Spike Lee's choice of camera angles throughout Do The Right Thing is different, yet very effective and keeps the film interesting. This scene in particular begins with Pino and Sal shot perpendicular to where they are sitting at a table across from each other, which creates internal framing with the two men and the window frame. The topic that the son and father are discussing is whether or not to sell the pizza shop, which is ironic since the window of the shop is surrounding them in such a way that shows how they are trapped inside of it. This camera angle also is back lit, which makes Pino and Sal appear dark from where we are viewing them. This is significant in the way that their darkish silhouettes are discussing a darkish topic. Pino also expresses that he is sick of the neighborhood they are located in, and that he is done being around black people all the time which is refers as "animals." This is ironic since the camera angle portrays Pino as dark, making him look like one of these so-called "animals." The camera angle does not change throughout the entire scene. Even when Pino and Sal step outside, the camera remains inside the pizza shop. This signifies Sals line, "The pizza shop is here to stay," since the camera stays in the same spot. Overall, the camera angle in this scene shows how Sal is set on his pizza shop staying where it has always been, yet may foreshadow the ending and how this idea of the pizzeria not moving may not last forever.
Sal and Pino’s conversation is clearly riddled with entrapment imagery, with images of windows, divisions, bars, and stripes. The glass window divides the pizza shop from the outside neighborhood, functioning as a literal and figurative divide between the Italian-Americans and African-Americans, and even the Koreans. Additionally, the bar in the window divides Sal, to indicate his ambivalence about saying versus leaving. Sal’s ambivalence comes down to his desire to preserve the hard work he has put into the restaurant, and his suspicion that it would be much easier to leave. Furthermore, Sal exhibits ambivalence about his sentiments towards the African-Americans that he serves, because he seeks to preserve his Italian culture with his “wall of fame” and choice of music, but also he tries to help and support his African-American neighbors. When Smiley comes to pedal the photo of MLK and Malcolm X, the two approaches of Sal and Pino seem to represent two different attitudes that white-Americans take towards African-American civil rights. Initially, Pino whacks on the glass and forcefully tries to get rid of Smiley, just as many racist whites attempted to forcefully quell civil rights movements. On the other hand, Sal stays inside and waits only until the event escalades then offers money to Smiley, thus representing the whites who passively denied the struggle of the African-Americans, or offered a paternalistic philanthropic attitude towards the civil rights movements. Due to the strong reactions of both Smiley and the neighboring African-Americans, Lee suggests that neither of these approaches actually address or solve the civil rights problems at hand.
Director Spike Lee uses several techniques to portray a father and son entrapped in a racially-divided world, a world in which conflict is escalating and reconciliation seems impossible. As Pino attempts to convince his father Sal to sell his pizzeria and build a new one in their "own neighborhood," the camera zooms in on the action. The actual point on which the camera focuses, though, is the striped awning of the Korean market behind the window. This, along with the bars seen outside the window and the window itself, represents the entrapment of a life in which there are such clear divisions between ethnicities. The window itself is a metaphor for the life Pino and his father live: they feel separate from African Americans and Koreans, but see them everywhere, as they live in close proximity. The viewer also sees a "One Way" street sign, signifying Pino sees only one way out of his problem: to isolate his own race and mistreat others. Sal's head, though, is directly aligned with the middle of a bar outside the window. Lee uses this shot to represent Sal's existence in two worlds and his perspicacity with regard to racism. Sal soon acts as a mediator when Smiley, who represents the suppression of the black voice, comes to the window, while his son sees only one side of the situation and yells at the stutterer.
Lee has also placed a white vase with red flowers on the table at which this conversation takes place. There is no other red in this scene, and these flowers are presumably sold at the Korean market. So, while the entrapment may make prospects for racial unity seem grim, perhaps Lee offers us a beacon of hope with these Korean flowers in an Italian pizzeria.
The way that the camera is positioned in this scene adds a lot of meaning to their conversation. As the camera slowly zooms in on Sal and Pino, it causes us as the viewer to focus more on the conversation and what is going on in the store across the street. This foreshadows the ending of the film considering that the Koreans store is going to be the only one out of the two to survive in this neighborhood. It's interesting when Smiley comes to the window that the camera remains inside Sal's. Even when both Sal and Pino go outside to talk to him, the camera continues filming from the same position through the window. Having the camera shot remain inside suggests that everyone on this street is trapped and that the fights on the street never have a purpose which is why we don't have to follow the argument outside.
