In "Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing," Marilyn Fabe argues that Spike Lee adopts film theorist and director Sergei Eisenstein's dialectical montage - the juxtaposition of contrasting shots in order to bring the viewer to a new level of consciousness. Referring to Fabe's essay, describe two ways Lee creates dialectical conflict on the level of form, and two examples on the level of content. According to Fabe, what does Lee seek to achieve through his use of dialectical montage?
19 comments:
Lucy Derickson
section 802
Two ways that Spike lee creates a dialectical conflict through form would be through using extreme camera angles, or using angles that distort the figure to convey a feeling to the viewer. For example, Fabe explains that the character Radio Raheem is shot from many extreme angles to create a feeling of power or intimidation to the viewer. This also hints at his unstable roll in the film. Dialectical conflict through form is also found when showing a downward angle onto Da Mayor from the Mother Sister’s point of view. This angle makes Da Mayor look small which illustrates how she feels about him, and old drunk.
Dialectical conflict in this film is also illustrated through content. For example, Fabe explains that the film is filled with racial tension between the characters. But one character Mookie, plays the peacekeeper by acting as a go between for his boss Sal. Also after in the film Mookie is conflicted about the attack on Sal’s Pizzeria. Through out the film Sal is affectionate towards him and by showing Mookie holding his head before the attack it shows that Sals affection towards him was noticed, an has now caused him inner conflict.
Fabe seems to believe that the goal of the film maker would be to show the audience two conflicting view points on this subject, and through showing both sides it causes the viewer to think more deeply about the subject matter of the film.
According to Fabe, the first way Spike Lee creates dialectical conflict in his film Do the Right Thing is during the opening credits when the soundtrack and images clash together. The sounds we hear are angry male voices talking violently about racism. These sounds are juxtaposed with the images of a small girl dancing and fighting in different locations, causing us to wonder why someone would put such contrasting art together at the beginning of a film. Another way Lee creates dialectical conflict is with the use of his camera angles and lens he uses throughout the film. A lot of the film is shot with a wife angle lens so that the image is distorted and makes the scene or characters look more threatening then they would have looked normally. As for the level of content, the main one is between the two characters Mookie and Sal, who have a racial tension between them the whole film until the very end where Mookie breaks the tension by instigating the destruction of Sal's Pizza joint. There is also a racial tension between Sal and Buggin' Out, a customer who wants to see African Americans on the Pizza joint's walls and not just Italian Americans. This argument also leads to the riot at the end of the film when Sal's place is destroyed. Through this dialectical montage, Fabe believes Lee is trying to get a discussion going on about these racial issues and the other subject matter in the film, by presenting these contrasting and extreme viewpoints about these sensitive issues.
Travis Torok
Section 802
Danny D'Acquisto
Section 802
Content:
One example of Lee’s use of dialectical conflict in the area of content is when he uses 2 quotes—one from Dr. King and one from Malcolm X—that clearly show a contradiction. King’s quote condemns violence as a means of seeking racial justice. Malcolm X’s quote just called it “intelligence.” Lee’s intent may seem a bit ambiguous but it’s clearly shown in that he gives Malcolm X the last say: he’s not opposed to violence.
Lee also uses dialectical conflict in his content when he has Mookie—a consistent instigator through out the course of the movie—banish his friend from the restaurant he works at for arguing with the owner about him not including any black people on his Wall of Fame. Even though Mookie is portrayed as a rebellious kid, Lee inserts this content into the movie to give the impression that he’s not completely irrational about choosing his battles. He wants his viewers to see that he fights for justice, not just his every desire.
Form:
Lee also uses dialectical conflict in form. For example, in his film, he “cleaned up” the ghetto. He made sure there wasn’t any trash in the mise-en-scene. He didn’t include any prostitutes or drug dealers. Usually this isn’t the case when the ghetto is in a movie. His intent here was to make people realize that there are hard working people in the ghetto that take pride in their stuff.
