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Opening Scene: Do The Right Thing (MEANING & RESPONSE (AESTHETICS)…
Opening Scene: Do The Right Thing
PERFORMANCE
Tina's performance is raw (Rosie Perez)
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Her performance is every powerful and it ensures we understand that she is angry and frustrated
The dancing is very jagged, stop and start, highlighting the mood she's in
Her facial expressions look like shes in a fight even though shes dancing and brings forward the idea that they are fighting each day for what they believe in
Before she's dressed up as a boxer, the dance moves she conveys look like shes boxing, with the mixture of arm movements and side steps
When the song starts talking about elvis she does his signature dance when he wobbles his legs in a certain way it is highlighting the types of people typical white people look up to
They don't have to look up to people like Martin Luther King or Malcolm X because they don't have something that they are fighting for, to improve the lifestyle of their whole race
They don't understand that white privilege is a real and very true concept within society
Song also states that 'most of' the singers 'heroes don't appear on no stamps'
Showing that even famous black people do not get the same recognition as white people who are also famous
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Opens with a black screen and the song 'Fight The Power' playing
Creates suspense for the audience
Results with the audience expecting an upbeat opening to the film
Montage of tina relocating in different positions on screen
long shot
Establishes location because of the set being a street from Brooklyn
Camera is stationary
Allows the audience to focus on Tina, who at this point they do not know
Creates enigma because they don't know who she is
Hand held Camera is used after montage
Camera is on a dolly and moves forwards towards Tina
Ensures that the audience is paying attention to Tina and what movements she is making
It revelas who she is and gives the audience a better understanding of what she looks like
As it moves forwards the shadows begin to become more subtle, implying that the audience is coming into the world she lives in and we are coming out of the shadows e.g our ideology of that community to see what it's really like
Hand held camera shows the instability within the community and the tensions that are constantly fluctuating like the movement of the camera
Close up used of her face, setting the tone for the whole film
Shows her anger and passion
The camera pans to follow her as she faces the camera in the red costume, it enhances the audiences view on her because it makes them feel like they are following her battle
When the song states 'fight the power' it cuts directly to a close up of her face, while she is still dancing and this is very powerful because it's like the song is singing directly to her
Camera is stationary and looks down on Tina while she is dancing in the blue outfit
Medium shot of her
Shows how many people look down on her race that's she's proud to be apart of, shows why shes got to 'Fight the Power'
The camera then pans down in a medium shot and results with her looking directly at the camera on the same level
This implies that the films going to bring people who believe they are better than the minorities within the film down a peg so they fully understand that racism is still a very big issue everywhere
EDITING
J cut is used
at the beginning a black screen appears with the music playing before Tina appears dancing
Match cut used
Shows how racial tension and violence can change just like that
It goes from her running on the spot in the red outfit (racial tension) to her in the boxing gloves (violence)
This used for a array of different moves she makes especially when she is kicking her legs out and when she moves close to the floor
Montage is used at the beginning of the opening
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It cuts on the beat of the song and this makes the movements of her more aggressive
Cut on action to a close up of her face
Instead of zooming in or carrying on using the dolly, which would have reacted with a smoother transition they decided on cutting on action ebacsue this intensifies her facial expressions and the mood it conveys to the audience
This is used a lot throughout the opening
It's used for when she is boxing towards the camera close up and then it cuts to her doing the same actions in a different outfit
The end of the scene cuts abruptly to a close up of Samuel L Jackson talking into a microphone with a gold pocket watch next to his face
Extreme close up
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CONTEXT
Influenced by 'Bye Bye Birdy'
Influenced by the opening of it
Influenced by the opening to the cosby show
They also live in Brooklyn but are upper middle class and have a nice home
Unrealistic representation for a lot of African Americans within brooklyn at the time
Their movements come off as fake, in comparison to the raw movements that Tina makes within the opening of Do The Right Thing
Police Brutality Today
Stephon Clark
22 when he was shot
He was unarmed
The two police officers who shot him will not be charged
They shot him because they were investigating robberies within the area and believed he had a weapon
He was shot 7 times
He was stood in his grandmother's backyard in Sacramento when he was shot
MIS-EN-SCENE
Warm and cool colours are used
warm
Warm Colours are used throughout the film as a motif
Represents the heat and anger building up within the community due to underlying racial tension bewteeneach minority group
Warm colours worn by a variety of people clashes with the cool colours a select few wear within the film
It shows the differences in ideology and opinion
They are typically the people who calm down situations
Police
Although Spike Lee's criticism of the police is still evident throughout the film
Coconut Sid
The warm shots and close ups of Tina represent the racial tension within the community
First time you see Tina she's dressed in Red
Cool
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Tina dressed up in red boxing gloves and a silver jacket
These shots are all about violence
She is wearing primiently black and white
This shows the conflict between the two primary races within the community
the red boxing gloves links to the anger and violence each of the different races face
It implies that it always comes down to a fight in some way or another and this is evident by the climax at the end of the film being Sal and Radio Raheem fighting.
