"Do The Right Thing" Movie Response

Q. What similarities / differences do you see between Do The Right Thing and "How Bigger Was Born"?  What are the specific ideas and examples used by each text to make their points?  What conclusions can be made as a result of this comparison / contrast? 

1. In both of these pieces, media is used to connect the community. Wright had said in "How Bigger Was Born?", "First, through some quirk of circumstance, he had become estranged from the religion and the folk culture of his race. Second, he was trying to react to and answer the call of the dominant civilization whose glitter came to him through the newspapers, magazines, radios, movies, and the mere imposing site and sound of daily American Life" (439). Bigger Thomas had left his morals and had been accustomed to living his everyday life as a response to the media. When he read newspapers regarding himself and Mary Dalton's murder his emotions changed, when he watched movies about whites he stereotyped them as having perfect lives. The "glitter" that Wright talked about was his emotions and reactions to the media. In Do The Right Thing   Senor Love Daddy (a.k.a. Mr. Rigler) strongly influences the community. He connects them through describing events that are going on around town, or describing what he sees. Throughout the movie, he is constantly narrorating what is going on in the community, which allows the community to be closer like a family. On one hand the media gives way to make assumptions that may not be true, but on the other hand the media acts as the community mediator, uniting those who follow media by informing community members what is going on within the neighborhood. Therefore the media can act in a positive way, or a negative way depending on who or what the source is.

Q. What are your personal (emotional, critical) responses? What are your feelings, at the movie's end, for Mookie, for Sal, for the police, for the community, for Radio Raheem? Who does--and who does not do--"the right thing"? Whose actions seem meaningful, purposeful, humane? What has been earned, learned, or lost?

There was so much tension between the racial groups, but there was tension internally within each group as well. For example, the blacks had tension with eachother and with people of races such as Asian and Latino. I was surprised about how much violence could occur within 24 hours in one neighborhood, but I think it is because of this internal tension. In order to bring peace the tension would have to go away internally within one particular groups such as the African Americans, before the tension between the groups of the Latinos, Asians and African Americans would go away. At the end of this movie I felt that Sal was a good person. Even though he may have seemed hot headed at times he treated Mooky with respect and cared for him like he was his own son. He never violently hurt anyone, he just verbally abused or offended blacks like Radio Raheem when he asked to turn the volume on his radio down. So Sal was did not cause the violence directly but he had influence it, as after he talked to Radio Raheem about the volume, Radio Raheem threw his radio at the counter of the Pizzeria. This did not help the situation it made the tension worse; Radio Raheem did not do the right thing with his response to Sal. However, Da Mayor seemed as though he tried to do the right thing throughout the movie. He was an alchololic who had messed up his life, and he tried to learn from his mistakes by telling others to do the right thing. Within the 24 hour period, he bought flowers for Mother Sister and saved a boy's life. Through these actions he was trying to be a good person to make up the fact that he had messed up his life with his dependence on alcohol. One of the officers did not do the right thing, as he (the officer) overreacted to Radio Raheem's fight with Sal. Even though it was his duty to break the fight up and restore the peace of the community, he did not need to go to the extent of killing Radio Raheem. Through killing him, the rest of the black community would never respect police officers again, holding a grudge against them. Even though Sal's Pizzeria was lost, something within the community was gained. As Buggin' Out asked others to join a boycott towards Sal's, others in the community would say "No I grew up on Sal's" and positive comments as such. You never know what you got until it is gone and I believe that will happen in this situation. People will realize how great of an impact Sal's was. It brought people together not just to eat, but to communicate as a community should.

Response to "Power"- "The End of The Experiment"

Summary:
When so many more black teachers were hired in Ocean Hill-Brownsville, suspicions began to grow as 19 white teachers and administrators needed to be transfered. These teachers were white and Jewish, being replaced by black teachers. Tension grew as a result. A committee was then formed called the Special Committee on Racial and Religious Prejudice in order to ease the tension. This tension is ironic though. In the past Jews and Blacks used to get along together. This experiment may have helped students in the classroom, but it brought bigger problems between races in the community.

What was the goal of the experimental school district? The teachers’ union was initially supportive of

the district’s goals; how do you explain the escalation of the conflict?
The goal of the experimental school district was to foccus on the educational process that students of different races undergo in order to better it. According to Jordan's opinion, the students benefited as they were able connect to teachers of their own race. However tension began to grow amongst races in the communtiy- blacks and Jews. Blacks began to form an anti-white prejudice as a result of their being a lack of white teachers in the school, and education amonst black students improving. Their predjudice though when compared to the prejudice whites had for blacks was far less violent, yet still exists.

Response to "Power"- "Schools for the Community"

Summary:
New York City Officials allowed a small community in Ocean Hill-Brownsville to control their own scool district as an experiment. Rhody McCoy, a black school district superintendent, became head of the experiment. He was concerned about how we educate young ones in the world today. He believed that we need to focus more on the process rather than the product. Teachers should not get caught up with scores on tests and such, they should be foccussed on how the child learns and what he or she learns. A black girl who attended the school that this experiment was under, Karriema Jordan, described the effect of the changes that were made in the curriculum to focus more on that process to help better educate the black community. Ultimately she believed that with black teachers she was able to learn better because she could identify with them more easily than with white teachers.

What did the new environment offer Karriema Jordan?
The new environment offered a lot to Jordan. With the many new black teachers that were hired within the school Jordan said that she learned more. With white teachers she felt as though she could not relate, and that her teachers didn't understand. However, once more black teachers taught she felt as though she could connect to them more and that they were human just like she was. She was accepted into the school and felt less of an outsider. Therefore her emotional problems at school could be set aside as she learned. She learned about many black people in history which made her feel more important and look at things in a new way. Jordan believed that this small change in curriculum made a huge impact. It made her see the community on an international level as opposed to a small one. This gave her more hope and power which overall  could motivate her to do her best in school.