Another way in which Lee uses dialectical conflict in the area of form is when he starts Do The Right Thing with what seems like a number from a musical. In this part there is a soundtrack of angry black voices encouraging violence as a response to racism and choreographed behind it is a petite girl dancing. His intent is to get across that there is a great deal of anger and rage in the black community and not just a bunch of mindless people just concerned with being entertained.
Kurt Raether
Section 802
According to Fabe, Spike Lee uses form to create Eisenstein's dialectic cinema in two main ways: "Conflict between matter and viewpoint," and "Conflict between matter and its spatial nature." The latter is achieved in shots of Radio Raheem. In some scenes, Radio is shot with a wide-angle lens at an extreme low angle, giving him a big, menacing look. Lee utilizes conflict between matter and viewpoint when he shoots Mother Sister from a low angle to show her superiority over Da Mayor, who is shot at a high angle, making him seem very diminutive.
In dialectics of content, Lee utilizes many different story and character devices that conflict, foreshadow, and influence the story. For instance, Sal is portrayed as a racist, but in a sympathetic way. This makes the destruction of his Pizza parlor at the end of the movie that much more disturbing. Many of Sal’s different traits are used to heighten tension, for example, in the scene where he screams racists things at Radio Raheem and then destroys a boom box, figuratively “killing” it. Radio is killed later in the story, bring the symbolism full circle.
Libby Schultz
section 802
In Fabe's essay, Lee creates Eisenstein's dialectic cinema to creat form in a couple of ways. He uses a different angles and lens to create different effects, an example is when the ant effect or giant effect. These effects are created by extreme angles which make the viewer seem smaller or larger when viewing a scene.
In Fabe's essay he mentions that racial tension plays a large role in this film and in the film there are two conflicting characters and that allows the viewer to have two different view points that help them make conclusion about the films story line
Spike Lee uses dialectical conflict in his film Do The Right Thing fairly often. Marilyn Fabe writes, “Spike Lee begins Do the Right Thing with a shock.” She then goes onto explain the advance publicity depicting the film as an intense urban and racial drama wrought with violence, but begins instead with a musical number. This conflict of ideas is a multi-level example of dialectical conflict between Love and Hate. First, the visuals of a lone woman dancing clash with the sounds of angry young men chanting to “fight the power.” Second, the dance itself walks the line between fighting and dancing, with choreographed sequences based on boxing and aerobics. Fabe states that this whole sequence is cut in a way hailing back to “Eisenstein’s use of montage to create optical shocks.” This idea also creates a shock to the mind by sparking curiosity on an intellectual level as well as simply a visual one.
This example is both an example of content and form. The content being the words to the soundtrack and the form being the dancer. I find it interesting how the content is capable of contrasting with the form in a way that creates this specific idea of dialectical conflict.
Another example of Lee using dialectical conflict in form (so as to further elaborate on the distinction between the use of this conflict in form and content) is the fact the Spike Lee chose to shoot in a ghetto that he intently clean up. Fabe claims that he drew some criticism from this fact. “By deliberately creating an atmosphere that contests stereotypes of the way people live in the black ghetto, Spike Lee is not trying to put one over on his audience by creating false “positive images” of ghetto life.” (Fabe 197) Rather, he is purposely creating a scenery that clashes with preconceived notions of ghetto life and forcing an audience to look at their own expectations more closely.
So, just as the form of a film can contrast with ideas, so too can the content. For example, while the depiction of Sal (a character in the film) as affectionate and sympathetic towards his liaison, Mookie, he simultaneously depicts him as exploitive and racist. By never acknowledging Mookie as a key role in his work, he overlooks Mookie as a human being. By displaying Sal as more than a stereotypical one-sided monster, he has become an example of conflict since his personality is contrived of warring ideals, which eventually leads to the riot within the picture.
