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Spike Lee, with his film, “Do the Right Thing,” creates a microcosm of America’s melting pot. The characters of the film are used to represent the diverse cultures that compose the American landscape. In large cities comprised of dense population, diverse cultures are forced to co-exist. In many instances, communities separate themselves as much socially and physically as possible, creating intangible barriers that progressively lead toward the growth of racial tension. Eventually, this prejudice disease spreads so far it almost becomes socially acceptable, as Slotkin argues, stating, “Hostility toward ‘hyphenated Americans’ was a normal part of the rhetoric of respectable politicians and newspaper editors” (105). In fact, it is my belief that progressive racial tension, in inner city urban areas, serves as a catalyst for violence, drug abuse, and poverty. “Do the Right Thing” showcases all aspects of modern American prejudice. Sal’s famous pizzeria symbolizes a minority attempting to prosper in an area dominated by the majority, which, in this case, Spike Lee chooses to make the African-American community, portraying the Italians as the minority. In doing so, he creates an extremely unbiased, objective analyzation of this problem. He shows that no generalized group of people, or the individuals that compose them, are completely innocent. Spike emphasizes this in a montage of sequences in which various characters, all different in race and occupation, face the camera and confesses their true feelings towards other minorities. Another clever device Spike Lee utilizes is in his archetypal portrayal of his characters. This archetype is best characterized by Donald Bogle, in his article entitled, “Black Beginnings,” in which he divides the classical depiction of African-Americans into groups. Each of Spike Lee’s characters fall into these groups.
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