Violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and immoral. It is impractical because it is a descending spiral ending in destruction for all. The old law of an eye for an eye leaves everybody blind. It is immoral because it seeks to humiliate the opponent rather than win his understanding; it seeks to annihilate rather than to convert. Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love. It destroys a community and makes brotherhood impossible. It leaves society in monologue rather than dialogue. Violence ends by defeating itself. It creates bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
I think there are plenty of good people in America, but there are also plenty of bad people in America and the bad ones are the ones who seem to have all the power and be in these positions to block things that you and I need. Because this is the situation, you and I have to preserve the right to do what is necessary to bring an end to that situation, and it doesn't mean that I advocate violence, but at the same time I am not against using violence in self-defense. I don't even call it violence when it's self-defense, I call it intelligence.
Malcolm X
These two quotes end the movie, and as Spike Lee said in the published screenplay of Do The Right Thing:
King and Malcolm. Both men died for the love of their people, but had different approaches for realizing freedom. Why not end the film with an appropriate quote from each? In the end, justice will prevail one way or another. There are two ways to that. The way of King or the way of Malcolm.
Just to remind you of the ending:
I wish I could find the final final scene between Mookie and Sal: Sal throwing the crumpled hundred dollar bills at Mookie (who's "like a son" to him), and the final exchange about what they're going to do now. Sam in second period sees this ending as a hopeless one. I disagree. We'll talk about that tomorrow.
Before I ask the usual questions, here is some information that could help with putting the ending and the film itself in context. Please go to the following links. Howard Beach is what the crowd is chanting during the riot, referring to the incident I described at the end of class (not, though, in Bensonhurst, as I said). Eleanor Bumpers and Michael Stewart are name checked by the crowd as well. And as I said a couple days ago, the film was accused of wanting to incite riots. And like you guys, it left much of its audience scratching its collective head. What exactly is Spike Lee saying in this movie? On the other hand, its brilliance is grounded in that exact ambiguity. As Matthew Dessem writes:
Lee does a magnificent job of slowly applying pressure, so that when things turn violent, it's almost a relief, and I think that's part of the reason so many critics were up in arms about the movie. Lee doesn't say anything about institutionalized racism that would have been out of place on the editorial pages of the New York Times, and certainly the events of Do The Right Thing were not beyond the realm of possibility. Lee's crime, it seems to me, was to make a film where a perceptive viewer will identify to a disturbing degree with the anger felt by all of the characters, to understand why Sal smashes Raheem's boombox and why Mookie throws the garbage can. It's an article of faith in American discourse that racism is a solvable problem, an error of perception. It's also an article of faith in American films that racism is an error the characters make, for which the viewers judge them. But as Do The Right Thing forcibly reminds us, everyone has his reasons.
So:
1. Your reaction to today's viewing? In second period, there was a collective "Oh, my God." In fourth period there were a lot of questioning of what happened and why. So what do you think of the movie now that you have finished it? And what moment especially stayed with you and why?
2. If you were asked by someone who hasn't seen the film, "What is it about?," what would you answer? Don't just address this in 2-3-4 sentences, but really think about this and give a response that shows some grappling with the mess this film is.
3. For second period: who is to blame for the riot? And why?
3. For fifth period: why does Mookie throw the trashcan? And do you agree with him? Why?
4. Is this a hopeful ending? Or, as Sam and I'm sure others of you feel, a hopeless ending? And why?
This is the last blog entry of the semester. Make it a good one. See you tomorrow.
1. I was so taken aback by what happened in the movie that even as I was watching it i was not believing it. What was interesting for me to watch was how every character, in the heat of the moment, switched roles. Sal went from the loving father of Bed-Stuy to a racist Italian American viciously smashing the boom box. Mookie became the catalyst to the riot which was unlike him at all. Before Sal and Radio Raheem begin to fight Mookie is merely asking everyone to leave, albeit rather loudly and with cursing. Da Mayor becomes the voice of reason amongst the chaos, and Mother Sister who is normally so astute is beside herself screaming "burn it down". The one image that really stuck with me after viewing it was the shot of the grocery store manager running behind the cop car with Radio Raheem's eyes set in the wide blank stare of a dead man, and him banging on the hood as the car drove away. I think that really captured what had just happened, how the death of Radio Raheem was committed then covered up by the police as they drove away.
ReplyDelete2. I would tell them the movie is about people and the relationships they have with each other. They are so filled with hate and anger and unrest they were just looking for a reason to smash a window or get in a fist fight by the end of the movie. I think it is also about Justice and the ends that some may go to achieve that justice. The movie ends with two quotes from two men with the same core belief, yet they went to different ends to achieve their beliefs. Every character was unhappy in some way and in just a single day they all felt the anger rise at once into one proverbial shitstorm of hatred.
3.I think Buggin' Out is to blame. Buggin' Out had an argument that was, in my opinion, a representation of his oppression in a bigger picture. The wall in Sal's Pizzeria was just a fraction of his anger and he targeted it. He used it as a reason to scream, to yell at someone regardless of who they were. I think Sal's reaction to the music was too much but Buggin' Out targeting Sal's wall was him trying to pick a fight, and a fight he got.
4. I feel like it is hopeless in a way. In A Raisin In The Sun, the Youngers start off with their house, but go through a transformation of sorts as characters, and come out with a house they can be proud of, and a certain feeling of accomplishment they did not have before. Each character in Do The Right Thing slides further down the path in my mind, rather than progressing as the Youngers do. They wake up the next day acting as if nothing were wrong, which confirms how trivial the argument really was at its surface. It was an argument started over pictures on a wall.
1. I still don't really understand what happened. I still really like the movie, but I can't understand why all of a sudden the hatred was so powerful that someone died. It escalated so fast. And I was really uncomfortable watching it. I really don't get why Mookie threw the trash can. Or why Sal and Mookie were fine in the end. I can't understand these characters. The most powerful moment to me was when the cop was choking Radio Raheem. It was so uncalled for. It really bothered me that they came up to the fight, did no investigation of what was happening, and they immediately took it out on Radio Raheem. The cops were just as involved in this fight as anybody else. By the cops being the ones to kill someone, it really shows how you can't trust anyone-even the people whose job it is to protect everyone. We talked about how Mookie had been so level-headed and then all of a sudden he lost it. This scene really spoke about the hatred and the things it will make people do.
ReplyDelete2. The first things that comes to mind is that the movie is about hatred. But I also think it is very much about understanding and communication. I thought the quotes from MLK and Malcolm X really summed up the struggle in this neighborhood. People are too determined to convince the opposing side that what they believe is what's right instead of accept and appreciate the differences. We try to humiliate our opponent rather than win their understand. The best way I can describe this movie is to say that it is about the struggle between wanting people to understand you but not knowing how to understand others at the same time.
3. I guess Sal is to blame although it has a lot to do with Radio Raheem disrespecting Sal's restaurant rules. I think it has a lot to do with Radio Raheem and Buggin' Out feeling entitled. They were acting as if they owned everything and could do whatever they want. But also at the same time the fight was started because they feel under appreciated. It's still pretty undetermined in my mind who is at fault.
4. I can see why this ending is hopeless. Nothing was really solved. Although the ending is hopeful for Mookie and Sal and their relationship. They are just as close and mean just as much to each other, even with all this hate in the air.
1. The ending of this movie completely shocked me. I literally didn't know what to think. I was so saddened by the ways things had turned out. At the end, I had almost begun to believe that Sal's restaurant was cherished in the neighborhood. I left frustrated at all of the characters but also taken aback at how much I understood the reasons behind what they did. It's a sickening portrayal of our society, and this movie is very uncomfortable. For me, the moment that stuck with me the most was when Sal let the young people in to have some late night pizza, saying, "They love my food, let 'em in." The kids were SO LOUD and OBNOXIOUS I wanted to scream at them to shut up, and then in walks Buggin' Out and Radio Raheem yelling and spitting and the music was so infuriating... I completely felt Sal's frustration and behavior because he had tried all other ways of calming the place down.
