Summer Movies--#9

We were in 1989 when I talked about Dirty Dancing, and we’re still in 1989 as I tackle the next summer film on my list. Just as Dirty Dancing took us to the world of the Catskills in the 60s, our next film takes us to a world probably outside the one we know—the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bedford Stuyvesant. That film, almost universally lauded by critics, is Do the Right Thing by Spike Lee.

This is a ‘different’ summer film. Different because it’s a serious film about the subject of race.

It’s a hot day in this Brooklyn neighborhood that, years ago, used to be a primarily Italian neighborhood. Today its residents are primarily Black. But the pizza parlor that’s been there for 25 years is still run by its owner and his two sons, who are Italians.

And it’s hot. It’s the hottest day of the summer—just the right time for tempers to flare and people to lose control.

When a couple of neighborhood residents come in and ask why the owner only has famous Italians up on his ‘Wall of Fame’—wondering why, as the neighborhood is Black, the owner doesn’t add some “brothers” to his wall. The owner says he’s proud of his Italian heritage and thinks that’s all they need to know.

The oldest of the owner’s two sons is an out and out racist—has nothing but contempt for the Blacks he’s forced to serve and is constantly bugging his dad to move the joint to the neighborhood they now live in. The younger son isn’t a racist, and, in fact, is friends with Mookie, who delivers pizza for the store.

Take a look at the trailer for the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muc7xqdHudI

Just as Dirty Dancing took you to a place you haven’t been, Do the Right Thing takes you to a place you haven’t been. While the former was a success and a nice summer diversion, the latter is an important film that makes you work to understand its complexity.

This film doesn’t have any easy answers—but it raises lots of questions. And those questions—that were raised over 30 years ago—are still with us today.

Do the Right Thing shows you that a ‘summer film’ doesn’t have to be just a piece of diverting fluff, or all happy and light. A summer film can also be an important film, that makes you think.

Are there issues you see around you in your world—and maybe you live in a part of the world that most of us don’t know, that would be new for us to be exposed to—issues that you could dramatize through people and their relationships to paint a picture of that world?

Remember, though, if you do a film where you want to tackle something as big as racial injustice, you still have to tell a story. You can’t preach to an audience—good drama never does that—instead you draw them into your story and let the ideals come out through the characters and situations you create.

Think about it. Who knows what you might come up with?

Copyright © Diane Lake

30Aug20

Email Diane a question to Diane@DianeLake.com