Do The Right Thing Scene Analysis

Spike Lee’s film Do The Right Thing is a film that explores race relations within the United States. Some of my favorite shots of the film are part of the scene at Sal’s when Buggin Out returns with Radio Raheem and Smiley, demanding that black people be added to the wall. This scene begins with a medium shot of Buggin Out, Raheem and Smiley as they enter Sal’s. The camera then pulls out into a medium long shot of the group. Once they advance, the camera tilts upwards into a medium shot of Raheem and a medium close-up of Buggin Out. The medium shot remains throughout the beginning of the scene. The shots change as the group and Sal exchange words. The use of the dutch angle is what makes this scene so visually striking for me. The camera is

set an angle that makes the horizon line no longer parallel with the camera’s frame. I think that this angle was used to emphasize/express the tension that exists between the boys and Sal. I think that it translates really well and I find the shot to be visually pleasing and a nice aesthetic choice.

I don’t really understand the second question of the prompt. Does “this image” refer to the film to the shot that I chose?

If it refers to the shot that I chose, I think that the images depicts the rising tension between the three. Prior altercations had escalated into this scene happening and it represents a point where everything explodes. The reviewers would take this scene the wrong way, since they already claimed that the film would incite rioting. If it refers to the film, I think that the reviewers had already created a fixed image of what the film’s audience would be like. It’s obvious that it would be black youths, but their appearance and age does not define them at all.