Communication in a Global Village by Barnlund

Communication in a Global Village by Barnlund

In Barnlund's essay "Communication in a Global Village" he says, "Tomorrow we can expect to spend most of our lives in the company of neighbors who will speak in a different tongue, seek different values, move at a different pace, and interact according to a different script (61). In Spike Lee's "Do the Right Thing" he gives the viewer a glimpse of a community in which this is already taking place. He shows the struggle of people from different cultures trying to live side by side and the way they coexist in a shared environment. Each group has it's own way of dealing with the struggle and due to the lack of understanding and communication there arises conflict.

In one scene, the camera focuses on Sal and his son Pino talking face to face and in their pizza shop. In the background you see the oriental couple standing outside their mini-mart as they too try and survive in a global village. Pino is telling his father how tired he is of trying to run their business in a black neighborhood as he asks, "Could we sell this and open up a new pizza parlor in our own neighborhood? Barnlund further explores this surcumstance when he says; "It is a feeling of helplessness, even of terror or anger, that accompanies working in an alien society. One feels trapped in an absurd and indecipherable nightmare" (72). I also think this is a great example of what Barnlund refers to as "interpersonal understanding" (68), the desire of people to associate with others that share the same views as themselves and who express themselves in similar ways. I think the significance of this scene is the way it shows people still feeling isolated and alone in an unfamiliar culture even though there are...

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...ie also happened to be the title. "Always do the right thing," Da Mayor tells Mookie at one point. In the movie, I think Da Mayor had a God like presence. He roamed the streets and seemed to see and hear everything that was going on around the neighborhood. Although he was a drunk he was also the one person who seemed able to look past these faultlines, not judge people by stereotypes. He had been part of the global village for many years and had learned to live with these people of other cultures. He knew the conflicts that arise when different cultures mix and he recognized that Mookie was feeling these strains. "Always do the right thing" was his way of telling Mookie to look past the cultural barriers and to view his problems for what they were and not matters of race or culture.

Bibliography:

The enduring vision, Boyer and clark