ReplyDelete2. This movie is about what happens when the majority flips. The Italians and the Koreans are the business owners in a black neighborhood. The movie illustrates the interactions between people in the span of a very dramatic day. Hate and love are mixed and stretched and distorted, and it's impossible to keep your emotions in check. This movie is about the sublties of race and how difficult it is to truly understand, even when its painted out for you.
3. At first, Mookie throwing the trash can completely threw me off guard. I had thought that he was grabbing the trash can so he could stand on it and tell everyone to shut the fuck up, but he disappointed and scared me by turning extremely violent. I think this Mookie's cracking point. He couldn't take any more hate in his life, and he went on a wave of emotion. Sal wasn't paying him, Pino was always on his back, his sister was pushing him, his girlfriend was nagging him, his friends just laze on the streets. Even so, I do NOT agree with what he did. Sal was good to him. Sal was a good man. A key moment in the movie was when Sal told Mookie to let the kids in after closing, and Mookie didn't want to. He just wanted to go home. Sal has a huge heart, and Mookie betrayed him. Yes, Sal has his flaws, but Mookie had no right to destroy Sal's life.
4. I think this is a hopeless ending. The neighborhood took all their anger out on Sal and his sons. They didn't even have to do anything drastic, a small spark made every explode. Hate is in everyone, even the most collected and loving can turn. People are reckless and ignorant and ride on emotion. The black people don't want anyone different in their neighborhood, which I think is incredibly ironic. They discourage integration.
I was really quite disturbed with what we watched today. Obviously now that I look back on it, the tension has been building up and it has been escalating the entire movie, as Dessem says above, and this scene or something along the lines of this scene was simply bound to happen. But for some odd reason I seemed to push this fact aside while watching the film. I chose to ignore it, and this scene really creeped up on me and caught me by surprise. But even if it had not caught me by surprise, I would still have been disturbed by it because as Cam said today in class, to see all of that hate, so condensed and powerful and in such a short time period, is overwhelming. Overall I still really like the movie though, I think that it is a great message that Spike Lee is trying to teach, and he does it in a way that may be hard to swallow, but is ultimately effective and eye opening. The moment that really stayed with me in today's viewing was the scene when the firemen come to put out Sal's pizzeria, and to stop the rioting and violence they spray the black people there with the fire hoses. This scene was extremely disturbing to me, more so than any other scene, because it's the struggles of civil rights all over again. They're going backwards, and I think that's what Spike Lee is really saying through this scene, that this violence and hatred solves nothing, they only work backwards because of violence and it will always have a negative outcome. "Violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and immoral. It is impractical because it is a descending spiral ending in destruction for all. The old law of an eye for an eye leaves everybody blind." - Dr. MLK Jr. This sense of hopelessness that I brought up today in class is truly shown here in this scene, as the opposite of progression is being achieved through the attempt at progression. They are trying to make right a racial injustice to them, but they do it through violence and it ultimately puts them in a worse situation, a situation they were in before they had even succeeded with civil rights.
ReplyDeleteI think this film is obviously about the struggle with answering the question of not racism itself, because as Dessem said above this movie reminds us that everyone has his reasons, but of acting on that racism. The movie is Spike Lee's way, I think, of really posing the questions of acting on one's racist feelings, and then of what should be done when those racist acts are directed at you or pertain to your race. The movie starts with establishing all of the different races and establishing the feelings towards those different races, establishing the hate felt towards the other races that Spike Lee is arguing is an inevitable hate, one that won't go away. Throughout the movie we see this hate build up, and of course it all comes crashing down and falls apart in a matter of minutes, all because of the violence that comes out of this hate. The violence does not solve anything I would argue, it puts the oppressed back into a place where they had already worked so hard to get out of and the ones who instigated the racism obviously in a worse position but also in a position where they probably have more hatred towards the oppressed group than they had before. And yet, I would also argue that after it is all over, the oppressed, in this case the black people involved, seem satisfied. They go back to their every day routines the following day. So, I think Spike Lee is posing the question, but not answering the question, of whether or not violence is ok and the way to go about things. He ends the movie with two very powerful quotes, but contradicting quotes, from Martin Luther and Malcolm X, sort of as a conclusion, a summary of his question, the question of what is the right thing to do about racism and hatred towards other races. Hence, the title of the movie.
1. I still like this movie. It has its weird moments (the ice cube scene) but I think what makes it so great is that there are characters that we respond really strongly to. I still like how realistic it is and I also like how the community is made up of so many different people with different ideas and views and values. The moment that stayed with me the most today was the end when Smiley stuck up the picture of Martin and Malcolm on the wall of fame after the fire. I thought it was really powerful that the one character that gets treated like crap and most people think is of very low intelligence, is smart enough to understand what Malcolm and Martin stand for and what they have done for the black community. Smiley is my favorite character and throughout the entire movie he was carrying around that picture trying to get people to see and in the end, after all of the hate, Malcolm and Martin hold so much significance, especially what they said about hate.
ReplyDelete2. I would say its about a community that has internalized a lot of hatred towards people that are different than them and how, eventually, the bottle bursts and the hate comes pouring out. I would say that its also about deciding what the right thing to do is in situations where you straddle the fence. For Mookie, he’s worked with Sal for a while, Sal considers him to be his own son, and yet he ends up turning his back on him in a time of chaos. Mookie had to make a choice between what was right for his community and his friend, and what was right in order to keep trust between him and his boss.
3. As we said in class, something happened to Mookie in those few seconds of sitting in front of the pizzeria and throwing the trashcan. He made a choice to finally act out and take out his aggression towards Sal after seeing what happened to Radio Raheem. I think he thought that Raheem’s death was completely avoidable and that since Sal took it too far by destroying his radio, that he would take it a step further and throw the trashcan and show that he isn’t on anyones side, but that he cant take the hate anymore. The entire movie he walks around trying to break up hate wherever he sees it and I think when he saw the whole community getting in on it, it was his boiling point. I think it was a little immature but I can see how in a fit or rage, he could do something like that.
4. I think it’s a hopeless ending because it all amounted to the end and then there was a massive eruption, and then nothing. I think it is an instance where people try to make progress, but then they don’t try to continue that progress the next day and then it all dwindles to nothing and it all turns into a waste. But I did like what the Asian man had to say, about how he and one of the corner guys were the same. I think that kind of thinking is progress, but unfortunately, the rest of the community didn’t understand what he was saying because they couldn’t look past the color of their skin.
I think Buggin Out is to blame for the riot. I think that the whole thing, the specific disagreement that leads to the climax of the movie starts with Buggin Out and his idea of boycotting because he has no black people on the wall. To me, I think that it's Sal's restaurant so he's allowed to put whomever he wants on his wall, and also that it's understandable for a Italian American to put other Italian Americans on the wall. It's his heritage, and he's proud of it. There's nothing wrong with that. It seems unnecessary to me that Buggin Out would start what he did, and while there are definitely other people at fault for the outcome and the riot and what happens in the riot, it all links back to Buggin Out. I can't help but think that if he would have never started arguing about how there were no black people on the wall, all of this would've been avoided. Having said that, I think that even without Buggin Out something along these lines would've happened anyway, because that's what Spike Lee is saying, that it's inevitable.
ReplyDeleteI found this ending to be hopeless, obviously. I think the general idea of the movie, the question that Spike Lee poses that I talked about earlier is not hopeless, but the actual ending is hopeless. The fact that everyone goes back to their every day lives, the fact that everything goes back to the way things were at the beginning of the movie brings up an issue that we see in both A Raisin in the Sun and in Glengary Glen Ross, the issue of a cycle. This ending seems hopeless to me because it seems like after the climax of violence, hate and destruction, it loops back around, and it will happen again, and then loop around again. Because that's what a cycle is, unless it is broken, and from the very last scene of this movie it does not seem like they get it, so it will not be broken and they will be stuck in this cycle yet again.