Robert Francis Curtis
Section 802
Spike Lee is one of the more powerful directors of our time. In his "Do The Right Thing" he creates dialectical conflict through a couple of things. One way would be his use of different camera angles. He loves using different camera angles to make the figure or whatever it may be that he is shooting express a particular feeling to his audience. Not many people know this, but when making a film, the distance the camera is from the actor or actress is a big part of how the director wants you to see the character. Lee loves shooting at a downward angle so the audience can feel exactly what the character is feeling.
The main level of content, is between the women characters Mookie and Sal. They have a racial tension between them throughout the film until the end where Mookie breaks the tension by causing everyone to go into a discomfort because of the distraction of the pizza place. In the long run the thing that matters is that the argument with the man complaining that there are no African Americans pictures on the walls and this leads to the pizza place getting destroyed. Therefore Fabe is expressing his emotions on racism to the audience and giving them his viewpoint on the matter through his “work”.
In Fabe’s essay she argues that Lee uses dialectical montage to bring the viewer to a new level of consciousness. One way Lee does this is through his use of form. One example of this happens during the opening credits when the music, which features angry male voices, is juxtaposed with the petite female form dancing across the screen. Another example of how form is used during the opening credits is when the image of Rosie Perez is shown boxing on screen right and then the image is cut with her boxing on screen left. This use of dialectical montage introduces the idea of battles between races and those with in the same race. Lee also uses content with dialectical montage to reach viewers. One way this is done is through the character Mookie. Throughout the film Mookie acts as a peacekeeper, which is why it is shocking to the viewer when he instigates the violence against Sal’s pizzeria. Another way Lee uses content is through the argument between Sal and Buggin’ Out. Both characters argue that their race should be the ones recognized on the pizzeria wall and neither one is wrong. It is because these two views are introduced side by side that the viewer is able to come to that conclusion. According to Fabe, “the goal was to liberate his audience from fixed stereotypical images of the conflict between black and white Americans and to open their minds to a more subtle awareness of racism in American society…”
Alyssa Holly
Sec. 802
Spike Lee expresses dialectical conflict many times and in various ways in his film “Do the Right Thing”. In Fabe’s essay she goes into how the film was and still is highly controversial and how Lee creates these conflicting images to bring the viewer into a higher level of consciousness. He does this in the degree of form and content. As for form one of the ways he expresses dialectical conflict is with color. Specifically color filters. Fabe says “Sometimes Lee mixes reds and blues, creating a conflict of colors (hot and cold tones) within the same shot, a technique similar to Eisenstein’s intraframe optical conflict.” Lee wants to show that there are two feelings and that they will clash. Another area in the movie with clashing ideas is the opening musical number. The hardcore rap behind the image of the petite girl performing the dance. Fabe also says that “the dance itself contains its own clash of opposites because it is choreographed as a combonation of an aerobic workout session and a fight.” As for content Lee has characters have conflicts within themselves like, for example, Mookie had to banish is friend from the Pizzeria because the friend enraged the owner, Sal, when he said that he should put up pictures of African Americans on his wall rather than just Italian Americans. When the cop strangles the African American at the beginning is also a form of dialectical conflict on the level of form. “Just as striking are the constant clashes and contradictions he sets up on the level of content--clashes between characters…”
Lee was seeking to achieve this higher level of consciousness, to “bring the viewer to a heightened understanding of the racial tensions that explode into violence..”
Douglas Mellon
Section 802
Chris Schasse
TA: Dayna
Spike Lee creates dialectic conflict through the skewed camera angles he uses in Do The Right Thing. In dialogue between Da Mayor (Ossie Davis) and Mother Sister (Ruby Dee), Lee uses an extreme high angle on Da Mayor to convey his smallness and an extreme low angle on Mother Sister as a “visual expression of Mother Sister’s disdain for the old drunk.” (Fabe, 199) Ernest Dickerson also used a wide-angle 10mm lens to shoot Radio Raheems’s face, distorting it to create a sense of menace.
