Racial Identity In The Movie: Do The Right Thing

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I watched the 1989 film Do the Right Thing produced, written and directed by Spike Lee. As the movie progressed, I identified with the character Tina because she too was a Puerto Rican. I did not realize that my ethnic identity was so salient but this makes sense because it is something you are faced with every day. By this I mean, some social identities can be changeable such as one’s religious preference, but someone's ethnicity cannot. Growing up, I constantly heard Spanish being spoken in my home, I noticed my meals were different than my friends, and cultural aspects such as a tight knit family were very familiar to me. All of these characteristics led to the development of my identity and thus why I can relate to Tina’s character. For …show more content…

Pino then rebuttals that they are different because they are more than just black and that they are not really black. According to Janet E. Holmes, Pino’s white racial identity could be classified as in the contact status, meaning he is unaware of his racism. He embraced the black stereotype as someone who is ghetto, troublesome and on the streets so when Pino sees black people who do not fit this stereotype, he convinces himself that they are different than the ‘regular’ black person. This internalization of a negative stereotype on black people, shows just how ignorant Pino is of his own …show more content…

In the film, Tina (the Latina) plays the love interest of the main character Mookie. Together, they had a child in which he does not care for often which leaves her very angry. However, when Mookie arrives in her home, he immediately tells her to take her clothes off, and after one protest she complies. In media, the stereotype for the Latina is that she is sexy, fierce, and loud - this movie did not portray the Latina any differently. Perhaps it was out of context for this type of movie, but in general I wish there was more representation of Latinas in different roles. Growing up, I have never seen a Latina in the fields of academia, medicine, business or anything except for housekeeping, which can be discouraging to a girl’s self-esteem. The Latina women I have been exposed to were all known for their looks or assets and not their personal talents. For instance, Sofia Vergara often plays the ‘spicy’ Latina and most people acknowledge her for her beauty and not her acting. While this may not be entirely negative, it still only portrays a slim view of what Latinas are and what they do or stand for. While the issue on the surface may be that Latinas are hypersexualized, the deeper implications are that placing a label to define Latinas under one category limits their abilities and fails to acknowledge the variations of all the different Latina

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