized others. In order to examine the historical black/white binary paradigm of race in America, it is important to understand its structuration”. This helps overlook the overall idea on racism within black and white individuals and the different structuralism that is behind it. Looking into the different cultural backgrounds between the two ethnicities, it gives America a split view on equality within the different cultural standards between Americans and African Americans. Cultural racism is a huge conception in America due to the cultural differences between discrimination within the two ethnicities. The main idea on cultural racism is the fact that many societies and groups have experienced racialization and how many cultural groups have separated from their cultural traits. Racism and the leading factors of the social and cultural standards behind it, show how far America has come with the controversies that come with it and lead us into the films and novels created behind it.

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The first film we watched and analyzed was ‘Do the Right Thing’, which was directed and produced by Spike Lee. This film takes place in a pizzeria building in the heart of Brooklyn. The message this film conveys is racial discrimination within the characters of the movie who live and work in a low-class area of New York. This film is looked upon social class and racial morals through the interactions of others. The whole idea behind this film was to convey a special message about racism within different ethnicities as well as wise words from two very important black famous individuals, Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X. Martin Luther King Jr was a huge spokesperson about racial discrimination and justice within the black culture. In the film, the main characters struggle with feeling like they belong in the community ran by higher class individuals. This coincides with the idea of social and cultural standards within racism and how colored people feel invisible when it comes to a higher class of white individuals. At the end of the film, Martin Luther King Jr states, “Violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and immoral. It is impractical because it is a descending spiral ending in destruction for all. The old law of ‘an eye for an eye’ leaves everybody blind. It is immoral because it seeks to humiliate the opponent rather than win his understanding; it seeks to annihilate rather than to convert. Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love. It destroys community and makes brotherhood impossible. It leaves society in monologue rather than dialogue. Violence ends by destroying itself. It creates bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers”. Equality was a huge theme in this film due to the amount of police brutality towards the black people and how things were not equal within the two ethnicities. Malcolm X beliefs and concepts on human rights focused on the civil rights movement. At the end of the film, Lee uses the quote, “I think there are plenty of good people in America, but there are also plenty of bad people in America and the bad ones are the ones who seem to have all the power and be in these positions to block things that you and I need. Because this is the situation, you and I have to preserve the right to do what is necessary to bring an end to that situation, and it doesn't mean that I advocate violence, but at the same time I am not against using violence in self-defense. I don't even call it violence when it's self- defense, I call it intelligence”, which is by Malcolm X and what he believed in. ‘Do the Right Things’ film has similar point of views and outlooks on Malcolm X and what he believed in with viewing human rights and equality.

The second novel we read that helps look into racism is ‘Invisible Man’ by Ralph Ellison. This novel dives deep into the concept of racism and the black culture which helps point out the different cultural standards behind colored and uncolored individuals. ‘Invisible Man’ has a concept where the narrator who is the ‘invisible man’ is in a world where he doesn't necessarily feel welcomed due to his race and color. The people in the novel who represent the white culture has this phenomenon where they make the black culture feel like they don't belong where they stand which is the concept of the whole novel being the black narrator as the invisible man not feeling free. Racism has been a huge concept in American history having very negative views due to the way it makes different cultures look. In this novel, racism and discrimination is viewed negatively towards the main character as this man who can't fit into society and feels as if he's alone with no one who cares. Ralph Ellison has a point in the novel where it talks about the main characters invisibility and the symbolism behind it. On page 141 he states, “Your nobody, son. You don’t exist—can’t you see that? The white folk tell everybody what to think except men like me. I tell them; that’s my life, telling white folk how to think about the things I know about. But you listen to me: I didn’t make it, and I know that I can’t change it. But I’ve made my place in it and I’ll have every Negro in the country hanging on tree limbs by morning if it means staying where I am”. Overall, this novel helps show the negativity of racism throughout America leading another book/film to view it as a pessimistic view.

In conclusion, the idea of racism throughout American history has this unaffirmative view towards many books and films that have based their argument off of discrimination and racism. Both the novel, ‘Invisible Man’ by Ralph Ellison, and the film, ‘Do the Right Thing’ directed and produced by Spike Lee, come together to form this analysis that racism and discrimination within social and cultural aspects turns out to have this pessimistic view that allows the reader to form an opinion on the topic. Looking back at the film ‘Do the Right Thing’ and the novel ‘Invisible Man’, they both form this cultural view on the different cultures and how they don't get along due to certain obligations. ‘Do the Right Thing’ looks upon social class and racial morals through the interactions of others and ‘Invisible Man’ has this idea where the narrator who is the ‘invisible man’ is in a world where he doesn't necessarily feel welcomed due to his race and color. The connections both of these films and novels have towards the topic of racism is the view based off of the cultural backgrounds between colored and uncolored individuals and how they don't fit into each other's society. Both of these films and novels overlook the overall theme of racism and how it shaped our society socially, culturally, and historically through the interactions each production has on the main characters versus the overall theme of the story.