Spike Lee also creates dialectic conflict through the use of content. According to Marilyn Fabe, “Spike Lee’s choice of Radio Raheem as the victim whose death sets off violence against Sal’s Pizzeria is another instance of dialectical logic” (Fabe 204). Radio Raheem was a menacing character, a bully, not simply an innocent target. By using somewhat of an antagonist whose unfair death sparks a riot, Lee introduces almost a contradiction, encouraging the viewer to respond.
Lee also creates dialectic conflict through Mookie and Sal’s relationship. Mookie is somewhat of a keeper of peace in Sal’s pizzeria, but is the one that starts the riot by throwing a garbage can through Sal’s pizzeria. Sal, in turn before that fact, does not treat Mookie well and pays him low wages. According to Fabe, “Mookie’s act of violence against Sal seems simultaneously justified and a betrayal of Sal.”
According to Fabe, Lee uses dialectic conflict to engage the viewer, making them question if what Mookie did was “the right thing,” or whether it was unjustified. By creating contradictions, he made the situations seem more real and less clear cut.
The first example of dialectical conflict on the level of form, is when Rosie Perez's character Tina (Mookie's boyfriend) is seen dancing to Public Enemy's "Fight The Power." The dialectical conflict in form is the choreography of her dance. For instance as Fabe explains, "Yet the dance itself contains its own clash of opposites because it is choreographed as a combination of an aerobic workout session and a fight." (195) Fabe goes on to explain how at certain times Perez seems angry and is fighting, while at other times she looks sexy and erotic. This is a perfect example because the form of the dance is a combination of love and hate which is purposely confusing to the viewer. This leads me to my first example of dialectical conflict on the level of content, as Fabe points out, "The LOVE and HATE featured so prominently on Radio Raheem's brass knuckles later in the film are symbolically prefigured by Perez's erotic yet angry expressions and dance movements." In this example we are seeing the content of two symbols that we must put together in our own minds, based on our own conscious level of thinking.
My second example of dialectical conflict on the level of content would be the the clash of opposites between Mookie and Sal throughout the film. Throughout the film, Mookie acts as a friend to Sal and as Fabe explains, "...he functions as a go-between for Sal, smoothing over moments of racial tension that daily flare up between Sal and his customers." (200) Mookie often seems like a negotiator for Sal, and not an instigator of violence which is the role he takes on at the end of the movie. This can be seen as an example of how Lee wants the viewer to think on a higher level when it comes to the subject of race. The second example of dialectical conflict on the level of form can be seen throughout the film when Lee uses, "expressive spatial distortions through the use of extreme camera angles abound in Do The Right Thing." (198) For instance Ernest Dickerson shot Radio Raheem's face in a large close-up with an extreme wide-angle lens in order to create a sense of menace.
Lee used dialectical montage in this film to get a deeper message to his viewers as Fabe explains, "Intended by Lee as a wake-up call to America...the film implies that underneath a thin surface of affability between blacks and whites in America lurks a mutual hatred, resentment and distrust..." (191) Spike Lee made this movie in order to make people open their eyes and see that racial tensions have not gone away since slavery and are very much alive. By using the Eisenstein's dialectical montage, Lee creates a theme of conflicting images and ideas about race that are intended to make the viewer less naive about race and its place in America today.
Connor Murray
Section 802
Stated by Fabe; two ways that Spike Lee form dialectical conflict on the level of form by optical shocks and through the usage of the color filters.
Lee created optical shocks by cutting close-up shots of Rosie Perez’s face and body parts, to describe her dancing scene, where Einstein created these optical shocks by creating contrast between shots in content.
Spike lee’s use of the red color filter to presents the omniscience side of Rosie’s dance, warm red filters to elucidate the shot, and juxtaposing that with blue filters to contrast colors representing different feelings (warm/cold). This is to inform the mise-en scene of the film.
Fabe also states that clashing between the characters and the conflict between individual characters are two ways Spike Lee generates the dialectical content.