1. My reaction to today's viewing is still sort of "Oh, My God" mostly because of the extent that the violence and hatred was taken to in the riot scene. It was the hottest day, everyone was on their last nerve throughout parts of the movie purely because of the mass discomfort of the heat, and I could definitely see that some sort of altercation would break out by the end of the movie. I thought that maybe there would be a fight and then it would break up and be fine. When Sal and Radio Raheem were fighting, I thought that was the worst of it, but the riot scene was what followed, which is what shock me the most. When even the cops were saying to the cop with Raheem in a choke hold "Stop stop man Stop", that's when it got just brutal to me. However, I still really like this movie. I think it's really fantastic and powerful and just well-done. The ending is shocking but I still really like it. The moment that stood out to me the most from today as when the camera panned out over the street the next morning and everyone was running around and playing and skating like nothing had happened the night before. It makes me feel like this is something that could possibly happen more often than we think in that neighborhood and they are used to it, or that the people in that neighborhood just don't know how to process the events from the night before and choose to act like nothing is happening.
ReplyDelete2. This movie is about family. Everything that comes along with being part of a family. About community and loyalty and love and understanding and tolerance. The entire neighborhood is a family, even an outsider like Sal, who, happens to be racist and unlike like the majority of the neighborhood "I-talian American". I think that Da Mayor and Mother Sister represent the mother and father of the main street if not the whole neighborhood and they really do act like it in some scenes. Sal even is considered part of the family. The neighborhood really loves him, because he fed them their entire life and he watched them grow. Maybe they don't actually like him, but there is no denying that there is a connection between the people of Bed-Stuy and Sal. Yeah, the people on the streets fight and have spats and some truly hate each other but throughout the majority of the movie, they tolerate each other or have their fights and spats. The riot to me, was just when everyone lost control. People let loose all their anger and frustration on the people around them, and they just went momentarily insane rioting. When there is all this underlying hatred in this neighborhood, there's really no way to get it out, but then the riot happens and its just a crazy mess of hell.
3. Like Cam and Sam, I'd say Buggin' Out. He really made a big deal out of those pictures. I don't understand why he felt the need to bring this up today of all days. Why not the first time he went into Sals? Or the second? Everyone was visibly on edge from the damn heat and Buggin' Out was just flipping out about this pictures. I think that Radio Raheem also contributed. They both were acting like children. They both tried to just piss off Sal to get him to change, which most times doesn't work to fix a problem. I don't know how to handle a situation like the one they were in, but I know that trying to piss the other person off and avoid them normally doesn't work.
4. For me, it was pretty hopeless since people just went back to normal without making a big deal about the riot, though someone died and a family business and special place to them was ruined. There is sort of a sense that racism will affect everyone whether or not they are conscious of it and that it'll be subtle but it will still be there and it will definitely make a difference in some point in their life.
1. The last few minutes of the movie seemed so sudden and harsh it was hard to even follow. The collective hate was overpowering. At the end of this movie all I could think about was the amount of chaos that had overflowed into the streets in this neighborhood. I was disappointed in the characters of this movie. I thought people such as Sal and Mookie had more control than what they showed on the night that Sal's Pizzeria burned down. I enjoyed this movie but am truly disappointed in the sudden change in many of the characters attitudes. I thought all the action happened too fast. The death of Radio Raheem was painful to watch. The moment that he is being choked and lifted off the ground till circulates through my head. His cruel death blew everything out of proportion. The riots in the streets threw the neighborhood into a chaos that is very saddening. I have mixed feelings about the ending of this movie but probably the clearest to explain would be the feeling of disappointment of the characters.
ReplyDelete2. If someone asked me how the movie was my first response would be that it was messed up. Though after some thought I would describe this movie as a racial struggle dealing with community, freedom, and pride all rolled into one. Each character had their own unique struggle that developed as the play went on. I would also say that a huge theme of the movie but one that describes it so well is the intense clash between love and hate. The love and hate inside everyone is important but the bonds that are created between people and how they can be warped and changed are terrible but must be considered. I would say this movie was a difficult one to watch. There were times I wanted to look away and times I respected characters and their actions. This movie held many deep emotions and themes that are hard to process but this is what also makes it a great movie.
3. I agree with Anna here that Mookie could not take anymore and just snapped. With him yelling "Hate" while he threw that trash can just signaled to me the violence was not over. I think Mookie was overrun with emotions here from the death of Radio Raheem, and the violence of his friends in the pizzeria. He made an irrational action that is totally not okay in my eyes. I would have never guessed that Mookie would be the one to start all the violence. We always saw him standing back and thinking for a second before making an action. Even when all the violence was over we saw him sitting away from the chaos with his sister on the curb. I think when he threw the trashcan into the window his own mind faltered because of all the hate around him. This does not make his actions right of course.
4. I don't see this as a hopeful ending after the riots and chaos the very next day things start returning to normal. I didn't feel that anything was learned from this craziness. Sal's pizza was gone but no one seemed to notice. The same people that had always eaten at that pizza place just went on with their lives like it was normal. This was the reason that I didn't see it as hopeful. The only remorse I heard was from Love Daddy with his shout out to Radio Raheem.
1. I suppose I was expecting something to happen, but I didn’t really know what. I was pretty surprised that the whole thing was sparked by Buggin Out’s boycott. First of all, it didn’t actually seem like that big a deal. It seemed almost like a small, funny little story line that might’ve quietly resolved itself by the end of the day. I didn’t realize that Buggin Out actually cared about it as much as he did. Also, as was mentioned in class today, no one that Buggin Out talked to was willing to join the boycott. They loved Sal’s pizza too much. What surprised me was how little it took to set the entire neighborhood off. Everyone was brimming with tension and hate. It only took a 3-person boycott, which almost everyone wrote off initially, to make everyone crazy. The moment that stuck out to me the most was when Mookie threw the trashcan. I couldn’t really figure out how it synced up with his character. After his conversation with Pino, I pegged him as the most reasonable one in the movie. When he picked up the trashcan, I was certain that he was going to use it to just get everyone’s attention so he could talk them all down.
ReplyDelete2. I would describe this as a movie about the short fuse we all live on. People can be friendly on the surface, but they might be boiling underneath. It’s a sequence of events that shows how a series of small occurrences can end up in tragedy and destruction. If the seemingly small problems that crop up every day aren’t addressed in a civil manner, everyone could end up in a terrible situation.
3. I don’t think that there’s a single person to blame. It was the consequence of a series of people making the wrong choices. I suppose it started with Buggin Out, who started the boycott over the pictures. Or, maybe you could say it’s Sal’s fault for not agreeing to put the pictures up in the first place. Then there’s Radio Raheem coming in to Sal’s restaurant demanding to be served despite his blaring music. I actually think that Sal handled that well. Raheem has a right to listen to his music, but not inside a restaurant where he’s disturbing people. That’s not racial, that’s just common decency. Then Sal looses his cool and, perhaps, let’s some things out about himself that he hadn’t planned on. Then there are the police, who I have no sympathy for. They killed Radio Raheem completely unnecessarily. Then there’s Mookie who, surprisingly, decided to throw the trashcan through Sal’s window. That surprised me. Sal was in no way responsible for Raheem’s death, even if he was guilty of a little aggravated racism. Then there are the bystanders like Mother Sister who didn’t exactly get involved; they just fanned the flames. In fact, Mother Sister was calling for Sal’s to be burned down. The only person, who holds no guilt, in my opinion, is Da Mayor. He’s the only one who actually tried to stop the whole thing.
4. It seems a little hopeless. Sal’s has burned down and the neighborhood is unrest. But in another way, maybe this massive release of tension is what everybody needed. Anger has been building up inside for a long time, and it finally got vented. Also, they get to rebuild now. They can rebuild relationships. The whole thing was a learning experience. I don’t really see it as hopeful or hopeless. It could go either way. I would be really disappointed if Buggin Out were to come back even angrier and ready for more boycotts. But, if he comes back and sees that only bad things come from the way everything was handled, there’s somewhat of a silver lining.