Lee uses Sal and Pino’s conversation to foreshadow the destructive nature of racism. Pino tells his father that they should close the pizzeria, and do business back in their own side of town, which is presumably white. Yet Lee uses visual motifs and muic to convey that as hard as Pino tries, he cannot segregate himself completely. Pino is dressed in all white, yet Lee adds a yellow tint to the scene, and overlays a bluesy horn instrumental to suggest that he cannot escape the influence of other cultures. Pino bangs on the glass when Smiley walks up, illuminating the boundaries between them. Yet the glass is a surface boundary; Pino can still hear and see Smiley. As much as Pino wants to ignore Smiley, he cannot and must go outside and confront him. Just as skin color is a superficial division between people, Lee uses the glass to undermine Pino’s racism. Ultimately, racism is unsustainable, because of the blending of cultures, and we see Pino must intermingle with Smiley in order to make him leave.
The position of the camera mimics the sense of entrapment that Sal and Pino are discussing. Pino feels like he is surrounded by the blacks in the community, and Sal feels trapped with the decision hanging over his head of whether he should stay with his business that he worked so hard for, or whether it would be easier to start over in a community where they would be more accepted. The position of the camera mimics this entrapment because the glass window literally separates the two of them from the community, along with the bars lining the windows. Additionally, the stripped awning of the Korean market is in the shot for the whole scene foreshadowing how they are going to be the main market of the community after Sal's gets destroyed.
Sal is also shot halfway between the bar on the window, showing his ambivalence in his feelings towards the African-Americans in the community. There is a juxtaposition of the aggressive way that Pino deals with smiley, by banging on the door and yelling, and the passive way that Sal deals with him by offering him a couple of dollars. This connects to the name of the film, "Do the Right Thing", because it brings to question, what is the right thing to do in Sal's and Pino's situation?
As Pino and Sal sit at the window and assess their precarious place in the neighborhood, Spike Lee uses the glass of the window and the stripped awning of the Korean market to emphasize how trapped the family really is. For Pino this entrapment is more literal. He has no interest in the family business, and wants to leave the restaurant more than anything else. Sal is far more conflicted. He realizes, at least to some extent, that his day of reckoning is approaching, and eventually he's going to have to leave, yet he loves his restaurant. Likewise, as the camera gets closer and closer to the table, Sal is constantly shot with a bar directly behind his head. This bar serves to divide Sal, metaphorically showing how he is part of two worlds. On one hand, Sal is a privileged white business owner who has no place in this poor, black neighborhood, but on the other hand, Sal says he is proud of the fact that he is helped raise a generation of people on his food. Part of Sal loves the neighborhood, despite his aloof attitude toward blacks. When the stutterer shows up and causes Pino to explode with rage, Sal offers the stutterer some money, trying once again to reconcile his world with the world of the black community he works in. The stutterer, however, refuses his money foreshadowing the fact that soon Sal will not be able to reconcile the two worlds at all.
When the scene starts, the camera is far away from Pino and Sal. As the scene progresses, however, it zooms in closer to the them suggesting this is a very important conversation. Throughout the scene, there are symbols of entrapment including the market across the street. For the most part, Sal appears to be the most trapped as he remains on the border of the window. This is symbolic of his wanting to stay and understanding that he must go. Pino is clearly on the side of leaving the neighborhood but Sal remains balanced between each side. Between them is a red flower. Red appears in many shots throughout the movie yet it is unclear what it means here. When Smiley arrives he is wearing a matching red shirt and places the picture of MLK and Malcolm X right where the flower sits. I believe this flower then foreshadows the fire that will take place as Smiley will be the one to start it and place that same picture on the wall. The flowers placement then suggests that Pino and Sal are equally responsible for the fate of Sal's Pizzeria.
The camera makes meaning of this scene because it emphasizes the dynamic of the father son relationship between Pino and Sal. It also shows the up and coming of the Koreans store and Sal's. Sal knows that he should be ending his business soon, deep down, but during this scene he is telling Pino that they shouldnt. The main focus of this camera work is the centered Korean market, which is showing how their store is starting to over power Sal's. Also, Sal and Pino are sitting seperated across from each other, but glass and lines are entrapping them. This shows how they feel within the community. It also shows how Sal, but the way he is sitting in between the bar, and the window, that his feelings are on the fence about the community. He does not really have much of an opinion compared to Pino. Even when Smiley comes over to the window, Pino freaks out and gets very angry and yells, when Sal is just sitting there not doing anything. Then, he tries to comfort him with his money.
