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What role do films play in perpetuating stereotypes in Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing?

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Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing explores racial stereotypes by depicting characters whose behaviors reflect societal prejudices. While some critics argue this portrayal perpetuates stereotypes, Lee aims to reveal and challenge these biases. The film, set in a racially tense Brooklyn neighborhood, uses characters' direct racist rants to highlight ongoing societal issues. Lee's work, rather than reinforcing stereotypes, seeks to expose and question them, making the film relevant to contemporary discussions on race.

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In considering this question, we need to distinguish between "perpetuating" a stereotype in the sense, on the one hand, of causing or encouraging people to continue believing in it, and on the other hand, of showing a stereotype in order to debunk it, to reveal how false and pernicious it is.

Spike Lee's detractors might assert that he at least inadvertently does the former, in Do the Right Thing and perhaps other films. Much of the behavior of some of his characters, both white and black, seems to conform to negative patterns that people through the centuries have continued to believe in as widespread and typical of all or most members of a group. But whether or not these behaviors are in fact real or negative is usually a matter of perception. A filmgoer who comes into the cinema with preconceived ideas or long-standing prejudices is likely to view...

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the action of a film such asDo the Right Thing quite differently from someone who has a greater understanding of the factors that have led to the stereotyping that has been so tragically common in our society.

Lee realistically presents racial conflicts as they unfortunately have been and continue to be. In Do the Right Thing, Sal's Pizzeria is a microcosm of the dysfunctional dynamic of US society, in which people allow themselves to magnify the differences they see in others, rather than accepting them and trying to perceive others in a positive light. Lee does not "perpetuate" stereotypes, but rather, he examines them. Like any artist who is frank and open with his subject matter, Lee throughout his career has run the risk of being criticized by those who confuse honesty with negativity.

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In Do the Right Thing, how are stereotypes relevant to contemporary society?

Do the Right Thing is considered by many to be Lee's masterpiece within a body of work that has spanned thirty-three years. The film centers on a pizza delivery man named Mookie, played by Lee, who works for Sal's Pizza—a local institution in the neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant Brooklyn. Sal and his sons, one of whom (John Tuturro) is virulently racist against black people, own the restaurant and employ Mookie, who is pulled between his loyalty toward a black community that feels exploited by non-black business owners and his need for a job. This internal conflict is exacerbated by complaints from his on-and-off-again girlfriend (Rosie Perez) that he fails to provide properly for their son.

Lee made the film during a period of heightened racial and class tensions in the city. Well-known news stories of the period often focused on instances of police brutality and vigilantism enforced against black citizens. In a key scene toward the end of the film, black and Latino residents of the Bed-Stuy neighborhood recite the names of black people who were recently killed, including the elderly Eleanor Bumpers, due to racist instances of fatal bias.

In another key scene, which more directly addresses your question, Lee has various characters in his film speak to the camera, each giving a racist rant against a group of people whom they hold in contempt. For example, Turturro's character rants about everything he perceives to be wrong with black people, and a local Korean grocer spews contempt for Jewish people, particularly Mayor Ed Koch. Unfortunately, many of the stereotypes that are expressed in the film persist to date. This is one of the reasons why Lee's film remains relevant—the tensions that are expressed between the characters, each of whom represents a different community, are still palpable.

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