Please comment on the film...particularly on the mise-en-scene...were there any particular scenes that stood out for you? Where the mise-en-scene created meaning...communicated information to the audience...revealed aspects of character etc...
Thursday, 25 November 2010
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Crikey, where do you begin with this film, as annoying as i found it, there was sooo much packed in there, firstly we have the music which at the beginning and later in the movie is a mixture of Jazz and hip hop which is very relevant as part of the tension in the film is between the young and the old, wether its the mayor and the youngsters on the block or between sal and his sons. As for the mise-en-scene there were so may scenes in the film it is hard to remember all of them.
ReplyDeleteOne scene that sticks out is the three older men sat outside, the red wall amplifying the theme of the heat, the deck chairs and table and also the umbrella giving the audience a beach scene without the sea or sand, you get the feeling that these three men wouldnt look out of place sat on a promenade overlooking the sea eyeing up the young ladies strolling down the beach.
Another scene that stands out well a few actually, firstly the outfits that we see sal and his kids wearing, to me very sterotypical of Italian Americans, tracksuits, white vests.
Secondly the scene where sal asks his son to get something from the storeroom and he drags his brother inside with him, we know exactly where we are and how small a space it is thanks to the clever use of the light swinging, we see all the stock props lit up as the light swings, we see the brushes, we are brought into that small space with them.
Very clever film as the heat theme is constant throughout the film, if it isnt heat from the sun, its the heat from all the racial tension, the whites against blacks, the blacks against koreans, old against young, boyfriend against girlfriend, boss against employee, then when night falls and the cool blue lighting for night kicks in the heat is brought back into the limelight with the use of fire in the pizzeria and tension between the police and the whole neighbourhood.
Ive got loads written down but i'll leave some for the class discussion ;-)
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ReplyDeleteI think everything that's said here is all that one can say about the film, though one could say that it could have been shown from the eyes of Ossie Davis (the old guy) and it would still had the same effect. I also like how there was pretty much the two stories of the same situation but from the eyes of the old and the youth, like it took one away from the racism and the pizzeria, even for a short while, to tell the story of an old hopeless romantic. Also I think Radio Raheem should have had a bigger part, he could have been main guy, make a film about a guy preaching about Public Enemy and being a martyr for his cause :O I also had to laugh at the part where the three jamaican (and american) guys sitting on the street, talking about how they could beat Mike Tyson. Of course, nowadays you'd stand a chance, but back in the 80s he was undisputed heavyweight champion of the world and was considered to be invincible. Boxing is also used in the opening titles dance sequence, back in a time where boxing was the most popular sport in the world. If one had to ask if Mooki did the right thing in the end, well, I guess I would say that there isn't exactly one right way per se and it wouldn't have mattered either way. Perhaps he should have taken an extended shower instead...
ReplyDeleteThank you! Thanks for these comments...all excellent. You've all picked on some really interesting parts. Also with reference to Tyson - one piece of writing suggests that Buggin Out (when demanding more black representation on the walls of the pizzeria - is 'visually contradicted by a huge billboard depicting an ominous, scowling Mike Tyson looming in the backgroud behind him...this is a sense of ambivalence and contradiction...clear that Buggin Out's understanding of what constitutes a positive image is rudimentary and ironic...'
ReplyDeleteYes definitely the heat is extremely overt throughout the narrative - so many visual references linking the rising temperature to the rising racial tensions.
The contrast between the old and the young was definitely intriguing and it was interesting to see how they dealt with the issues that were arising and how they interacted with everyone else.
With regard to the boxing element...this relates to some early media racism and censorship - linked to a boxing match in 1910 where the World Heavyweight boxing champ Jack Johnson who was black defeated the 'great white hope' - a racist Jim Jefferies... the 'white dominated film industry hoped to make enormous profits from this...however after the defeat...all Jack Johnson boxing films and eventually all boxing films were banned - on the thin pretext that their exhibition would incite violence...(taken from the BFI book - 'Do the Right Thing'
There's not a great deal more i can add to this really the guys have pretty much covered it.
ReplyDeleteAlthough, i did feel that the fight was somewhat inevitable. Considering that there actually was a picture of a black person on the wall of the pizzeria, it suggested to me that it was probably just a scapegoat for their underlying hatred towards eachother. I feel that it was probably more of an excuse to have a fight with eachother more than being the actual issue that they were concerned with.
The amount of reds in the film supports this hatred as it's so dominant during the daytime that perhaps it is really just revealing everyone's emotions towards eachother, and when that red disappears in the nightime that's when everyone's anger is emitted.