Wirth

Do the Right Thing Blog

                In the end of the review in the Washington Post, the writer, Desson Howe, discusses very briefly how Spike Lee “has made a quantum leap into the ranks of America’s most serious-minded moviemakers.  I would have to completely agree with this statement by Howe.  Lee touched a subject that no one in America was paying much attention to until the Rodney King beatings that took place in LA in 1992.  Lee added a bit of racism from all sides of the film.  The Italian family secretly was racist to the African-Americans until about halfway through when the one son wanted to close the pizzeria and move back to their neighborhood and when Sal snapped at the ending of the movie and started calling Radio Raheem and others in the pizza shop niggers.  During the movie, the African-Americans  were pretty mellow to Sal and his family except for the one person, Buggin-out.

                In the second review that we read, I had to agree with the point about how Lee used his music throughout the film.  Every time we saw Radio Raheem, he was playing the same song by Public Enemy called “Fight the Power”.  The choice of the same song over and over added to the film’s way of proving a point that America needed to look at the racial bigotry that was occurring and not act like they don’t see what was going on.  It also is a look into the future of the movie.  As Radio Raheem was playing the song the whole movie, I was thinking to myself that maybe he would be arrested by the police or something would occur with the police.

                In the third and final by Roger Ebert, I would like to discuss his point towards the beginning about how people viewed this film.  I do not live in New York City and I was not alive back in 1989 when the film was released but I could totally see how everyone had a different opinion about the film and how they discussed it everywhere they went.  One thing in the film that really bothered me was the fact that all the cops were white.  My father is a retired police officer from a small, low crime town.  I thought it was ridiculous how Lee did this.  I understand that people persuade what they are showing to prove their point but not all white cops are racist also.  I think Lee was trying to just show the view that the community in Brooklyn had/has of the police.

                Throughout the film, the camera angles added so much to the meaning.  When Radio Raheem was shown, he was usually shown from a low camera angle showing power.  I think that that was meant to add to his size and make him look stronger and meaner.  I also think that adds to the surprise of the ending where you see him being lifted off the ground by the police officer.  Also they showed other individuals such as Da Mayor at a low camera angle at times and others, such as when Da Mayor was talking to Mother Sister, at a high angle to show that Mother Sister was looking down on Da Mayor because he was a drunk.

                I think one of the best parts of the movies throughout was when Lee showed the three African-Americans sitting at their corner discussing different aspects.  I like the fact that he didn’t have any writing or graffiti or anything else on the wall behind the men at all.  I thought that added to their attitude about how they didn’t do anything all day and just sat around chilling and talking.  I also liked how the camera angle was a head on shot and not at an angle.  At some points, I wish there were some over the shoulder shots just to feel as if you were involved in the conversation a little more but I can understand why Lee had shot the sequences the way he did.