I don’t agree with Fabe that Einstein’s and Lee’s usage of clashing had the same intentions. Clashing between characters was Einstein’s dialectical method of using juxtaposed scenes by creating a meaning, or to showing the opposite; was meant to confront the general viewer, where spike lee’s overall goal is using this method to confront the viewer about the racism, which is more than just about the idea of confronting; Lee had a specific initiative of what he wanted to make his viewer realize. That’s why I think this should be taken as the dialectical content, rather than dialectical conflict in the level of form.
Portraying the conflict of the characters; according to Fabe, is to “bring the viewer to a heightened understanding of the racial tensions” which connects within the story line and reasons with the viewer to understand why explosion of violence is caused at the end of his film, creating the dialectical content.
Nazlı Dinçel
In his film Do the Right Thing, Spike Lee uses contrasting techniques and creates many dialectical conflicts to cause the viewer to see more than good and evil but two arguable viewpoints. On the level of form Lee creates a conflict with the opening of his film and the set the movie was shot on. The opening scene the viewer expects violence and drama because this is a movie about racial conflict but instead it is a woman dancing to Fight the Power. This unexpected image “prepares us mentally for a film structured by a clash of opposites.” (Fabe, 96) Secondly the film is shot in the black ghetto Bedford-Stuvyesant which usually is covered in trash and filled with rapists and prostitutes but Lee didn’t show any of that. He consciously made the decision to clean up the neighborhood to create “a mise-en-scene that patently clashes with preconceived ideas, [and to encourage] viewers to confront their stereotypical expectations.” (Fabe, 197) Lee also includes conflicts of content between characters like Mookie and Sal, also between Sal and himself. Throughout the film Mookie plays the role of the mediator and guardian for Sal which sets up a powerful unexpected twist when it is Mookie who instigates the violence against Sal. Sal himself is a racist but is also tolerant. He has conflicting characteristics which makes him a complex figure not obviously good or evil. He is tolerant of Mookie’s attitude at work but becomes extremely angry when he hears “black music”. Lee’s dialectical conflicts throughout the film blur the line between good and evil and present the idea that “there is not a right or wrong position, just two conflicting ways of seeing an issue.” (Fabe, 202) This idea is clearly expressed by the image that is interwoven in the film of Dr. Martin Luther King and Malcom X shaking hands.
One way Lee creates dialectal conflict through form is by joining angry male voices to the image of a petite female dancing. He also creates conflicts in the woman’s dance itself. The camera changes rapidly from long shots to close ups of her body parts; also her costume and background changes often. A dialectal conflict through content is achieved by playing with the viewer’s expectation of who would incite the riot. If a character like Buggin’ Out had started it would not make an impression to the audience and or surprise them. However, Lee has Mookie start the riot, which is a shock and causes the viewer to think, because he usually acted on behalf of the pizzeria instead of against it. Lee also portrays Sal’s character as sympathetic, understanding, and affectionate but at the same time he is racist and exploitative. These conflicts in his character bring out a heighten sense of consciousness about who he is and how he thinks. These qualities also lead to the inner conflict that Mookie has over his appreciation for the pizzeria and his dislike for it, which calls attention to his reasons to instigate the violence. According to Fabe “Lee’s use of dialectal montage seeks to liberate his audience from fixed stereotypical images of the conflict between black and white Americans and to open their minds to a more subtle awareness of racism in American society and the danger racism poses to us all.” Basically, by placing these contrasts in the film he is using shock value to lead the viewer to think differently about an issue than the way it is usually discussed or understood. By seeing something unexpected they will think differently about a scenario and therefore achieve a higher level of consciousness about it.