1. I did not see the end coming. When thinking about, I can I see how the little arguments and conflicts kept built up until this explosion of anger destroyed Sal's pizzeria. Sal's arguments with Buggin' Out and Radio Raheem, the interactions between the police men and the men on the corner, and Pino's verbal attack on Smiley led up to this violent act. Before the riot started Sal said that he business was doing very well and that he was going to rename the pizzeria Sal and Sons' pizzeria. He even went on to say that he saw Mookie as a son. This conversation made the sharp turn down hill even worse. I liked the movie a lot, the interspersion of humor, racism, and despair made the movie interesting at every turn. The moment that stuck out to me the most was when Smiley posted the picture of Malcolm X and Martin Luther KIng Jr. onto the wall of the burning pizzeria where Sal put up pictures on the wall of fame. The image of Smiley smiling at the picture with flames licking the insides of the building behind him was very powerful.
ReplyDelete2. I would say that it is a movie about struggle and how every mistake and outburst can lead to regrettable, irrevocable horrors. A person's life can be ruined in an instant even if the build up takes years. The movie is asking how the struggle between love and hate can end with peace. How can racism stop if violence only provokes brutality and bitterness and some people, like Pino, will never understand the hatred and effect of racism? People overlook there own mistakes to pin them on others. How can change happen when no one will listen? How many murders, riots, and arrests must happen for change to happen. How far does the line that Asagai talks about in "A Raisin in The Sun" stretch?
3. Through out the entire movie Mookie's struggle is seen. He tries to help Pino understand racism, he tries to help Vito stand up for himself, he hears and witnesses so much racism throughout the movie, and he accomplishes nothing. Even Sal has moments where he is racist and overly aggressive. His encounter with Mookie's sister appalled Mookie to no end. All of Sal's anger and frustration slams into Radio Raheem's radio with the bat. All of Mookie's anger crashes into the window of Sal's pizzeria with the trash can. Mookie couldn't handle it anymore and he sent a message that had much more of an impact than any speech he gave to PIno did. Mookie's actions are futile in a way because for Pino this riot only affirms his racist beliefs. I think that Mookie's actions were a little rash and but the moment he rubs his face with his hands shows a lot of thought. He almost does this as if it is a chore that he has to do. He calmly took the trash bag out of the trash can and then with his anger rising he threw it at the window.
4. I think there is some hope at the end of the movie. Sal and Mookie yell at each other for a few minutes and then they give it a rest and start to talk. Their relationship, like Sal's Pizzeria, has suffered irreparable damage, but they still act almost civilly to each other at the end. Mookie has grown a lot from the beginning of the movie. In the opening scene of the play Mookie wakes up and annoys his sister while she is trying to sleep and then he goes to work at the pizzeria. At the end of the movie he wakes up with his girlfriend and son at his side, he confronts Sal, and then as he promises he goes back to his girlfriend and Hector. It is clear the Mookie is going to start taking responsibility for his son and he is going to work towards something else. If nothing else, this riot has made a lot of the characters grow up and face reality.
1. The ending was really disturbing to me, because no one does the right thing. It is just nonstop violence and yelling. I really liked what Matthew Dessen wrote. The hate was coming from everywhere and it was so uncomfortable because a lot of it was understandable. The boombox was really annoying, so I understand why Sal smashed it. But then it just went to far, and he started saying really racist things. Looking back, I realized that the police truly murdered Radio. They had a choice, and it wasn't an accident; it was murder. Obviously the ending as a whole really stuck with me, but I found the final scene with the Koreans interesting. Some of the mob turned to them, ready to continue to release their anger. But the Korean man said they were the same. Some of the people in the mob found this ridiculous, but it clearly made sense to a lot of them, since they left. I think what the man was saying was that they were all affected by racism. Their community was being drowned in hate, and the black people weren't the only ones affected. Not to say that their anger wasn't warranted, but they definitely weren't the only ones in pain because of the racism.
ReplyDelete2. I think this film is about love and hate. The community loves Sal, but then they so quickly turn to hating him. Like Raheem said, it is a constant fight between love and hate. There are moment of the film that are pure happiness, and then moments, like the end, that are all hate. I think one of the main points that Spike Lee was trying to make is that we can move past hate only if we respect differences, rather than hate them.
3. I think Mookie throws the trashcan as revenge. I don't think he did it specifically to spite Sal, more just that the black community lost Raheem, and something had to be done to avenge his death. I think Mookie saw that Sal's was no longer going to be a place of happiness, after Raheem's death, if it just kept going the way it was before. The restaurant would only be associated with that death, that hatred. I was shocked that Mookie did this. I didn't agree with what he did because it only added to the chaos and the hatred. But at the same time, I think Sal's would never be the same if it was left standing. Throwing the trashcan was the start to a clean slate for the neighborhood in a way.
4. I saw this as a hopeful ending. They were still able to talk to each other. They also wanted to help each other out. Their relationship wasn't affected by the general hate, which I think shows that progress is possible.
1. The movie is mainly focused on race and racism, and from the very beginning we see two very different viewpoints. On one hand we have Mr Senor Love Daddy and on the other hand we have Radio Raheem. Both men are heavily involved in the topic of race, but they come from opposite worlds. Love Daddy has the idea that the solution to racism is to live together peacefully while Radio thinks that the solution to racism (or in his words, "the power") is to fight back. They are essentially the human representations of the two quotes at the end of the movie. Doctor Love represents Doctor King while Radio Raheem represents Malcolm X. I think that the movie attempts to address these two ideals, to come up with some sort of resolve. The movie starts with hatred and racism, escalates to violence and murder, and then ends in the exact same place. There is no progress. At the end of the movie, the only difference is that Sal's Pizzaria has been burned down and Radio is dead, and that is in no way progress. In the words of Love Daddy the day after the riot, "My people, my people, what can I say; say what I can. I saw it but didn't believe it; I didn't believe what I saw. Are we gonna live together? Together are we gonna live?" As the movie leaves it, the answer is no.
ReplyDelete2. I sort of addressed this in my last answer. The movie is about love and hate. It's about how to approach the problem of racism
3. I think that Radio is to blame. He came into that restraunt with the intention of starting a fight, to "fight the power". Of course once the fight started it was really a free for all. All of the preassure from the day finally boiled over and people went nuts. What suprised me the most though was the fact that Mookie was the one who really started the trashing of the restraunt. He seemed to be one of the few characters who understood that violence is not the answer. He was the only one who tried to solve his differences with Vino and Pino by taling.
4. No, I really don't think that this movie is hopeful. Maybe I need to look over the ending dialogue between Sal and Mookie, because all I remember is that neither one had really come away from the situation with anything. I think that unless something changes, Brooklyn is doomed to repeat the same cycle over and over again,
1. Throughout the fight scene, I was scared to see who would die. I thought Raheem was going to kill Sal, or someone was going to get shot. It was a terrifying scene, but it was also inevitable. It liked the movie very much. It sends out a lot of messages, due to be interpreted in many ways, and that is probably my favorite thing about the movie. Raheem’s death sticks with me the strongest, of course, but the shot where they show his feet dangle, then stop moving is what I think about. Also, the confusion that the policemen show, where they can’t believe they just killed someone, shows how quickly the events happened, and the confusion with which they did happen.
ReplyDelete2. I would say the movie is about how problems should be solved. There is love, which takes time and patience, forging a longer lasting solution, and there is hate, the immediate and easiest solution, solving what is perceived to be the problem in that particular instant, but is either not helpful or even detrimental to the greater cause. Like the mayor says, we have to decide and “do the right thing”. The movie has us think whose teachings will help in the long run: MLK’s or Malcolm X’s? Our own answer to that question is our interpretation of the movie.
3. He is angry about Raheem. He does not think about the past or the future, but only the present, and he knows that he is angry now and somebody has to pay for it. It would be difficult to suffer such a loss and not be mad, and an irrational decision will follow. He only thinks about what has been done that he thinks is wrong, what he can do to get back, and then does it. I do not agree with his actions, but I am not angry and I do not know what he feels. I would probably act with no less anger in his position, even though I know they are wrong, just because of the sheer hatred that has formed in an instant after a tragic event.
