Do the Right Thing (1989) - A Level Film Studies Focus Film Factsheet | Study notes Italian

A Level Film Studies - Focus Film Factsheet

Do the Right Thing

(1989, Lee, USA)

Component 1: Varieties of

Film & Filmmaking (AL)

Component 1: American film (AS)

Core Study Areas

Key Elements of Film Form

Meaning & Response

The Contexts of Film

Specialist Study Area

Auteur (AL)

Rationale for study

Do the Right Thing is arguably Spike Lee’s finest

film. It is a visually and sonically inventive

piece of cinema, which beautifully captures

the heat and bubbling racial tensions of late

1980’s Brooklyn. Its themes of division, anger

and police brutality are as important today as

they were when the film was first made.

STARTING POINTS - Useful

Sequences and Timings/Links

43.56-47.02 - Racial Harmony

This sequence graphically exposes the racial

tensions that underpin the film with the use

of static camera and breaking the fourth wall,

as some of the protagonists insult other racial

groups. The lead-up conversation between

Pino and Mookie is particularly revealing.

129.17-133.00 - Death of Radio Raheem

The climax of the film exposing the racist

attitudes and actions of the NYPD and

their direct involvement in the death of

Radio Raheem. It also provides a moment

of catharsis for Mookie. Interesting use of

camera movement and framing throughout.

CORE STUDY AREAS 1 - STARTING

POINTS - Key Elements of Film

Form (Micro Features)

Cinematography

Ernest R Dickerson’s cinematography is

full of interesting devices and techniques,

many of which are worth concentrating

on when looking at sequences.

The use of colour is fundamental in stressing

the heat and intensity of the day. There is a

controlled palate employed by Dickerson (and

further stressed in the mise-en-scène) which

directly reflects the heat with its warm range of

shades – yellows, reds, ambers and warm tones.

There is an intermittent use of canted angles to

reflect the increasingly fragmenting atmosphere

generated by the film’s events, as well as

discordant shifts in framing. There are also a

number of shots which move with fast dollies,

stopping abruptly in front of characters.

There are also examples of characters caught

in medium close-up, looking directly into

the lens breaking the fourth wall.

Mise-en-Scène

The vivid mise-en-scène reflects the heightened

reality presented in the film. This is reflected

in the highly stylised use of costume and the

attention to detail where the wrong or right sort of

trainer is given a huge amount of significance.

The major conflict in the film is underpinned by the

pictures in Sal’s Pizzeria, showing prominent Italian-

Americans. Buggin’ Out wants these replaced by

photographs that reflect the full spectrum of famous

African-Americans from Michael Jordan to Malcolm

X. This conflict based on what these props represent

is vital to understanding the climax of the film.

The strong emphasis on the setting of the block

adds to the growing intensity around the film’s

events. The film doesn’t leave this during the

timeframe of the narrative. The audience quickly

become aware of the brownstone buildings,

Partial preview of the text

Download Do the Right Thing (1989) - A Level Film Studies Focus Film Factsheet and more Study notes Italian in PDF only on Docsity!

Do the Right Thing

(1989, Lee, USA)

Component 1: Varieties of

Film & Filmmaking (AL)

Component 1: American film (AS)

Core Study Areas

Key Elements of Film Form

Meaning & Response

The Contexts of Film

Specialist Study Area

Auteur (AL)

Rationale for study

Do the Right Thing is arguably Spike Lee’s finest film. It is a visually and sonically inventive piece of cinema, which beautifully captures the heat and bubbling racial tensions of late 1980’s Brooklyn. Its themes of division, anger and police brutality are as important today as they were when the film was first made. STARTING POINTS - Useful Sequences and Timings/Links 43.56-47.02 - Racial Harmony This sequence graphically exposes the racial tensions that underpin the film with the use of static camera and breaking the fourth wall, as some of the protagonists insult other racial groups. The lead-up conversation between Pino and Mookie is particularly revealing. 129.17-133.00 - Death of Radio Raheem The climax of the film exposing the racist attitudes and actions of the NYPD and their direct involvement in the death of Radio Raheem. It also provides a moment of catharsis for Mookie. Interesting use of camera movement and framing throughout.

CORE STUDY AREAS 1 - STARTING

POINTS - Key Elements of Film Form (Micro Features) Cinematography Ernest R Dickerson’s cinematography is full of interesting devices and techniques, many of which are worth concentrating on when looking at sequences. The use of colour is fundamental in stressing the heat and intensity of the day. There is a controlled palate employed by Dickerson (and further stressed in the mise-en-scène) which directly reflects the heat with its warm range of shades – yellows, reds, ambers and warm tones. There is an intermittent use of canted angles to reflect the increasingly fragmenting atmosphere generated by the film’s events, as well as discordant shifts in framing. There are also a number of shots which move with fast dollies, stopping abruptly in front of characters. There are also examples of characters caught in medium close-up, looking directly into the lens breaking the fourth wall. Mise-en-Scène The vivid mise-en-scène reflects the heightened reality presented in the film. This is reflected in the highly stylised use of costume and the attention to detail where the wrong or right sort of trainer is given a huge amount of significance. The major conflict in the film is underpinned by the pictures in Sal’s Pizzeria, showing prominent Italian- Americans. Buggin’ Out wants these replaced by photographs that reflect the full spectrum of famous African-Americans from Michael Jordan to Malcolm X. This conflict based on what these props represent is vital to understanding the climax of the film. The strong emphasis on the setting of the block adds to the growing intensity around the film’s events. The film doesn’t leave this during the timeframe of the narrative. The audience quickly become aware of the brownstone buildings,