In this scene, the camera makes meaning in many ways. One way is by placing Pino and Sal across from each other, which shows their contrasting views and adheres to the confrontational tone of this conversation. Second, Sal's placement directly in front of the pole in the window represents his divide and uncertainty on whether or not to agree with his son and sell the restaurant. Third, the color palate of the scene has shades of red, or even red objects like the flower, which foreshadow the violence that will take place at the end of the film.
Lee carefully manipulates the props in this scene to convey a feeling of entrapment to the audience. Sal and Pino sit behind a glass window, framed by a striped awning and cross-hatch railing; they are symbolically barred in by their surroundings. The entrapment imagery cooperates with the dialogue in this scene, when Pino says they must leave the neighborhood, Sal replies that he is proud of his restaurant, which he later explains he himself built. Sal has literally constructed many of the barriers that are symbolically trapping him and Pino in this scene. Sal understands the racial tension and dangers of continuing his business but is incapable of relinquishing his hard work. Throughout the scene, this is symbolized by the pole that divides Sal's body into too, and separates half of him from Pino in the two-shot the scene is composed of, preventing him from agreeing with his son.
Sal and Pino are living in two opposite worlds. Sal wants to coexist with different races, and continue his pizza shop in the neighborhood. His son, Pino, has a very different view and is a racist who can't stand waiting on and working with African Americans. Sal and his son argue about the future of the shop, and can't reach a choice on what to do about their situation. Each argues their side, and visually the viewer can see the awning across the street that represents the entrapment both white, Italian men feel in a black neighborhood. Then, when Sal leans forward and goes outside, he is literally between the panes of glass. He is between two decisions and two ethnicities, and can't make a choice. When Smiley shows up trying to sell a photograph (stupid Pino is cruel to him), it is a picture of MLK and Malcom X. This is representative of two philosophies of how to reach equality, and Sal and Pino are between the two. Sal advocates for MLK's nonviolence, while Pino is more vocal about wanting to use violence to achieve his ends. The two men have totally different perspectives, and the shot illustrates this.
The camera makes meaning of this scene by giving the viewer a view from Sal's pizzeria only and not showing shots of this scene from outside of the pizzeria. By keeping the camera inside where the conversation is taking place, the audience is able to better understand how truly isolated Sal and his sons are from the rest of the neighborhood. When Smiley comes up to them through the glass, it furthers the idea of isolation and entrapment that we have seen in previous films. There is also the glass motif and bar motif that we were first introduced to in The Graduate, but is being used here as well to emphasize the entrapment the men feel. The glass barrier between Sal and Pino and Smiley also shows the different approaches both men have towards their differences to the other people that live in the neighborhood. Sal waves at Smiley, and Pino hits the glass and tell Smiley to go away. These reactions show how each of them feel about being isolated and trapped because of their racial differences.
In this scene the camera starts with filming Sal and his son from a zoomed out perspective, as the conversation becomes more indepths the camera goes closer to the characters until there no room left in the shot for much else. This demonstrates the confinement that both characters feel. Sal knows that he is not always loved in the neighborhood, but also feels he can not give up his shop. Pion, on the other hand, feels trapped by the location of the shop, but is unable to do anything about his situation because his father won't let him. The fence in the background reinforces this idea of entrapment. The poll going down the glass window separates Pion from his father, furthering the conflict between them. When Smiley comes up to the window he bangs on the glass and hold the picture of Malcolm X and MLK up to the glass, but is never able to some inside with that picture. For now the glass window separates Pion and Sal from what is going on outside the store, but at the end of the film, when Smiley puts the picture in the store it shows how the outside forces eventually got into the store and destroyed it.
Spike Lee slowly zooms into the conversation of Sal and Pino as it continues. This is one of the several aspects to this shit that represent their confinement within this society. It seems like they are almost trapped in the shot, there is also a fence in the background, as well as the glass window. This highlights their isolation from this neighborhood due to racism, which is furthered when smiley comes to try and sell the pictures of Malcolm X and MLK. Smiley selling the cards illustrates how racism is what is entrapping them. Lee also creates meaning in this scene where Pino and Sal both have different views on racism, which is seen by the pole that is between them.
Spike Lee's camera, while it does not move much, makes this meaningful dialogue more symbolic. The camera sets up a wide shot of Pino and Sal discussing their family's future. As the camera zooms in, it seems as if it will halt to perfectly frame Sal and Pino. However, the camera continues past this point and focuses on the Chinese conviencence store across the straight. This parallels their conversation of their future in the neighborhood. Sal understands their alienation in the neighborhood but refuses to accept that they must leave. At the same time Pino is surrounded by the color red accenting his anger that he constantly feels towards his surroundings. He cannot let go of his prejudice and this shows when Smiley tries to sell them his picture of MLK and Malcolm X. Spike Lee adds to his well written dialogue with provacative colors and sublte shots that accent the hysteria he attempts to capture throughout his film.