4. No “coming of age” or “great realization” has happened. Life will go on in the neighborhood as it always has, each person just living their own life and trying to stay afloat. The kids who play in the street in the ashes of Sal’s pizzeria don’t care because nothing has changed. Sure, we see Mookie and Sal on good terms again, but they aren’t any better off than before the events. They’re going to carry on with their lives and move on to a new cause or a new job or a new neighborhood, and the greater scheme of things will remain untouched. The ending is just a replay of the beginning, neither hopeful nor hopeless, and life in the neighborhood will keep repeating itself like a radio.
1. I’m still a little shocked at how far the violence went. Especially since the start to the destruction came from Mookie, someone we all saw as the voice of reason. That’s one of the reasons I like this film so much is that no one is clearly good or bad or one dimensional; they all have love and hate inside of them. Sal is is kind to Jade and Da Mayor, and he even considers Mookie a part of his family. But at the same time, he is hostile towards Radio Raheem and Buggin’ Out. Mother Sister seems to want the best for everybody and for everybody to get along, but she was also egging on the destruction of Sal’s Pizzeria. While it can be frustrating to see people go from one point to another point miles away, I think this film wouldn’t ring as true. Not everyone is always going to do the right thing and not everyone’s beliefs or feelings will fit inside of a box. The image that really stayed with me was when Smiley put the picture of Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on the wall in the wreckage of the pizzeria. Smiley and Buggin’ Out finally got what they wanted, but at what cost? They burned down what they were trying to make better and based on the quotes from Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. included at the end, one of the men Smiley put on the wall would approve of the action to fight back against ignorance and one of the men would strongly disapprove.
ReplyDelete2. I would say that the film is about the love and the hate that coexists in everybody. Like I said in my previous answer, nobody is the perfect representation of love or hate. It’s in all of us. Dessem says that “a perceptive viewer will identify to a disturbing degree with the anger felt by all of the characters, to understand why Sal smashes Raheem's boombox and why Mookie throws the garbage can” and I think thats because we all have the ability to hate and act out on that hate in these kind of ways, but we also relate to the kindness Sal extends towards Jade and Mookie’s desire to mediate the tensions in the neighborhood. Going off of that, I think the film is also about the relationship we have with one other as human beings. The Korean grocer tells Da Mayor that they are the same, and I don’t think he was trying to say they were the same racist and suggesting that he was color blind, I think he was trying to say that they have the same emotions and at the end of the day, we can all relate to one others feelings and that things could go potentially better in this neighborhood if they all stopped to consider that.
3. I think that Mookie’s decision to throw the trash can was warranted; he just watched, along with his community, as Radio Raheem died. They couldn’t have helped Radio Raheem, it would have just made things worse. Mookie lashed out at the source of the problem that escalated into the death of a valued member of the community. Not only has someone died, but the community is falling apart in front of him.This is really the only thing Mookie can do in this situation. I don’t agree with his decision to start the destruction of Sal’s, but I certainly understand it. He had no other way to express the hate he was feeling.
4. I consider this a somewhat hopeful ending, but hopeful in a scary way. The community goes along almost unfazed by the tragedy that has occurred, which is good in a way because they won’t get caught up in the tragedy and start to rebuild their community, but in a way its frightening because their unaffected natures could because they are so used to this kind treatment. It is a possibility that they are used to these terrible instances of hate. This kind of numbness to these situations is scary, and while its hopeful that they will move on from the tragedy, its questionable whether or not its a good thing.
1. The ending of the play confused me, and infuriated me. I felt like there was hope throughout the movie, there were decent people in an indecent society, yet at the end no one was decent. No one made the right choice, I didn't leave the movie taking pity in anyone, sympathizing with anyone or even understanding anyone. Not a single person turned out how I hoped and wanted. The movie was so incredible, such a unique insight into such a foreign culture. The ending was extremely disturbing and shocking, the one aspect I did not like was I felt that there were a few loose ends. The part I found the most shocking was, during the insanity, when the firemen started spraying the people attacking Sals. It reminded me of pictures I've seen of the civil rights movement, the pictures of brutality in vietnam and so many horrifying images in the media of police brutality. This scene and the killing of Radio Raheem dumbfounded me, how could anyone, especially people who are supposed to uphold the law, be so awful?
ReplyDelete2. This movie is about how we see each other. How we see different cultures, ethnicities, races, people and circumstances. The movie shows how no matter who we are, where we are from, we carry with us inherent prejudices and attitudes towards others (positive and negative). Spike Lee does such a good job of bringing to light these every day battles we have with each other to light in an extreme, over the top, yet successful way.
3. There is no one to blame. Everyone is equally at fault in my mind. Whether it is Sal smashing the boom box, Mookie smashing the window etc, everyone played a part in the riot. You could say that society, stereotypes, and hatred led to the riot. The people in the movie have been repressed, they see this outlet for this anger and run with it. They have been raised believing that this is the best way to rid ones-self of anger, yet it's still there, nothing changes.
4. I saw this ending as not hopefully or depressing, simply a matter of fact, ce qui c'est, c'est. While Sal and Mookie can still talk, their respective cultures haven't come to any understanding. Arguably there is more hatred after the riot than before it. Nothing changed. There may be a couple people who see how wrong all of the previous night's events were. Yet society keeps on going, people continue along their paths. Spike Lee shows us that things will not change until the true meaning of MLK and Malcom X is understood. One cannot create a riot of nothing, use violence because one can, the quotations Spike Lee chose for the end reinforce this. Spike Lee is telling us that there is hope for hope, things could start to change and get better, but not if things continue how they are.
1. I was quite surprise when this movie ended. Part of that surprise was because I didn’t realized that all of this was happening in one day. I thought it might have been two or three days. But another part of my surprise was the how the movie ended. Sal’s Famous Pizzeria was destroyed, Mookie got his fucking money, and everyone else was just playing in the street, minding their own business. I just didn’t expect that kind of ending when I first started watching this film. Now that we have finished the movie, I’m not sure what to think. There was so much violence and hate, especially from Sal, who seemed like one of the least likely people to exhibit it.
ReplyDelete2. If someone asked me about this film….. I feel like I would have a very hard time explaining it. But, I would definitely say that this is a movie about racism, and possibly about what can be done about it. Race is a topic of discussion throughout this movie. Buggin’ Out complaining about the Wall of Fame, PIno wanting to get out of this neighborhood, Mookie confronting Sal on his hate, the corner men, and finally, the destruction of Sal’s place. At the end, we see two different quotes, talking about, essentially, love and hate, like Radio was talking about. And it poses a question, how to deal with this problem?
3. I feel like, a lot of people are to blame for the riot, not just one person. Had Sal maybe been a little nicer, Radio might not have reacted so badly. If Buggin’ Out and Radio didn’t come to Sal’s looking for a conflict (which they got), then everything would have been fine. If the police hadn’t killed Radio, there might have been a fuss, but the full-blown riot we see. Sal also could have helped stop the violence when the police came, and Mookie didn’t seem like he helped much, and in the end, started the riot (but, like you said to me, he might have intentionally or unintentionally channeled the hate from Sal to the store, saving Sal). I think that everyone is to blame a little. The other people in the restaurant were just making the situation worse. Even the little kid. Soon, the only ones trying to stop the riot were Sal, Pino, Vito, and Da Mayor, and three of those people were only doing it out of self defense.
4. I feel like this situation at the end is a little hopeless. Sal’s place is burned down, and while he may get the insurance money, he will no longer be welcome probably in that area. Even though he fed this neighborhood and watched it grow up. How quickly feelings can change. But, there may be some hope. All the anger has been vented. Mookie seems like he will reform a little. Sal and Mookie finally have a genuine conversation with each other. And maybe Sal will try again.
1. I was completely shocked by the ending. Throughout the movie we saw lots of humor masking racial tension, but I would have never guessed the levels of violence shown by everyone. I think that the fact that so much hate was hidden before everyday humor disturbs me the most. With that said, I really like the movie. I think that it crudely reveals the reality and gravity of the racial situation of then and even now. The scene that I found interesting was the toward the end of the night when Mother Sister is screaming. It made me think that she was probably active during the Civil Rights Movement and how after so long, racial hate is still strong.
