Do the Right Thing made me feel on edge. Usually one of the goals of films with racial tension is to make people feel on edge or uncomfortable because usually that promotes thought and possible growth with that particular subject. However, I do not think it was just the racial tension that made me feel on edge. I think the filmmakers final goal was to have people feel on edge from the racial tension, but there were many things that were completely separate from racial tension that contribute to the feeling. Some of these things included music, lighting and the mundane feel (besides the fight, murder, plunder and arson in Sal’s pizzeria which all happened at the end of the movie).
The movie started with loud and intense music. There were many different instruments in the fast paced main song, which was “Fight the Power” by Public Enemy. This music often clashed with other songs that were playing at the same time. An example of this was when Radio Raheem walked over to a group of guys who were also playing music—they had a competition of sorts to see whose boom box was louder.
Another aspect of music was the light music with horned instruments. I think it was meant to show a somewhat leveled out time, but for me, it just made things disjointed because I thought it did not fit. I knew the leveled out time wasn’t for real and that things were going to change.
The lighting throughout the whole film seemed to be slightly yellow or gold and maybe a tiny bit hazy. It seemed like soft lighting, which I usually interpret as a slower moving or calmer time, but that really wasn’t the case. Perhaps the clash of previous interpretations of lighting with the spoken word of racial tensions made me feel on edge.
Finally, the mundane feel of the film (up until the fight and events following) contributed to my unease. It seemed like a typical day, especially with Mookie waking up, going to work, engaging in typical bickering between co-workers, seeing the neighborhood and people interacting, with a few verbal disagreements every so often. However, I knew it was not supposed to be mundane.
I hope I was able to explain a little of why the music, lighting and mundane feel made me feel uneasy. I’m still trying to wrap my head around it…
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2 comments:
You don't think the movie is supposed to be "mundane"? Why is that? To me, I think it is very much a regular day--in so many ways, the ending is a surprise, a kind of roll of the dice. I don't think it was at all inevitable that this day would end in murder and destruction. Isn't the mundane-ness of the day part of the power of the film's social critique?
I think it was supposed to be mundane... but I felt uneasy about a lot of other stuff that made me feel like it wasn't going to be just a regular day. I didn't know what would happen (I was thrown off completely when Raheem was murdered and Sal's store was destroyed), but I knew something was going to happen...
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