Links clearly to Mike Tyson
During this outfit the background is also in black and white, symbolising the red boxing gloves more
Implies that people believe racial tension is just black and white, however the film goes on to show that that's not the case
It then cuts to a close up of her in the red outfit, showing that the anger is still there it just needs to come to the surface and the shot after this embodies that idea
It cuts back to her in the boxing outfit and the background changes from black and white to red, with her boxing towards the camera, looking directly at the audience
Final outfit Tina wears is a blue leotard and tights
Implies that people may seem okay on the surface, although the background is still cascaded in dark red
The dark red lighting used for the background shows that even though everyone may seem okay there is still underlying racial tension
Opens with Tina on set that looks like a street in Brooklyn, which is very effective because it sets the whole film
Background is cascaded in a orange tone
Represents the racial tension within the community and different races
Tina is in shadows
Option one: she represents the community and shows that they do not have an identity or a voice
Option 2: It the background represents the community and Tina shows that everyone is responsible in some way for the racial tension, it's a underlying opinion or ideology within everyone and that's why she is not fully shown to the audience
the black and white background begins to go from white to red and changes while she is dancing while wearing the boxing outfit
This could link to the police and their sirens which are red and blue
or it could link to the idea that the tensions fluctuate that much due to tensions rising
MEANING AND RESPONSE (REPRESENTATION)
Tina is represented as a very strong woman
This is shown through her different movements and the fact that they decided to use a woman instead of a man for the opening scene
If they used a man i believe it would have resulted with the opening not being as powerful especially since this was made in the 80's
Using a woman for the opening scene shows that within the community men and women are equal fighting against the same government, as well as the police
Many people at the time looked up to black boxers like Mike Tyson, who became the youngest heavyweight champion in history during the 80's
This representation of strong woman is also shown by many other different characters such as Louise, who gives her son a beating for nearly getting hit by a car and Mother Sister, whos very tough on Da Mayor
The community as a whole is represented by Tina's chararcter
It implies that the community will fight for what they believe in
As shown by Buggin out fighting for more black people on Sal's wall in his Pizzeria or the whole community rioting after Radio Raheem is killed by the police
However it's also shown through the smaller pieces of mis-en scene, such as Radio Raheem always playing 'fight the power' or the graffiti on the walls of sal's pizzeria, that states "Tawana told the truth" referring to a woman who claimed she was kidnapped and sexually abused by a group of white men, however she wasn't believed by a grand jury
Tawana Brawley
It shows they are resilient and that they do not stop even if they've had enough
SOUND
Leitmotif
Fight The Power by Public Enemy
Spike Lee commissioned the song
Signpost to show something bad is going to happen throughout the film
He wanted the leitmotif to relate to either a specific character, or feeling throughout the film
Non diegetic sound used for the song
Opens with a black screen and music plays before Tina appears
This is called a J cut
Trumpet playing
Links clearly to jazz which originated from the south in America
Huge part of that races culture
Diegetic sound
Of an alarm bell going off, which is clearly shown next to Mister Senor Love Daddy's face
The first part of his Dialogue is 'Wake up, Wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up"
This is him telling the audience to wake up to the racism and racial tension that was around them at the time, although for an audience today it's still relevant
MEANING & RESPONSE (AESTHETICS)
Warm
Cool
Sweaty
Vibrant
Colourful
Heated
Hot
Moist