ReplyDelete2. I would say that the movie is about hate, racial hate in particular. It is about a black neighborhood where they resent every other race. This movie gives an ugly side of humanity where everyone has to watch their back because their is always insecurity. I would have to disagree with Alex and say that this film is about how things shouldn't be solve. One person snapped at someone so that person snaps back and it all lead to death and ruin. And for what? Neither Buggin' Out nor Sal got what they wanted and it costed Radio's life. I think it might be about what happens when you reach rock bottom and you can't get out without pushing someone down.
3. At first I thought (like Anna mentioned) that he was going to settle things down before it got out of hand but he did the complete opposite. I wrestled with this through out the rest of the movie. Mookie was somewhat the protagonist, so why? I think that he finally lost his mind. He seem too calm through out the movie and he finally snapped. I think that it might have been out of fear as well. He might of thought that they might have turned on him if he sided with Sal. I can also see this as a revenge for Radio's death. I think that the most painful part was Pino's comment in the scene before and Sal's comment of Mookie almost being part of the family. But at the end, "Business is Business".
4. I think that this is a very complicated ending. On the surface, it seem like there is no hope anymore. Violence is born from violence simply to procreate more violence. But is there a lesson here? We can see that Mookie is trying to be a good father, sort of. I think it is hard to see anything good out of this end (other then Mother Sister and Da Mayor). In a way, the black community tries to incorporate other groups like we saw with the Korean family. However, they ruined Sal's work and future. Is the lesson, you can accomplish what you want if you joined forces and take down a different person? I find it hard to see hope here but some small rays of sunshine can maybe bring a brighter day.
1. The ending was so unexpected, quick and, to say the least, shocking for me that I found myself unable to speak at the end of class. I just couldn't make sense of what happened. The film went from being a sort of ethnic "Mr. Roger's Neighborhood" (albeit with some tension visible) to these scenes of senseless violence and chaos that were extremely difficult for me to understand. These last scenes reminded me of watching documentaries on PBS about the riots in Chicago during the 1968 Democratic National Convention, the race riots after the assassination of Martin Luther King, and in particular, as Zoë had mentioned, the civil rights activists in Selma being hit by water hoses. Even Mother Sister, ostensibly the calm and collected character of the movie, joined in the chanting to burn down the pizzeria. It seemed as though all of the characters decided to bring out the worst parts of their personalities at the same time. It was definitely hard, even excruciating, to watch.
ReplyDelete2. When I told my Mom we had seen a movie in John's class, she asked me this exact same question. At the time, all I could think of was "It was about a neighborhood in New York." I don't think that really does justice to the film, though. I think that as it progresses, the film begins to center more and more on hatred. It becomes more about the races and less about the individual characters: instead of Mookie and Sal, we see Blacks and Italians. When the crowd begins to advance towards the Korean grocery, Sonny's defense is "We no White!" Ultimately, the film is captivating because it doesn't decide or portray either one of the approaches to social justice as the right one: MLK, or Malcolm X. Some might say that the last scenes of the film give the answer, but I think it's still pretty ambiguous. It is the betrayal of Sal, who had the pizzeria without incident on the corner for over 20 years, and of Da Mayor, who argued for common sense and cool heads, that makes the film what it is.
3. It is the fault of Radio Raheem, Buggin' Out, and Sal collectively. Radio Raheem comes into the pizzeria with no intent to discuss with Sal the reasons why he doesn't have any black people on his wall, and Buggin' Out lacks the same fortitude. They see no imperative to reason with Sal, just to aggressively confront him. It is Sal's fault for throwing Buggin' Out out of the pizzeria instead of trying to explain why he felt like expressing his Italian-American heritage, and for taking a bat to the boombox when he could have called the police before things got out of hand (although I'm not sure I would trust the same cops who strangled Raheem to handle the situation in a professional manner).
4. This is definitely a negative ending. The people who trashed the pizzeria end up no better off; Sal and his sons are certainly worse off than when the film began. I think the only people who might have benefited from the riot might be the Koreans, who got the other members of the community to recognize them as their own. Raheem was killed, and one would think that the block had suffered an unbearable loss and a rent in the fabric of their relations, if it were not for the business-as-usual ending of the film.
1. I knew that the movie would end in violence, but I did not predict that the violence would be that extreme or intense. The tension and intensity that builds up throughout the day all comes crashing down when the sun comes down. At times, the movie seems a little humorous, and when Buggin' Out got mad at Sal earlier in the day about the Wall of Fame, I kind of laughed, because he was so dramatic and was just "bugging out". But all of a sudden, the boycott and Buggin' Out becomes serious. Buggin' Out and Radio finally crossed that very fine line, and Sal fought back. This ending just unraveled everything.
ReplyDelete2. This movie is about an average day in a very diverse neighborhood in Brooklyn. From the beginning of the movie, you can see the diversity and the tensions between the different races in the neighborhood. There's an Italian Pizzeria that is always filled with blacks, and there's a grocery store owned by the Koreans. The neighborhood is filled with love and hate. Love for the others of the same race, and hate for all the other races. As the day continues, the heat, tension and hatred increases. In the end, when the sun goes down, all the hatred comes out and ends with violence and death.
3. I think Mookie threw the trash can for himself, as an individual. Because as John said, after Mookie threw the trash can he walked away and sat by himself. He didn't join his black friends as they burned Sals, nor did he stand with Sal. He made his own statement. I think Mookie had all this built up hatred for Sal and for his own community. I think he was just tired of all this bullshit. I also think Mookie threw the trash can, because of Radio. He wanted to finish want Radio started.
4. I definitely think this is a hopeless ending. I agree with Martin Luther King, violence really won't solve anything. Nothing was resolved from the violence and riot. I think the neighborhood will have more tension. The violence only made the neighborhood have more hate for each other. No love came out of the ending. The violence just made the blacks feel as though they have more power, now, because they "defeated" the Italians, and the blacks will have more hate for the Italians, because of Radio's death.
1. I yet again maintain the idea that this was an enjoyable movie. While the ending did seem to come up a bit suddenly, I felt like the movie as a whole dealt with racial issues very well. The characters were well done and each had their own in depth personality. The scene that I think will stick with me is when Smiley lights the match and lights Sal's on fire. In addition to this i think the scene in which Smiley pins one of his pictures of MLK and Malcolm X on the wall is one of the most cringe-worthy scenes of the movie. The worst part about tis scene for me would have to be the fact that I have no idea what caused Smiley to do this. It could be the hate he received from Pino, or it could be the fact that people he considered his friends put those ideas into his head. Overall the scene will stick with me the most from our watching.
ReplyDelete2. I think the core aspect of this movie, as we mentioned towards the end of class yesterday would have to be the contrast between love and hate. It is brought up many times, and either hate or love is often independently associated with one of the characters in the show. While Pino is described as having hate, other characters, such as Da Mayor, could easily be described as being loving people. This idea continues on into even the credits. The two quotes from MLK and Malcolm X in a way support this concept of love and hate. While MLK is entirely opposed to violence, Malcolm X treats it as a necessary part of the civil rights movement. Every important scene of the movie could be said to have concepts of the love/hate relationship and it becomes core to the movie, especially towards the end.
3. I have no idea why Mookie threw the trashcan. As we said in class, something changed in him, and it happened so suddenly that I didn't really know how to react. I imagined him standing by while it happened, but I never imagined that he would be the instigator of the whole interaction. I imagined that Mookie would see that both sides had done wrong, Radio and Sal, but it seems that Mookie decided to side with the neighborhood over Sal for reasons I can't comprehend. I think there is a possibility that he did this as a way to tell his friends and family that he sided with them, as he didn't want to be associated with Sal's in the future, but that's about as far as I can go with the idea.
4. I honestly don't see it either way (per usual). While the relationship between Da Mayor and Mother Sister is coming along, and Mookie is finally spending time with his son, Sal's future isn't exactly looking up. There's no way to classify it as hopeful or not because I see it in a way that everyone involved is in a different situation. In the end Mookie ended up doing the right thing by deciding to stay with his son and I would say that, for mookie, this was a hopeful ending in that he has a new beginning.