Spike Lee's choice of camera angles throughout Do The Right Thing is different, yet very effective and keeps the film interesting. This scene in particular begins with Pino and Sal shot perpendicular to where they are sitting at a table across from each other, which creates internal framing with the two men and the window frame. The topic that the son and father are discussing is whether or not to sell the pizza shop, which is ironic since the window of the shop is surrounding them in such a way that shows how they are trapped inside of it. This camera angle also is back lit, which makes Pino and Sal appear dark from where we are viewing them. This is significant in the way that their darkish silhouettes are discussing a darkish topic. Pino also expresses that he is sick of the neighborhood they are located in, and that he is done being around black people all the time which is refers as "animals." This is ironic since the camera angle portrays Pino as dark, making him look like one of these so-called "animals."
ReplyDeleteThe camera angle does not change throughout the entire scene. Even when Pino and Sal step outside, the camera remains inside the pizza shop. This signifies Sals line, "The pizza shop is here to stay," since the camera stays in the same spot. Overall, the camera angle in this scene shows how Sal is set on his pizza shop staying where it has always been, yet may foreshadow the ending and how this idea of the pizzeria not moving may not last forever.
Sal and Pino’s conversation is clearly riddled with entrapment imagery, with images of windows, divisions, bars, and stripes. The glass window divides the pizza shop from the outside neighborhood, functioning as a literal and figurative divide between the Italian-Americans and African-Americans, and even the Koreans. Additionally, the bar in the window divides Sal, to indicate his ambivalence about saying versus leaving. Sal’s ambivalence comes down to his desire to preserve the hard work he has put into the restaurant, and his suspicion that it would be much easier to leave. Furthermore, Sal exhibits ambivalence about his sentiments towards the African-Americans that he serves, because he seeks to preserve his Italian culture with his “wall of fame” and choice of music, but also he tries to help and support his African-American neighbors.
ReplyDeleteWhen Smiley comes to pedal the photo of MLK and Malcolm X, the two approaches of Sal and Pino seem to represent two different attitudes that white-Americans take towards African-American civil rights. Initially, Pino whacks on the glass and forcefully tries to get rid of Smiley, just as many racist whites attempted to forcefully quell civil rights movements. On the other hand, Sal stays inside and waits only until the event escalades then offers money to Smiley, thus representing the whites who passively denied the struggle of the African-Americans, or offered a paternalistic philanthropic attitude towards the civil rights movements. Due to the strong reactions of both Smiley and the neighboring African-Americans, Lee suggests that neither of these approaches actually address or solve the civil rights problems at hand.
Director Spike Lee uses several techniques to portray a father and son entrapped in a racially-divided world, a world in which conflict is escalating and reconciliation seems impossible. As Pino attempts to convince his father Sal to sell his pizzeria and build a new one in their "own neighborhood," the camera zooms in on the action. The actual point on which the camera focuses, though, is the striped awning of the Korean market behind the window. This, along with the bars seen outside the window and the window itself, represents the entrapment of a life in which there are such clear divisions between ethnicities. The window itself is a metaphor for the life Pino and his father live: they feel separate from African Americans and Koreans, but see them everywhere, as they live in close proximity. The viewer also sees a "One Way" street sign, signifying Pino sees only one way out of his problem: to isolate his own race and mistreat others. Sal's head, though, is directly aligned with the middle of a bar outside the window. Lee uses this shot to represent Sal's existence in two worlds and his perspicacity with regard to racism. Sal soon acts as a mediator when Smiley, who represents the suppression of the black voice, comes to the window, while his son sees only one side of the situation and yells at the stutterer.
ReplyDeleteLee has also placed a white vase with red flowers on the table at which this conversation takes place. There is no other red in this scene, and these flowers are presumably sold at the Korean market. So, while the entrapment may make prospects for racial unity seem grim, perhaps Lee offers us a beacon of hope with these Korean flowers in an Italian pizzeria.
The way that the camera is positioned in this scene adds a lot of meaning to their conversation. As the camera slowly zooms in on Sal and Pino, it causes us as the viewer to focus more on the conversation and what is going on in the store across the street. This foreshadows the ending of the film considering that the Koreans store is going to be the only one out of the two to survive in this neighborhood. It's interesting when Smiley comes to the window that the camera remains inside Sal's. Even when both Sal and Pino go outside to talk to him, the camera continues filming from the same position through the window. Having the camera shot remain inside suggests that everyone on this street is trapped and that the fights on the street never have a purpose which is why we don't have to follow the argument outside.
