Description of Crooklyn
Films are produced for several reasons, primarily targeting those who want entertainment. However, their impacts go beyond just entertainment. They can be powerful tools for engagement and education and a source of inspiration for viewers.
Spike Lee directed two significant movies that serve these roles: Crooklyn and Do the Right Thing. They offer different narratives, but their impacts on the viewers are similar. Crooklyn was released in 1994 and narrated the story of a black girl, Troy, who resided in Brooklyn in the 1970s (Beske, 2019). Do the Right Thing was released earlier, in 1989, and narrates the diverse challenges that people of color face in neighborhoods dominated by whites.
Lee implemented unique styles for each film to offer a particular taste to the audience. He used a more sympathetic approach in Crooklyn to trigger a sense of warmth among its audiences. Its primary focus targets family relationships and engages audiences to feel like they are part of the characters. It also covers several themes: family, relationships, and societal connections (Beske, 2019). Lee wanted to emphasize the significance of having a supportive family and the potential growth it holds through the eyes of Troy.
Background of Do the Right Thing
In contrast, Lee takes a different turn in Do the Right Thing. His approach in the film is more provocative, unlike Crooklyn’s non-confrontational approach. The pictures, characters’ voices, and their behaviors are set to show the frustrations and escalations of the tensions that arise among the neighborhoods.
He also expands his perspectives from a mere family focus on addressing overall societal challenges, especially racial discrimination and the severe impacts of police brutality on people of color (Gibson, 2017). The film touches on significant themes, including societal injustices, anger, and the marginalization of groups (Gibson, 2017). The movie offers an insightful view of societal problems related to discrimination, prejudices, and stereotypes, raising the difficulty of co-existing in neighborhoods with diverse races.
Interesting Aspect of Do the Right Thing
The most intriguing aspect of Lee’s film Do the Right Thing that interests me is the depiction of the neighborhood as a character. Lee offered a significant film with various concepts to consider. The lecture notes portray the neighborhood as a harsh place to survive, especially for minority groups. Solid and vibrant pictures characterize the neighborhood to depict the overwhelming consequences of racial problems and social injustices. The characters interact with the harsh weather, characterized by substantial sunlight, and they have no way to escape, as it presents the consequences of the ill practices in the area.
The lecture notes show that “the camera pans over several New York City newspaper headlines proclaiming the heat wave” and how it impacts urban dwellers’ lives. People lack the critical areas to stay away from the heatwaves. This is indicated in the lecture notes, which also provide a picture of young men trying to find a shed below an undersized umbrella. These are critical signs of a society challenged with constant injustices and conflicts among the region’s dwellers.
In addition, the physical presence of the environment offers a critical view of how it impacts the neighborhoods in the region and their consequential response. People grow frustrated from time to time. The heat and the burning of sunshine are signs of the overwhelming issues these people are struggling to cope with and the persistent consequences of injustices. These problems become the primary grounds for the constant conflicts and rage.
As the heatwave frustrates them, their anger and confrontations also rise. They seek solutions, but their efforts are taking an adverse direction that causes more issues. Lee made the movie unique by instilling a sense of life into the environment to showcase how individuals influence lives. This concept holds significant implications for the impacts of human surroundings and how they affect individuals’ sense of satisfaction.
Interesting Topic on Do the Right Thing: “‘Fight the Power’: Hip Hop and Civil Unrest”
There are multiple topics with significant implications in Casarae L. Gibson’s essay Fight the Power’: Hip Hop and Civil Unrest. However, one topic that strikes me the most is the concept of respectability politics. Gibson tailors this notion within the context of racial tensions and civil unrest to highlight the significant problems that minority groups face at the hands of dominant races.
Respectability politics is a complex concept that involves political strategies where marginalized groups, such as African American groups in the U.S., are forced to sacrifice their cultural practices, beliefs, and identities to conform to the cultural traditions of their host country (Gibson, 2017). The primary aim of this changing choice is to seek favors from the dominant race in the region regarding respect, social mobility, and other social amenities. While this concept has been promoted in white-dominated countries to showcase the whites’ dominion over foreign and marginalized groups, Gibson challenges this practice. He highlights the significant consequences of such practices, including the severe burden of changing behaviors and cultural traditions to fit into a new culture. In the essay, Gibson blames the system for perpetuating the issue.
Gibson links his arguments with the movie Do the Right Thing, in which he emphasizes fights against respectability politics. The film resonates with resistance to any practice or belief undermining marginalized groups. It presents a diverse group of people who have challenged the system and fought against the overwhelming use of discrimination.
Gibson borrows from these examples to support his assertions, suggesting that African Americans do not need to conform to seek favors from their white counterparts (Gibson, 2017). Instead, the essay means they should learn from the movie, drawing on the potential instances where black Americans fought against discrimination and stereotypes to attain justice. There are martyrs and activists provided in the film that offer possible inspiration to unite marginalized groups in fighting and disrupting the notion that respectability politics is the only way out to attain respect and recognition.
The film features people with various backgrounds and personalities. They had unique ways of breaking the barrier that limited marginalized groups from seeking justice or hiding behind the shadow of their white counterparts. A good example is Mookie, who is determined to get justice regardless of the consequences. He refuses to conform to the existing cultural barriers that delineate the marginalized groups, denying them their freedom of expression and placing them at the bottom of the societal status ranking (Gibson, 2017). His efforts are limited as a deliveryman, and he does not have a voice in society like the rest.
Still, his effort and determination shed light on how African Americans should respond to the oppressive nature of the system in which they thrive. His actions and speech are against white dominion over their lives. He speaks for liberation and influences people to follow in his footsteps. That is why the movie portrays him as an activist who navigates the complexities of his environment, torn between his loyalty to the black community and his need to support his family.
In addition, in the film’s climactic scenes, Mookie throws trash in the windows of others to ignite their emotions and stand for the truth. This is a form of deviation from the conventional thought that activists will be afraid and conform to assimilate the white culture. Their approach is reprimanding the system and calling for reform instead of changing themselves.
They are determined and ready to take any risks. Mookie is portrayed as spiking a riot in their neighborhood to fight against the oppressive government, which enhances the concept that Gibson explores against respectability politics. They chose a different strategy: violence and demonstrations to showcase their frustrations. In his essay, Gibson touches on these examples to emphasize the need for resistance, rather than confirmation, to break the status quo and refuse to adhere to the idea that marginalized communities should continuously bear the burden of respectability.
References
Beske, K. (2019). Crooklyn (1994): A glimpse into Spike Lee’s childhood. POVwinona. Web.
Gibson, C. L. (2017). “Fight the power”: Hip hop and civil unrest in spike Lee’s do the right thing. Black Camera, 8(2), 183. Web.