Do The Right Thing Essay
The bitter struggle for representation and control of black images has been almost as consistent as the profit driven system in Hollywood. From 1915 to 1950, the American film industry produced only a small number of films that transcended clichés and stereotypes about African American life. Race films such as The Scar of Shame (1926) and Within Our Gates (1920) highlighted recurring themes of black self-improvement and black literacy (Guerrero 147). Similar to Oscar Micheaux and many other black filmmakers, Spike Lee mesmerized audiences by giving them glimpses at social landscapes and material culture –dance, music, and sports – that is often unexplored in American cinema (Todd 15). By including these distinct choices of dance, music, and
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In the broadest sense, Do the Right Thing follows the shifting images of blackness in “commercial narrative cinema, attending to its insults and insurgencies, and its rare instances of black empowerment” (Guerrero 3). The dynamic opening dance number operates as an interlude for the later acts that establish the tone of the film. First, in the opening scene, the colorful background shifts from red, yellow, and orange. The red background signifies unbridled rage while yellow and orange suggest a greater restraint, albeit the colors still evoke anger. By tactfully using these colors, Lee hints at the frustrations of a diverse group of marginalized people facing the summer’s heat, police brutality, and gentrification before even showing them in their own neighborhood. However, assisting the colors in adding subtext is the opening dance routine. The aggressive dance routine of characters such as Tina, who shadowboxes, symbolize a strong resistance to authority as Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power” swells over the dancing black bodies, as if enticing the audience to join the cause and “fight the powers that be.” While this opening scene may seem quite straightforward when isolated from the rest of the film, it is not as forthright as it seems when looked at as a small part of a
In the broadest sense, Do the Right Thing follows the shifting images of blackness in “commercial narrative cinema, attending to its insults and insurgencies, and its rare instances of black empowerment” (Guerrero 3). The dynamic opening dance number operates as an interlude for the later acts that establish the tone of the film. First, in the opening scene, the colorful background shifts from red, yellow, and orange. The red background signifies unbridled rage while yellow and orange suggest a greater restraint, albeit the colors still evoke anger. By tactfully using these colors, Lee hints at the frustrations of a diverse group of marginalized people facing the summer’s heat, police brutality, and gentrification before even showing them in their own neighborhood. However, assisting the colors in adding subtext is the opening dance routine. The aggressive dance routine of characters such as Tina, who shadowboxes, symbolize a strong resistance to authority as Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power” swells over the dancing black bodies, as if enticing the audience to join the cause and “fight the powers that be.” While this opening scene may seem quite straightforward when isolated from the rest of the film, it is not as forthright as it seems when looked at as a small part of a