Spike Lee- Do The Right Thing and other films.

The Style Of Spike Lee

It's clear that to Spike Lee race relations are very important. Most of his films feature race and crime as major themes for example "Malcolm X" a film about the somewhat controversial race campaigner. After watching "Do The Right Thing" I'm going to look at two other Spike Lee film and compare them to "Do The Right Thing" in terms of their themes and style.

1. Malcolm X

Context/Background: The film follows the life of Malcolm X ,an influential race campaigner who rose to public interest around the time of other race campaigners such as Martin Luther King, and his life. To this day there are many different views on Malcolm X and his attitudes towards violence. Some people view him as an extremist whilst others think he did what had to be done in a desperate time. It is clear that Spike Lee has some admiration for Malcolm X by the use of his quote at the end of Do The Right Thing.

This shows a continuation in ideas and links Do The Right Thing and Malcolm X as they both present Malcolm X's ideologies to the audience.

Genre: Malcolm X is a true story and takes the form of a biography. However it could also be called a drama as despite being based off of the real life of Malcolm X many elements are likely to have been dramatised and developed to make the film more interesting. Do the right thing is also a drama. They follow similar narrative styles with tension rising throughout the film as events get more and more heated.

The Story: Malcolm X tells the detailed story of the man of the same name. Across its massive run time of 3 hours and 20 minutes the film goes into detail about the events that made Malcolm X into the historical figure he became. From the brutal murder of his father by the KKK and being told to pursue a career as a carpenter rather than a lawyer because of his race to serving an extended prison service because he's black. The film makes the audience understand the roots of  Malcolm X's feelings towards white people.

Racial Hatred: Throughout the film hate has a strong influence from many sides. At the start we see the racist hatred of the Klu-Klux-Klan which not only destroys Malcolm's childhood home but also brutally murders his father. However this hatred inspires hatred from Malcolm and after going to prison and converting to Islam he channels that hatred back at white people. In my opinion I feel this is racist in its own right however the way it is presented by Spike  Lee it is easy to understand the root of this hatred. Later in the film Malcolm X has an awakening after his pilgrimage to mecca. After this he becomes much more accepting to white people. This is something often not documented and showing this to the audience i think better represents Malcolm X. Hate is also a theme in Do the right thing especially at the end. Spike Lee once again shows hate on both sides as even though the police murder a black man, the mob goes over the top and begins to target anyone who isn't black including the Asian people who had nothing to do with it.

Lighting: Throughout Malcolm X there is very little bright light. Most of the scenes are set at night with very few light sources. A good example of this is a very intense Russian roulette scene where the lighting emphasises the danger and tension of the scene.

Another interesting use of lighting is where Malcolm steps out of a church and the light outside is extremely bright and bathes the doors in a glow. This perhaps is a reference to Malcolm turning away from Christianity.

These low lighting levels can also be seen in the ending of Do the right thing which takes place at night with the only major light source being the fire from the pizzeria. Spike Lee uses darkness to show the division in society much as time is split into day and night society is split by race. This racial segregation is a large topic in many of his films.

Overall Comparison: Overall there is a clear connection in both style and theme. Spike Lee uses both these films as a platform for discussion of race relations. They make sound arguments and allow audiences to make up their own minds. By showing the audience not only context but also reason Spike Lee creates films that convey strong messages.



2. Chi-Raq

Context: Spike Lee's most recent film Chi-Raq was released in 2015 on Amazon's streaming service and a few select cinemas. The film has strong themes around black-on-black violence. Due to the amount of murders in Chicago in recent years being more than the amount of deaths in the Iraq the term Chi-Raq (being an acronym of Chicago and Iraq) compares Chicago to Iraq in terms of the death count. This violence is the main theme of the film and these statistics are shown to the audience at the opening of the film. The film is heavily influenced by rap music and most of the words spoken in the film rhyme as if to make the film one long rap song.

Music: Many elements of Spike Lee's style can be seen in Chi-Raq in particular the music. The opening much like Do the right thing is long and uses a song. This scene is around 3 minutes of the song Pray 4 my city by Nick Cannon compared to the use of Fight the power in the opening of Do the right thing. Much like Do the right thing the song at the start contains themes that are key to the rest of the film. In this case these themes are violence and the struggle to survive.

Other songs featured in the film include R. Kelly's "Put the guns down" which addresses violence head on and calls for people to lay down their weapons and stop the violence. A large majority of the soundtrack for the film was recorded for the purpose of being used in the film rather than simply sampling pop songs. This allowed the sound track to be more purposeful


Gang Violence: The theme of gang violence is established pretty quickly in the film. In the opening scene at a rap concert quickly the gig becomes a shootout as 2 gang members are killed. This quick loss of life and the lack of care from any of the characters shows how common and trivial violence is to them. In Do the right thing violence is a strong theme. The threat of violence looms throughout the film much like it does in Chi-Raq.

Genre: Chi-Raq is a musical drama. It is heavily story driven and uses rap music to rhythmically and elegantly make its points about gang culture and the impact that is has on the people and communities who live with gang violence as a daily occurrence.

Narrator: Both Do the right thing and Chi-Raq use a form of a narrator to help flow the story. The narrator is used as a voice of reason and points out where the problems are. The narrator almost seems to be Spike lee's mouthpiece into his own films allowing him to add his own commentary to the situation.

The Story: A group of women decide that something has to be done about the gang violence between 2 gangs. These gangs resemble the well known american gangs the Bloods and Crips but instead of blue and red they wear purple and orange. The women decide to withhold sex until the violence stops. The idea behind it is that something has to be done about this largely ignored problem. Spike Lee has created a film to tackle an issue much like he did in Do the right thing. He brings hidden issues into the light and uses his films to inform the audience.

Overall Comparison:When looking at Chi-Raq and Do the right thing its clear that Spike Lee sees films as a platform to raise awareness on important yet unnoticed issues. In both films he tells stories about communities living through tough times. He uses film to inspire people and that's what makes him so great




Also this film has Samuel L Jackson in it so you have to see it for that at least.