the radio station (with its vast window), the stores and of course the pizzeria. A number of confrontations also occur on the hot streets. Editing Lee does utilise a number of aspects of what might be considered a standard Hollywood style of editing, utilising continuity and parallel editing and developing the events of the narrative over a short time-span of a day. That said there are also examples of fast editing in places with aspects of dialogue sometimes crosscut on each line. The ‘racial slur montage’ also utilises the juxtaposition of different, racist viewpoints to excellent effect, by showing the undercurrent of anger bubbling under New York’s surface fuelled by ethnic difference. The film ends with the diametrically opposed use of quotations by Dr Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. This powerful ending to the film can be read as summing up a number of the major discourses pursued throughout the film. Sound Music is very often a significant way in which meaning is created in Spike Lee’s films and this is very much the case in Do the Right Thing. Public Enemy’s polemical track ‘Fight the Power’ is used throughout the film in a number of different contexts from Tina’s dance during the title sequence to Radio Raheem’s use of it on his boombox. The politicised nature of its lyrics is enhanced by the loudness by which Raheem plays it in the neighbourhood. Also the enduring quality and influence of African-American music is celebrated in a beautiful monologue by Mr Senor Love Daddy. Bill Lee’s (Spike’s father) lush, orchestral score is steeped in a classic, Hollywood tradition. It has a nostalgic, at times melodramatic quality and it underscores a number of key moments in the film. It too has its roots in a deeper African-American musical tradition with at times a dreamy, bluesy jazzy feel. The screenplay for the film was nominated for Best Original Screenplay and much of the dialogue is whip-fast and the interplay between some of the characters in confrontational situations is delivered with real gusto. The argument between Clifton and Buggin Out is a fine example of this as are the scenes between Mookie and Pino.

CORE STUDY AREAS 2 - STARTING

POINTS - Meaning & Response Representations The film throws up a huge amount of areas to study under this heading and there are a number of different ways into this. It should be clear that Lee’s own middle-class, black background will have a direct impact on whom and what is represented in this film. The urban Afro-American experience is captured well in this film and this is also underpinned by a number of further frameworks around gender and age. These add a level of complexity which does challenge more conventional stereotyping of black characters in Hollywood film. It is worth considering these within a broader framework by focusing on the main and minor protagonists, Mookie, Jade, Buggin’ Out, Radio Raheem, Da Mayor, Mother Sister, and Smiley. Ethnicity and racial conflict/division is at the core of this film. The multi-ethnic nature of the Bed- Stuy neighbourhood on the hottest day of the year is a melting pot which is reaching boiling point. The seemingly besieged Italian pizzeria owning family, the Korean shop owners, the Puerto-Rican kids (and of course Tina) and the largely white NYPD are all framed and developed in contrasting ways. The representations of Tina and Jade have been criticised as being overtly exploiting their bodies and sexuality. Jade for example is often viewed through Sal’s point of view and Tina from the opening credits is both heavily sexualised and portrayed as the nagging girlfriend. Gender has long been an issue in Lee’s films (although this could be contradicted by his latest film Chi-raq (2015)). He has been sharply criticised by black feminist writers for his conventional construction of masculinity and his stereotypically negative portrayal of women as passive and powerless. Certainly the men in this film seem to want to solve their issues through loud vocal set-pieces and ultimately through violent actions. In terms of female representations though, Jade and Tina do challenge some of these preconceptions of passivity, the sexualisation of Tina arguably from the start and the infamous ice-cube scene undermine this reading. The positioning of Jade as ‘the good girl’ and the simplistic portrayal of Mother Sister as the block’s symbol of matriarchy may also be considered problematic. The Bedford-Stuyvesant neighbourhood of Brooklyn where the film is set, does offer an interesting discourse on the ‘melting pot’ ideology

also concerns about the very specific location in Brooklyn where Lee wanted the film to be shot. The film also fell into what Hollywood felt was a niche audience demographic and it was essential that it has some form of crossover appeal to go into profit. SPECIALIST STUDY AREA - AUTEUR

- STARTING POINTS Spike Lee’s position as an auteur is certainly closely aligned to a number of factors around the visual style of his films but also his preoccupations as a black filmmaker of the position of African-Americans in US society. At the time of this film’s release Lee the main director as part of a growing number of black film- makers who were reflecting the growing emergence of hip-hop culture (and white audiences’ interest in it) and also reacting to what was going on in America’s cities with the black community. He also has some degree of control over the projects that he chooses as he runs his own, very distinct film production company. Lee has also stepped outside of fiction filmmaking by making documentaries on a number of issues, but all rooted in some sense of the American black experience ( Four Little Girls, When the Levees Broke, Bad-25 ). Despite his high profile as perhaps the most prominent African-American director ever, he has struggled to get funding for recent projects and is now involved in producing and directing a dramedy for Netflix based on his first film She’s Gotta Have It.

Do the Right Thing (1989) - A Level Film Studies Focus Film Factsheet, Study notes of Italian

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Partial preview of the text

Download Do the Right Thing (1989) - A Level Film Studies Focus Film Factsheet and more Study notes Italian in PDF only on Docsity!

Do the Right Thing

(1989, Lee, USA)

Component 1: Varieties of

Film & Filmmaking (AL)

Component 1: American film (AS)

Core Study Areas

Key Elements of Film Form

Meaning & Response

The Contexts of Film

Specialist Study Area

Auteur (AL)

Rationale for study

CORE STUDY AREAS 1 - STARTING

CORE STUDY AREAS 2 - STARTING