1) The last segment of Do The Right Thing changed my viewpoint of the movie entirely. Before, it was an insight into the culture of Brooklyn, and now it questions the motives behind the two famous philosophies of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. We see peace at the beginning, and violence at the end. The moment that stayed with me the most is the line that John used as the title for the blog “I just killed your fucking radio”. All this yelling and tension leads to violence that silences everyone. The radio symbolizes Raheem’s fight and dreams to fight the oppression that he faces. After a long pause, Sal says that he’s killed it and Raheem realizes that he must fight Sal. I think that it was not an overreaction to “kill” Raheem’s radio, but if he would have known how the movie ended, he probably would have reconsidered. I still liked this movie, but in a very different way. It wasn’t entertainment as much thought-provoking. It is now clear why this movie is so well received as well as controversial.
ReplyDelete2) Do The Right Thing is about a black neighborhood in Brooklyn that slowly builds racial tension until a violent riot forces every citizen to reconsider his/her views on race. It is a bit of a testament to the philosophies of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King.
3) I was very confused by this scene. I understand that Mookie was angered by the death of Radio Raheem, but I don’t see how throwing the trashcan really helped anyone. His actions led to the burning of Sal’s, right after Sal said he was like a son to him. Sal had nothing to do with the death of Raheem, and now pays the price for the police discrimination. I don’t agree with him, because he is throwing the man who has kept him afloat under the bus. It was still a very powerful scene.
4) This is not a hopeless or hopeful ending. It is not hopeless because the neighborhood has truly vented all of it’s anger and is now reconsidering their opinions on race. Sal is alive and his business will recover, despite the damage to his pizzeria and his pride. It is not a hopeful ending for obvious reasons. The peaceful neighborhood has turned violent, and all of the people who “grew up on Sal’s Pizza” were willing to turn on him. To me, this ending is very realistic. It forces the audience to stop and think because it produces no real protagonist and makes us choose a side. The last two quotes were a great touch to close off the movie. Do The Right Thing is a physical example of the fight between love and hate in everyday life.
I was really shocked by the ending. I knew something had to go wrong, but I had not imagined that someone would be killed and a life’s worth work would be destroyed. Like Cam said, I think it was interesting how when things got heated we saw the other side of every character. Something I am curious about is why Mookie’s girlfriend never left her house to go see him, maybe at the pizzeria?
ReplyDeleteIt’s about a poor community of people of different races who struggle with racism, stereotypes, and ignorance. The people in this community cannot overcome their apparent differences and understand each other or listen to each other. Most of the characters we see in the book do not seem to have jobs and so they have free time to sit around all day and insult each other about every little thing. There is no respect among these people; they all have to feel like they are better than the person down the street from them.
I do not think there is one specific person to blame for the chaos that happened that night, because everyone became really angry and worked up and overreacted rather than just talking about the problem. Yes, Sal, Buggin Out, and Radio Reheem were the ones who started the arguing that night, but without the yelling and encouragement of all the people I think things would have ended differently. However I do think that Mookie started the trashing of the place by throwing that trashcan through the window of Sal’s Famous Pizzeria. As an employee there, he sort of gave an authorization to everyone to destroy the place.
I’m not sure if it is a hopeful ending…I think it is for Da Mayor and Sister. However, for the rest of the community I am not sure. What makes me think it might be hopeful is that at the end, the people accepted the Korean man’s plea that they were all the same and wanted the same things.
1. Even after yesterdays horrifying display of violence, I still really enjoyed the movie. I really liked the way the characters worked together and how they seemed to all be working toward the same goal, of equality, except in their own unique ways. I think even Sal, and Vito, not pino, I think he i to caught up in hating other people for where he is, but Sal and Vito, I think are trying to help the community out. Sal has a soft spot in his heart for these people and I think that they really do want to help and better their community. i think Spike lees ability to make the movie everyone in that ares own personal story was amazing. How Everyone that we met and saw had a name, and they were bale to show who they were and how they felt and how they fit into their world. But at the same time all those personal stories go into giving their community a big role in this film.
ReplyDelete2. I agree with Andrew, I think this movie is about the ideas of Love and Hate. We see Radio Raheem explain his rings to Mookie in the beginning of the movie. He says If I love you, I love you, if i hate you, you will know it, or something along those lines. However I think the Key thing for me about the movie is that Love and Hate are no separate. They overlap and they struggle with each other in your mind. they are not cut and dry, not black and white, they are complex feelings that have the ability to overlap. Mookie loves sal for the job and the nice way that he treats him most of the time, however, he also hates him for his ignorance and his open racism when it comes to his shop. I think this movie is about trying to balance Love and Hate and trying to make them work together. I think what Spike Lee is trying to show in this movie is that there is a way to make them work together and there is a way for them to balance each other out.
3. I Think Mookie was struggling with this Idea of Love and Hate. I think one side of him wanted to protect Sal, but on the other hand I think he is sick of his family treating all of his friends and even him sometimes so badly. Yesterday you asked us if we knew what happened when Mookie made the face, I think he decided he was going to embrace the hate that he suppressed for so long.
4. I think it is a hopeful ending. I think that sal has the ability to rebuild I think Mookie is once again balanced and the community can only go up from there. I think they hit rock bottom and they can only go up. I hope they do, I thin people have realized the power of the community and people are going to take them more seriously people are going to respect them.
1.I couldn't believe my eyes when Radio Raheem died. I never thought that the movie would turn in that direction, and have a character die in that way. I figured out about halfway through the movie that a fight was eventually going to happen once Buggin' Out met Radio Raheem, but I never thought that it was going to turn into a full scale riot. Then when everyone turned on Sal and started to group around him, I was even more shocked. I didn't, and still don't, see how it was Sal's fault that Radio Raheem died. It was totally the police's fault. It wasn't even Sal's fault that a fight broke out in the first place, it was Radio Raheem's. Radio Raheem didn't follow Sal's rules in Sal's establishment, and even tried to intimidate him with Buggin' Out. Sal could only take so much until he snapped, especially when it seemed like everyone in the room, the very same people who "grew up on his pizza", was against him. Anyways, I didn't expect a full scale riot.
ReplyDelete2. I honestly don't know how I would explain this movie to someone. The detail and the characters in the movie are so unique, trying to tell someone the plot in only a few words would be very hard. Maybe I would say it has to do with race, and the relationships between people of different races, but that wouldn't express the level of detail put into the movie. Maybe I would say that the movie is about a white pizzeria in a black neighborhood, but that also wouldn't be right. This movie was just so unique and different, I feel like in order to get the plot one would have to actually watch the movie.
3. I think that there could be a couple of different reasons why Mookie threw the trashcan. The most obvious would be because he was tired of Sal and his bullshit, his sister and her nagging, his girlfriend and her nagging, Pino being an asswipe, and all his friends not working. He got fed up to the point where all the hate just burst out of him. I think that's a valid reason why he threw the trashcan. At the same time though, I like Mookie and I can't see him doing that because he was spiteful. I mean here he is halfway through the movie giving advice to Pino's brother about standing up to Pino and not letting him push him around. He honestly cares, and Mookie shows emotion. I thought of another reason, some may view it as far fetched but I think Mookie is a thinker, maybe Mookie threw the trashcan to divert the mob's attention away from Sal and towards a slightly better better output, Sal's restaurant. Maybe he thought that the mob would go after Sal if he didn't do something to divert thee mob's rage. Not to mention that Sal would get the insurance money, so the only thing he would lose is the emotional value of his restaurant. I think it's entirely possible that he threw the trashcan for this reason. I think both are possible and either one could be the reason.
4. Once again, I can't decide if it is a hopeful ending or a depressing ending. I'm just not sure, because of the last part of the final scene with Sal, when they both are just kind of smiling and Mookie picks up the money that he threw back at Sal. It just really confused me. Then there's the first part of the scene with Sal when Sal is going berserk about his restaurant burning down. I thought it was just so tragic that the place he built with his own two hands had burned down.
