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?
remember when john savage- aka white guy is wearing a bird jersey? now it’s ok for black people/brooklyn ites to dig the celtics. tho i NEVER will.
i saw it when it first came out.
spike drives me freaking nuts but on this one? nailed it. and for all you rosie haters? come on? she’s great in it!
Or, then again, maybe they won’t. The housing market and the case Schiller data in particular is a braod representation of many areas. 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.
“BHO, when are brownstones ever going to reach 50% off peak comps???”
When NY Case-Shiller YOY approaches zero, if not before. You want the exact date, time and weather?
***Bid half off peak comps***
Slopefarm – here here!!!
Heather – I’m still trippin on the Les bebes peepee(ing) in the gutters in Park Slope. Does this go on in front of Connecticut Muffin? ha!
Wow – I mean I see the points why one would allow their kid to do that, but still…hahahah! -crunchy parents indeed!
MM – I too thought Spike’s Katrina documentary was one of his best works. I think you are right that in the 90′, Spike through the media did become the voice of Black NY’ers. I just wished he would have stopped using his nutty sister in EVERY film he made!
BHO, when are brownstones ever going to reach 50% off peak comps???
“Muthafuck gentrification!” – Buggin’ Out
***Bid half off peak comps***
I think Randi is back as ……… Who wants to take an educated guess?
I was married at the time and we went to see the movie. My ex and I pretty much agreed the Spike Lee was a brilliant movie maker- but what both of us took away from it, more than the political or cultural or gentrification issues was how trapped people seemed to be within their own value systems and bridging that gap was a tragic and terrifying process.
People seem to think if they extended a hand or opened their minds to another group, they would somehow lose their own identity. It was one of the underlying pressures we faced as a biracial couple because while you may be able to deal with it internally, society tries to tell you, you can’t Someone white told me I wasn’t a Jew anymore because of my marriage. I’m sure you can imagine my answer.
In a way it harks back to gem’s question as to what her children would call themselves- Black or White- because society likes to simplify people into one thing or another. This is where I always found Spike Lee so brilliant- he takes some fairly stereotypical characters and ideas and forces you to rethink what you believe about them, without really changing them. But certainly making them more “human.” I thought the Pawnbroker did something similar, but in a totally different way- but in that case the lead character changed, forcing us to do so as well.
Spike Lee has never gotten his just due as a director. That’s a real shame.
“vinyl siding district” LOVE it ahhahahh
*rob*