Spike Lee and Do the Right Thing Analysis

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The auteur theory is a view on filmmaking that consists of three equally important premises: technical competence, interior meaning, and personal signature of the director. Auteur is a French word for author. The auteur theory was developed by Andrew Sarris, a well-known American film critic. Technical competence of the Auteur deals with how the director films the movie in their own style. Personal signature includes recurring themes that are present within the director’s line of work with characteristics of style, which serve as a signature. The third and ultimate premise of the Auteur theory is the interior meaning which is basically the main theme behind the film. Spike, born Sheldon Jackson Lee, is an American film director, producer, writer and actor known for his films that deal with controversial social and political issues. Though Lee has written small films prior, his first feature-length film was his 1986 She’s Gotta Have It and was a landmark independent film for American cinema. She’s Gotta Have It was shot in twelve days with a low budget but grossed in the box office at $7 million. This film helped Lee launch his career and create his own production company known as 40 Acres and A Mule Film works. The name of his production company came from the unfulfilled promise that many politicians made to freed slaves after the Civil War. Do The Right Thing was Spike Lee’s first landmark film. Do The Right Thing is a movie that brings awareness to the racial tensions when people in a Brooklyn neighborhood of different racial and cultural backgrounds coexist, which ends in a tragedy. The film was a great success receiving many of awards and earned two Academy Award nominations for Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporti... ... middle of paper ... ...ot where the camera follows a subject within a frame and motion of the subject or its surroundings is involved. In this movie Lee uses the double dolly shot which includes the camera dolly and the actor mounted on a second dolly so the actor is moving along with the camera. The double dolly shot signature move is one of Lee’s favorites and also plays into his technical competence for the movie. This shot stars Detective Keith Frazier and happens just seconds after a hostage is “allegedly” killed by the bank robbers. In this scene the camera tends to shake and Denzel facial expressions display feelings of sadness and anger. In addition, a small cameo of Sal’s Pizzeria pizza boxes are seen when the head bank robbers makes a deal with the officers to get food for the hostages. Lee has lots of these connections within his movies relating back to Do The Right Thing.

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