Essay about The Message in Spike Lee’s Movie Do the Right...

The Message in Spike Lee’s Movie Do the Right Thing In an attempt to enlighten audiences with a powerful message about the cancer that hate and violence can bring to a society; writer, director, Spike Lee brings Do the Right Thing to the screen. Fusing a powerful story with creative film making, Lee gives us an insider’s look at life on a blistering summer day in Brooklyn. To create an atmosphere that both looks and almost literally feels like possibly the hottest day of the year, Lee uses orange and yellow filters throughout the film. Objects, as well as people seem to glisten in the light. Even scenes shot indoors have beams of light coming through windows and doors. The use of lighting is only one technique Lee uses to create a†¦show more content†¦This is accomplished with different camera angles as well as the movement of the camera. For example, in many scenes as the camera follows the action it is shaky rather than sturdy, as if you as a viewer are walking around and seeing the action through your own eyes. One may also notice that an escalated level of action or conversation on the screen is mirrored by the pace of the film from frame to frame. In essence, a heated argument would involve a quick paced transition of shots, going from a close-up of one character to another at a rapid pace in tune with the argument. At the beginning of the film, we are introduced to a wide variety of characters. Mayor, an older gentleman with a drinking problem, portrays neutrality in the film that is in sharp contrast to the racism and discrimination that is harbored in most of the cast. Throughout the story, Lee has a way of making this hatred between characters seem ridiculous to the point where it becomes humorous. Perhaps as a way to make the audience look at hate as a joke, and to see it that way in their own lives. However, slowly we begin to see that the hate towards others is stemming from frustrations within their own lives, and is taken out on others in increasingly more harmful ways. In the end, we see this escalating hate lead to violence and in turn to destruction for everybody. The reoccurring appearance of the photograph of Martin Luther King Jr. andShow MoreRelatedEnglish 102 Violence, good or bad? Intolerance and violence are interconnected, as they are both1100 Words   |  5 Pagesby Gary Ross, and Do The Right Thing, directed by Spike Lee, are two admirable films that explore the world of intolerance and violence. In Pleasantville, the colorless town has their world turned upside down as people and things begin to gain color through unknown knowledge that has recently been introduced. As a result, a powerful window-breaking scene is shot where the â€Å"noncoloreds† destroy what can be considered the safe house of the â€Å"coloreds†. Similarly in Do The Right Thing, the main characterRead MoreUnderstanding Do The Right Thing1250 Words   |  5 PagesUnderstanding Do the Right Thing While the 1970’s and 80’s marked a decline in movies featuring black actors and a lack of black directors, the mid 1980’s through the 1990’s invited a new generation of filmmakers and rappers, engaging with the â€Å"New Jack† image, transforming the Ghettos of yesteryears into the hood of today. A major director that emerged during this time was Spike Lee. According to Paula Massood’s book titled, Black City Cinema, African American Urban Experiences in Film, â€Å"†¦Lee notRead MoreAnalysis Of Do The Right Thing By Spike Lee991 Words   |  4 PagesIt’s no secret that Spike Lee is defiant of mainstream Hollywood expectations and is no stranger to controversy. 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This movie was aRead MoreMovie Analysis : Do The Right1304 Words   |  6 Pagesof the most unique forms of media because it has the ability to make a fictional story socially powerful. The simplest of elements in a film are able to change how the audience interprets a scene and give it a deeper meaning. In Spike Lee’s 1989 film, Do the Right Thing, many small elements come together to impact individual scenes as a whole. This controversial film illustrates a single day of rising events in a black neighborhood. It shows the frustration of the African-American population in howRead MoreAn Analysis of Spike Lees Film, 4 Little Girls947 Words   |  4 Pages1. The motion picture I picked is Spike Lees 1997 4 Little Girls. 2. I picked this film because of the strong message it is meant to put across, considering that Lee wanted the world to acknowledge that while society had experienced significant progress up to the turn of the century, people still had a long way to go in order for the world to be a morally acceptable place. Reading more information about the girls killed during the 1963 Baptist Church bombing really shocked me and made me want toRead MoreFilm Review : Film Registry1481 Words   |  6 Pagesand Spike Lee being nominated for Best Original Screenplay. Danny Aiello was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Sal. In 1999 the U.S. Library of Congress deemed the film to be culturally significant and was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry, one of just six films to have this honor in their first year of eligibility. Spike Lee has a distinct, visually bold cinematic style. He is known for a dramatic use of angles, color, and framing. Do the Right Thing utilizesRead MoreRemembering 9/11 through the Lens of Hollywood: A Detailed Analysis1240 Words   |  5 Pagesgroups, which America was divided into, together and showing loyalty and patriotism to one’s nation. Hollywood movies in the post 9/11 era conveyed the message that â€Å"it’s time to give back to your country† through the movies. â€Å"Tragedy of tragedies† is one way to define the 9/11 attack that shook the very roots of the United States. No one in their right mind had thought that such cataclysmic and consternating as this could happen in the United States. No police force or the special surveillance wasRead MoreFilm Paper on Boyz N The Hood998 Words   |  4 Pagesï » ¿ The characters: Tre Styles and Mookie are two young African-Americans in the films â€Å"Boyz N The Hood† and â€Å"Do The Right Thing† respectively. Both films were released around the same time period, with DO THE RIGHT THING being released in 1989, and BOYZ N THE HOOD in 1991. Both films are coming of age tales for Tre and Mookie, they both reside in a low-income, predominantly black neighborhood. Both films share a common theme: the idea of hopelessness and survival as a young black male inRead MoreDo The Right Thing Is A Beautifully Intense Film Directed By The Talented Spike Lee1029 Words   |  5 PagesDo the Right Thing is a beautifully intense film directed by the talented Spike Lee, which revolves around the very diverse community of the Bedford-Stuyvesant district of Brooklyn on a hot summer Sunday. Throughout the entire film, characters are faced with obstacles and injustices that bring up the grand question of what the â€Å"right thing† even is. On e scene in particular sums up the whole premise of the film into a concise and poetic speech spoken by the one and only Radio Raheem. This scene is