1.
ReplyDeleteI really don't know what to think. I really enjoyed the movie as well as the characters. Over the course of the movie, the tension builds until it breaks the damn holding it back. This is a very complicated film. I expected Mookie to get up on the trash can and give a rousing speech to quiet the crowd, but he did just the opposite. I think the scene where Sal called Mookie a son was the scene that really stuck out to me.
2.
I would say it was about fighting oppression. But fighting oppression does not mean rolling over to the powers that be and ignoring your rights: sometimes society needs a wake-up call. The film ended with two seemingly contradictory quotes from Dr. King and Malcolm X, one calling for peaceful protest and the other condoning violence when neccessary.
3.
Mookie was the instigator. He gave the crowd a target for their collective anger, and unleashed the flood.
4.
I think this is a hopeful ending. The neighboorhood will rise from the ashes, Sal will rebuild, and a new understanding between the residents of the neighborhood has been created: one without hate.
1) I really enjoyed the movie and I think that a response of "Oh my God" was what I was feeling at the end . The scene that has really stuck with me was the ending one with Mookie and Sal. That scene was really tense but you could still tell they cared about each other and I think that that is a really good summary of their relationship.
ReplyDelete2) I think that the film is about racial tension and how people can coexist and be friendly at times while there is still a great undertone of hatred or tension.
3) I really don't know but I feel it may have been a mixture of Radio Raheem, Sal, and Mookie.
4) I feel that it is hopeful. I think that Sal and Mookie's familial type relationship is fairly hopeful especially since Mookie was the one that threw the trash can. Although there is a lot of tension between the two there is also a sense of caring and I think that is really special and uplifting. It gives hope for a better future.
1. I enjoyed the movie a lot. I was completely surprised by the end. It really never seemed like anyone was upset about Sal's pizzeria other than Buggin Out and Radio Raheem. I was so shocked that the boycott escalated to the death of Radio Raheem. It was almost painful to watch this entire scene. There was so much hate and misunderstanding in this community and I hated that this resulted in this kind of violence. The moment that really stayed with me was when Mookie went to Sal for money in the final scene. There was so much hate and love radiating between the two. They had a confusing relationship all the way to the end of the movie.
ReplyDelete2. This movie is about survival. Each person in this movie is struggling to survive in a society where they are not accepted and is full of hatred and prejudice. This movie is about showing the multiple sides to racism. This is especially shown with the conflicting quotes of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King in the last part of the film. This movie's goal is to get YOU to decide how to survive and what side to chose.
3. When Mookie throws the trashcan, he yells, "HATE." I don't think that Mookie was necessarily expressing hate towards Sal, but rather his life and the riot itself. Mookie has been dealing pretty calmly with his life during the entire movie up until this point. I think the frustration he has with Sal, Pino, Tina, Hector, and his life in general really built up to the point of him yelling hate and throwing the trashcan.
4. I think this is a hopeful ending. Sal and Pino really see that treating people with even the slightest form of disrespect can escalate to this point. I think everyone took something away from the riot, the burning of Sals Pizzeria, and the death of Radio Raheem. Everyone is left with a new perspective on racial tension and how to deal with it, proving that fighting is really not the answer because a person everyone cared about died.
Today’s viewing wasn’t that surprising at all. The conflict was foreshadowed and heating up as we watched the film. It was difficult to watch especially the scene where the police came out and tried to control the raging community. Then the firemen used their hoses against the raging crowd. This scene reminded me mostly of the Birmingham Campaign but also of alot of other Civil rights protests. The Birmingham Campaign as when Dr. King along with other Civil Rights leaders organized a peaceful protest to boycott businesses which didn’t provide equal employment to blacks. It was an upsetting ending because death was the outcome of this conflict which could have been dealt with in a different way. I think that is what Spike Lee is trying to get at. There are different approaches to solving problems, peacefully with love, and with violence and hatred.
ReplyDeleteI would say this movie is about the struggle between love and hate, and the conflicts one goes through being stuck in between these two. I think it is also about the lower class minority struggle in America. (One could argue that the minority was Sal’s family being three white guys in a Black community.) But thinking of the message Spike Lee wants to deliver, I would agree with Aldo and say it is about racial hatred that is experienced in American society. Lee wants to show that this way of life is wrong and that everybody should chill and try to understand and get along.
I think Mookie is fed up with the way things are and decides to let out all his frustration towards the hatred going on that he throws the trashcan saying “hate”. I think he is also mad and saddened at the loss of Radio Raheem. Mookie is connected to every character we meet in some way and he has witnessed various situations (Pino and Vito’s conflicts, Buggin Out’s protests etc...) which just bother him. Sal’s was the location of where the hatred let loose and so he decides to attack the hatred without taking anybody's side.
I am mixed about the ending, I see hope but at the same time I don’t. A lot of things happened the night before and I think it will take time for change to come anytime soon. Everyone is still hot with hatred for someone else and their views and ideas won’t change anytime soon. At the same time, I think people can change and get along. One scene that gives me hope is the scene with the Asian store owner Sonny and there is a small subtle “peace treaty” where Sonny claims he is equal to the blacks. If this can happen with Sal (if he stays) and peace can be made then everyone can get along and there will be hope.
All of the sudden everything goes from bad to worse, to even worse, to a catastrophe. Although, the most shocking part may be at the very end, when people are continuing about their normal lives, going to church, and sweeping the sidewalk. It leads me to believe that this kind of violence and mob destruction is almost expected, or that at least, it is not unusual. There are so many turning points that tip the situation just over the edge that little bit, enough to escalate the situation. Nobody takes the time to evaluate the best possible move, they're all just going about their business, or not-business, since it seems that not many of them work. I wish I could see the movie all in one sitting to really get the full effect of the ending, and to be able to piece together all of the details that ultimately lead to this disastrous finale. Thats where i think the strengths of the movie lie, in the details. Each character gives away a little bit about the animosity and the social rules and norms. To a certain extent, I couldn't relate completely to each character and that made it less personal, but more blatantly inyourface about the reality of the hatred people face each and every day.
ReplyDeleteAt the surface this is a movie showing how bad racism is, that its a social no no. But if you scratch a little, it gets complicated fast. Its a movie about racism as the seed of a pesky dangerous weed that cannot be rid from the the collective conscious of each and every person. Nobody has control of how they feel. Even Sal, who wants to be the good guy, can't help but grab the bat at the first sign of trouble. Its the story of a community struggle on a daily basis, gone wrong at the heat of the summer. These people are just people, who all make mistakes, but they're being driven by something they can't control. People feel the need to pick sides for safety, to prove their strength, but its every man for themselves. The difference in mentality is key to understanding the view points. Those who build things, and profit off of others are intruders, no matter how much they like their pizza.
Mookie did it all by himself. He didn't have a care in the world for anyone else. He grew up maybe. Nothing is sure in this scene, its not clear why Mookie throws the trash can. It may be because he felt he had to do something big. Maybe it was his way of resolving personal beef with Sal and Pino and Vino. It seems odd because moments ago he's fine working for Sal. But it's just for money. Its all about the money. Mookie threw it because he could, because maybe he had to. He was caught up in the heat of the moment and launched the destruction into overdrive. I don't think he intended the entree joint to go down in flames, but i don't think he cared. He was over it, over Sal feeling like he could rule his pizza joint like an emperor, tired of Pino's insecurities.
Neither hopeful or hopeless describes the ending. Its fresh, like after having climbed a mountain and taken a shower, minus the accomplishment of a goal. There is a bittersweetness to it. Life just continues. Thats the thing with change though, it goes very slowly, and so it may be that things changed in people that night, the next day they will be back to the usual. Only time will be able to change larger things deep within people. On a short term, it is unlikely that such a horrifying scene will be played out. People released their anger towards each other, and the death of RR is still fresh in their hearts. It was just one day in a neighborhood though, and even if one thing happened that people will talk about and remember, its not an entirely new leaf, or a new page in history. Its a sentence, maybe a word or two even. The problem hasn't been solved, but whether good or bad, steps have been made in a given direction.