It being the last couple classes of this semester I was thinking about some of my favorite films we have watched. Do the Right Thing by Spike Lee had to be one of my personal favorites. I felt there were so many aspects that I still had thoughts on and didn’t get to share in my previous blog posts. In this post I emphasized some of the aspects in the film that I felt added to the overall success and beauty.

Something I noticed in the film were that a lot of the camera angles were tilted especially in times of conflict. This felt like a really interesting and stylistic choice by the director. The tilted angles felt like hints to the viewer about their mental state which was also clearly kind of skewed. During the film the characters were all constantly fighting, arguing, making racist and hateful comments towards one another. So the camera angels being constantly skewed really played into the fact that they were losing their temper. 

It was no secret in this film that the heat was unbearable. From the opening scene it was made apparent that it was extremely hot.

Something as simple as weather can really play with peoples emotions. For example, its common for when someone gets overheated that comes with uncomfort, which can lead to overstimulation and anger. I think they really portrayed this well in the film. 

For one the use of really warm, almost overly saturated tones at times plays into the over agonizing heat. As a viewer, it really emphasized how it felt impossible to get out of, frustrating, and irritating. This visual representation of the characters drenched in sweat, wiping their faces, etc emphasized physical discomfort. 

There was one scene I thought was funny which was the scene with Mookie and Tina where he rubbed an ice cube all over her body as a sign of love. This really emphasized how un bearable the heat was that a token of love could be from the simplicity of rubbing an ice cube on someones body could be that romantic.

Something else really interesting is the ambiguity at the end of the film. Lee leaves the question open if Mookie did the right thing, or not. This makes the film more intriguing to watch as viewers can form their own opinions on the film. Not only that, but controversy brings attention which is another reason why I think this film was so successful. There were no “sides” portrayed in this film, which is very rare in film making. This movie was a portrayal of racism with sadness for so many different minorities. And none of them were technically “right” or “wrong” since they were all being hateful and receiving hate.

Overall, this movie was one of my favorite films mostly because of the stylistic choices and how it raises so many questions. I think films like this are important in society as they educate people by putting us in other peoples shoes. I will be recommending this film to others!