Open Thread: Do The Right Thing Edition
The 20th anniversary of the release of Spike Lee’s ground-breaking movie Do The Right Thing, which dealt with a day in the life of a block in Bed Stuy, and in so doing brought the multi-layered issues of gentrification race coexistence and conflict in the inner city to a broader national audience. Two decades later,…
The 20th anniversary of the release of Spike Lee’s ground-breaking movie Do The Right Thing, which dealt with a day in the life of a block in Bed Stuy, and in so doing brought the multi-layered issues of gentrification race coexistence and conflict in the inner city to a broader national audience. Two decades later, how much has changed and how much remains the same?
“now it’s ok for black people/brooklyn ites to dig the celtics.”
No, it’s not.
“Not all things behave the same way. Brownstones in Brookly will be one of those things that will be have differently from the nation as a whole, NV, FL and the greater New York area.”
I asked you this question in the 5-times sold Bed Stuy thread: Why everything up +200% peak/trough – burbs, condos, coops, brownstones? Because they DO BEHAVE THE SAME WAY. Not exactly but close enough.
‘This time (or this borough) is different’ – The same thing was said about dotcom shares. Classic head-fake. We ‘leave our feet’ everytime.
***Bid half off peak comps***
Bxgrl – agreed on your points
when watching this movie, all you kept asking was why a particular character is just making the situation worse? Every character was escalating the tension just a little bit until it all culminated to the death of a young man and the store being burned down.
So true, bxgrl, Mookie is certainly a flawed hero ala the Greek tragedies. I also think of opera in connection with Spike Lee’s storytelling.
“…Elvis was a hero to most
But he never meant sh*t to me you see…”
hmmm now i really want to see this movie!
and re: elimination communication (i cant believe there is an actual term for it, but then again i cant believe there is such a thing called watersports either). both times i saw this happen it was on 4th avenue. so at LEAST it wasnt in the presence of people eating outside and stuff. let’s just hope it doesnt catch on above 4th :-/
*rob*
traditionalmod- Spike Lee is nothing if not a master storyteller. Like Greek tragedies- the character has some fatal flaw that speeds them toward an almost foregone conclusion. What killed me in DTRT was that feeling if only someone could put on the brakes- and you knew the characters had the ability to stop, but then everything sweeps them up again into a perfect storm.
I must address both wildly divergent topics of this thread! The only reason “elimination communication” exists in the modern Western world where we do have diapers of all kinds cloth and disposable is for certain parents to show off to everybody how extra special and committed they are as parents. It’s an extreme in the hyper competitive parenting culture. I’d heard about it but can’t believe people are actually doing it.
Everybody always fixates on the sociopolitical aspects of Spike Lee’s films but I admire the films themselves. The performances he gets and his cinematic innovations. The look, style, the music. His are the best original scores and soundtracks. The ending of DTRT that was such an outrage to many was the only way that story and character arc could have ended the way it was all set up. It was perfect.
I belong to the Park Slope Food Coop and have yet to see gutter-peeing. I will keep my eyes peeled…