Do the Right Thing

Do the Right Thing is a Spike Lee movie made in '89 and as such should probably be viewed in that context. Today, movies like Crash have forced viewers into deeper acknowledgement of the difficultly of cross cultural relationships - or relationships in general for that matter. In that way, Do the Right Thing sort of feels like a pre-cursor to Crash except with more attitude. Spike Lee takes a situation that to any of the parties involved feels like a morally black and white scenario, but by taking us into each groups' stories, ambiguity is introduced that probably more accurately reflects life in America. Spike Lee is specifically interested in trying to figure out where to sit in the spectrum between MLK's non-violence and Malcolm X's approval of violence within certain circumstances. His conclusion is uncomfortable and attempts to be grounded in "real life."

Watching the film I was reminded at the importance of narratives - how all sorts of people have different intersecting and colliding narratives or stories that help give understanding to the world and how we relate to it. Do the Right Thing presents us with several different narratives (Italian American, young black, senior citizen black etc.) and the temptation is to quantify those on some sort of moral scale. I think the challenge in viewing this type of film is to accept those narratives at face value and to not say they are outright wrong, but they express some deep understanding of the world and as such should be honored, perhaps even revered if we are to seek to build a more perfect union.

Some Like It Hot

Most of the movies on the list are dramas, not quite the escapism that I often look for in movies. Sure those movies can be challenging, but sometimes I just want to enjoy a good story, told well, and acted with excellence. Some Like It Hot would be one of those movies. Besides having one of the best closing lines ever, it stands the test of time of being a funny comedy even today. Most comedies are so firmly set within a particular time period's sense of humor that to look back on them a generation later usually means the viewer is left scratching his / her head wondering, "that was funny?" I doubt Jackass, while outrageously funny will ever be called a classic comedy. So this begs the question, what makes a comedy classic or universal? My guess is that some of it is in the acting - the entire committment that Jack Lemmon has to selling his character. I suspect that men dressing up as women to avoid death is also somewhat universal. It also strikes me that usually the best comedies are actually set in the midst of intense turmoil. In this movie the guys saw a slew of men killed - if you were pitching that as a film, you would think it was a drama. I wonder if that ability to laugh in the midst of circumstances that would otherwise be wretched is where comedy can get it's real power.