- Radio Raheem
Do the Right Thing is a classic. What could I possibly add to it that hasn’t been said already, right? Well I’ll say this: this is a movie that makes you feel something. There’s no way you can watch this and not need to talk about it with someone afterwards. And that is truly the mark of a quality cinematic experience (hell, any story telling experience really). Whether you think Mookie did the right thing in the end, whether you think Sal is the villain, or even if you think Buggin' Out was the true cause of Radio Raheem’s unfortunate death you can’t walk away from this film without an opinion.
Most summaries of this Spike Lee joint (yeah, I said joint) state something along the lines of how on the hottest summer day in Brooklyn racial tensions come to a boil. While most one liners understate a story’s nuance for the sake of brevity, trying to boil Do the Right Thing down to a one liner is underselling the major accomplishment that Lee achieved. The landscape of the black neighborhood is captured so perfectly on screen it’s uncanny. I mean who didn’t grow up with a Mayor or Mother Superior looking over them? Many people of course, but you get my point. Lee’s Brooklyn is reminiscent of many black neighborhoods in Philly, Baltimore, DC, hell any East Coast city. What’s more is that he accomplished this again 5 years later with Crooklyn.
It’s funny. It you haven’t read about Spike Lee’s opinion of Tyler Perry’s films/plays/television shows you can see their differences exemplified in their work. For many black folks, I think you either grew up with a Madea in your life or a Mother Superior (maybe that's a regional difference - Lee's east coast to Perry's down south), and that probably colors where you fall on the Lee/Perry debate. Two sides of the same coin? Two equally valid versions of the black experience? Maybe. But one thing is unequivocally true: Tyler Perry's House of Payne and Meet the Browns are terrible, terrible television shows.
I love that you included the Lee vs. Perry comparison in your review. I don't believe that it is a regional difference that separates the two directorial interpretation of the "black experience." I feel that Lee documents his personal experiences that is crafted into his characters and Perry is creating a parody in his stereotypical characters. It reminds me of the subtle difference between homage vs. pastiche. Lee pays homage to the black experience and Perry's interpretation comes off as a Chinatown knockoff.
ReplyDeleteYou're right about the fine line between homage and pastiche and I agree with Lee documenting personal experiences, but I'm not sure about Perry creating parody. The Madea character, for example, is out there but she's not too far off from reality (which makes me really fuckin' sad - haha). I can't say that I know people exactly like her, but I've met people who were only a few degrees off.
ReplyDeletePerry does use stereotypical characters too much though. They're all pretty cookie cutter.