Do The Right Thing

1) Relate what was discussed in class or the text to the screening.

In class this week we discussed the 1989 film Do the Right Thing, a comedy-drama hood film that was produced, written, directed and stared Spike Lee. The film was made up of a ensemble cast made up of Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Rudy Dee, Rosie Perez, Martin Lawrence, Bill Nunn, and Samuel L. Jackson just to name a few. The plot of the film tells the story of a neighborhood's race war which comes to a head on the night of the hottest day of the year. The film was huge critical and commercial success and received 2 Academy Award nominations, one for Best Sceenplay and one for Best Supporting Actor for Danny Aiello as Sal. Also in class we learned a new term which is called the floating effect which Spike Lee used throughout the film. The floating effect is showing a character gliding in the air instead of walking. It gives the character a god like stance and a "I own this" attitude. 

2) Find a related article (on the film, director, studio, actor/actress, artistic content, etc.) and summarize the content.    

In the article, you see the film from the eyes of Spike Lee. Answering question that many fans wanted to know the answers to. For example, how he came up with the title "Do the Right Thing", which was a saying he grew up with and always loved the saying. He wrote the screenplay in two weeks. With the ending of the film, it was up to the audience to decide who really did the right thing. One of the hardest parts of making film was making it look like it was filmed on the same day even though it was shot over a period of 8 weeks. Plus making sure that ever scene looked and felted like it was 100 degrees. He wanted to audience to sweat watching this film. The cinematographer to the costume designer all had to work double time to make this happen. Even the cameraman gave the idea of putting a butane lighter underneath the lens. He also address the recent reports that actress Rosie Perez, who played Tina felted very pressured into doing the nudes scenes and felt horrible and now regrets it. He states that he was not aware of her feelings. She wanted to be a break out star so she willing to do anything. Lastly, Lee stated that his favorite reaction to the film was the reviews made by David Denby, and Joe Klein saying that black people will now riot after seeing this film. He was livid about this. The reviews basically says that "black people: weren't intelligent enough to make a a distinction between what was happening on screen and real life. He then said that you don't see right people rioting after a Arnold Schwarzenegger film. 

http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/fight-the-power-spike-lee-on-do-the-right-thing-20140620

3) Apply the article to the film screened in class.  

The article really gave us a inside look of the creative mind of Spike Lee when making of Do the Right Thing. The extra steps that the creative team went to make sure you felt hot in your seat when watching this movie. From even changing the paint scheme of the neighborhood to dark reds and dark oranges to have the clear thought that red means hot. He gave his characters life within the neighborhood. From the Korean fruit stand owners to mother sister. He gave his characters time and growth on the viewers. The cast of linked together at one point or another. Also very important is the racial and discrimination themes. Spike gave you a view of each character. You as a viewer can decide also about the ending because the ending was upon you as the view to make the choice of what happens. Spike shows us the violence of both sides going at each other. Its not one sided. The true message of to the find common ground as Spike Lee said he hope this movie would give viewers for the past, present and future. You don't have to like other cultures. You have to respect them. 

 

4) Write a critical analysis of the film, including your personal opinion, formed as a result of the screening, class discussions, text material and the article. 

Overall, I really enjoyed the film Do the Right Thing. I had watched the film before my senior year of high school in my sociology class. I now understand why that film was shown in my sociology class. The movie showed all of these sub plots and sub characters that showed many different backgrounds from race, age, gender, and social class. What really surprised me was that Spike Lee was about to write a Oscar nominated screenplay in two weeks. That takes years from other directors to do and Spike Lee was able to make a whole new world with in 14 days. One part of the film I really enjoyed what the acting of Rudy Dee and Danny Aiello. There really took their characters into the next level and really brought a fresh look into the world of Do the Right Thing. Fun fact time! Spike Lee really wanted the role of Sal to be played by his first choice of Robert De Niro  but De Niro decline due to prior commitments. I felt that Aiello really had a wonderful handle on his role and really was the heart of this as well as Spike Lee as Mookie. In conclusion, I can see why this film has hit the hearts of many and has a proper seat as being one of the best films ever made. 

http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/fight-the-power-spike-lee-on-do-the-right-thing-20140620

 CHECKLIST FOR PLAGIARISM

1) (x ) I have not handed in this assignment for any other class.
2) (x ) If I reused any information from other papers I have written for other classes, I clearly explain that in the paper.
 3) (x ) If I used any passages word for word, I put quotations around those words, or used indentation and citation within the text.
4) (x ) I have not padded the bibliography. I have used all sources cited in the bibliography in the text of the paper.
 5) (x ) I have cited in the bibliography only the pages I personally read.
6) (x ) I have used direct quotations only in cases where it could not be stated in another way. I cited the source within the paper and in the bibliography.
7) (x ) I did not so over-use direct quotations that the paper lacks interpretation or originality.
 8) (x ) I checked yes on steps 1-7 and therefore have been fully transparent about the research and ideas used in my paper.
 Name: _Antonio Amorim______ Date: ________2/18/2015 _________