Joe Steigerwald
802
In Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing”; he uses Serdei Eisenstein’s technique of dialectical montage to great effect. Lee’s reasoning for making his movie like this is to show the two sides of a situation or viewpoints in order to expand the viewer’s understanding “Spike Lee’s method was the same as Eisenstein’s, to confront the viewer with a constant stream of conflicting images and viewpoints.” (Fabe 194). He creates optical shocks by juxtaposing images in the beginning of the film during Tina’s dance sequence, Lee has Tina shadowboxing on screen right and cuts to her doing the same movements on screen left. This alludes to the tensions between members of the same race as well as tensions within themselves. He also uses the mise-en-scene to his own ends by making the neighborhood seem well up kept and free of ruffians and hoodlums. This challenges our usual stereotypes of African American ghettos in films, which are generally gritty and rundown with thugs and pimps around every corner. Lee also uses the dialectical montage in the content of the film as well. Having Mookie start the riot as opposed to Buggin’ Out makes the viewer really take notice of the violence being committed by a character that was a keeper of the peace. In the argument that begins the racial tension of the film, Sal and Buggin’ Out are arguing over putting up a photo of an African American hero. As Fabe puts it, “…there is not a right or wrong position, just two conflicting ways of seeing an issue. Sal as owner of the pizzeria has the right to decorate it as he pleases. African Americans who spend money in Sal’s restaurant have a right to demand the respect of representation.” (202)
Nelson Schneider
Section 802
Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing, critically analyzes the tense relationships between white and black Americans. Using Sergei Eisenstein’s dialectical methods of continuous juxtaposition between contrasting elements to create a higher consciousness in the viewer. In using this technique, Lee’s goal was to dispel racial violence stereotypes by demonstrating the subtle actions of racism and how the negatively affect American society.
In the opening shots of Do the Right Thing, Lee jumps right into the Eisenstein’s dialectical methods. In contrasting forms, the scene opens with the clashing components of Tina performing a lighthearted dance to the harsh, angry sound of a Public Enemy rap song. This automatically dispels any preconceived notions of a violent, action-packed film that the viewer believed they were to see. This allows for Lee to begin telling his story on a clean slate. Another dialectical form was created with the use of color filters. Red filters are use against a the black-and-white background to symbolically represent heat and blood. The next shot would then contain a blue filter. The reds and blues create contrasting warm and cool atmospheres, which further emphasis and foreshadow the film’s focus on conflict.
Not only does Lee create contrast through form, but also through content. Many of the character relationships and events butt heads with one another. The most central relationship is between Sal, the pizzeria owner and Mookie, his employee. Even though Sal never admits it, he depends on Mookie to hold the relationships with his African-American customers for business. Sal has affection and sympathy for Mookie but won’t succumb to say that he needs him. Another example is the conflict between Sal and the Buggin’ Out political activist group. Lee does not state a winner between the two, but rather shows the audience two different ways at seeing an issue. Sal has the right to decorate the pizzeria how he chooses and Buggin’ Out has the right to demand respect from the business they are loyal too. The juxtapositions of opposites reiterate the underlying message in the film to give viewers the heightened consciousness which introduces them to a new reality.
Gina Waggoner
Section 802
According to Fabe’s essay, Lee creates dialectical conflict on the level of content by bringing in two conflicting quotes by Martin Luther King and Malcolm X regarding violence. King’s quote states “Violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and immoral” while Malcolm X’s says “I am not against using violence in self-defense. I call it intelligence,” (p. 192). Fabe explains, “…Spike Lee clearly agrees with Malcolm X that violence in self defense is a justified protest…,” (p. 193). She agrees with this because Mookie avenges Radio Raheem’s death by throwing a garbage can through the window of Sal’s pizza parlor, which ultimately starts a riot. The other level of content is that Sal shows a sort of affection for Mookie, but still makes racial comments about his friends and black people in general. Regarding the level of form, Lee does this by making Radio Raheem appear powerful and intimidating by using extreme camera angles that distort his body to look larger than it is, (p. 199). Also, Lee chooses to film the movie at Bedford-Stuyvesant, which is predominately black and in some areas “ghetto”, but chooses to clean up the litter around it and making it look different (or better), which many people questioned. He did this to give credit to the hard working people that live there. Through Lee’s dialectical montage, he hopes to make people see conflicting viewpoints, but also that each party can sometimes have valid points in the way they think. He also wanted to shock the audience with his conflicting themes.
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