ReplyDeleteLee uses Sal and Pino’s conversation to foreshadow the destructive nature of racism. Pino tells his father that they should close the pizzeria, and do business back in their own side of town, which is presumably white. Yet Lee uses visual motifs and muic to convey that as hard as Pino tries, he cannot segregate himself completely. Pino is dressed in all white, yet Lee adds a yellow tint to the scene, and overlays a bluesy horn instrumental to suggest that he cannot escape the influence of other cultures. Pino bangs on the glass when Smiley walks up, illuminating the boundaries between them. Yet the glass is a surface boundary; Pino can still hear and see Smiley. As much as Pino wants to ignore Smiley, he cannot and must go outside and confront him. Just as skin color is a superficial division between people, Lee uses the glass to undermine Pino’s racism. Ultimately, racism is unsustainable, because of the blending of cultures, and we see Pino must intermingle with Smiley in order to make him leave.
ReplyDeleteThe position of the camera mimics the sense of entrapment that Sal and Pino are discussing. Pino feels like he is surrounded by the blacks in the community, and Sal feels trapped with the decision hanging over his head of whether he should stay with his business that he worked so hard for, or whether it would be easier to start over in a community where they would be more accepted. The position of the camera mimics this entrapment because the glass window literally separates the two of them from the community, along with the bars lining the windows. Additionally, the stripped awning of the Korean market is in the shot for the whole scene foreshadowing how they are going to be the main market of the community after Sal's gets destroyed.
ReplyDeleteSal is also shot halfway between the bar on the window, showing his ambivalence in his feelings towards the African-Americans in the community. There is a juxtaposition of the aggressive way that Pino deals with smiley, by banging on the door and yelling, and the passive way that Sal deals with him by offering him a couple of dollars. This connects to the name of the film, "Do the Right Thing", because it brings to question, what is the right thing to do in Sal's and Pino's situation?
As Pino and Sal sit at the window and assess their precarious place in the neighborhood, Spike Lee uses the glass of the window and the stripped awning of the Korean market to emphasize how trapped the family really is. For Pino this entrapment is more literal. He has no interest in the family business, and wants to leave the restaurant more than anything else. Sal is far more conflicted. He realizes, at least to some extent, that his day of reckoning is approaching, and eventually he's going to have to leave, yet he loves his restaurant. Likewise, as the camera gets closer and closer to the table, Sal is constantly shot with a bar directly behind his head. This bar serves to divide Sal, metaphorically showing how he is part of two worlds. On one hand, Sal is a privileged white business owner who has no place in this poor, black neighborhood, but on the other hand, Sal says he is proud of the fact that he is helped raise a generation of people on his food. Part of Sal loves the neighborhood, despite his aloof attitude toward blacks. When the stutterer shows up and causes Pino to explode with rage, Sal offers the stutterer some money, trying once again to reconcile his world with the world of the black community he works in. The stutterer, however, refuses his money foreshadowing the fact that soon Sal will not be able to reconcile the two worlds at all.
ReplyDeleteWhen the scene starts, the camera is far away from Pino and Sal. As the scene progresses, however, it zooms in closer to the them suggesting this is a very important conversation. Throughout the scene, there are symbols of entrapment including the market across the street. For the most part, Sal appears to be the most trapped as he remains on the border of the window. This is symbolic of his wanting to stay and understanding that he must go. Pino is clearly on the side of leaving the neighborhood but Sal remains balanced between each side. Between them is a red flower. Red appears in many shots throughout the movie yet it is unclear what it means here. When Smiley arrives he is wearing a matching red shirt and places the picture of MLK and Malcolm X right where the flower sits. I believe this flower then foreshadows the fire that will take place as Smiley will be the one to start it and place that same picture on the wall. The flowers placement then suggests that Pino and Sal are equally responsible for the fate of Sal's Pizzeria.
ReplyDeleteThe camera makes meaning of this scene because it emphasizes the dynamic of the father son relationship between Pino and Sal. It also shows the up and coming of the Koreans store and Sal's. Sal knows that he should be ending his business soon, deep down, but during this scene he is telling Pino that they shouldnt.
ReplyDeleteThe main focus of this camera work is the centered Korean market, which is showing how their store is starting to over power Sal's. Also, Sal and Pino are sitting seperated across from each other, but glass and lines are entrapping them. This shows how they feel within the community.
It also shows how Sal, but the way he is sitting in between the bar, and the window, that his feelings are on the fence about the community. He does not really have much of an opinion compared to Pino. Even when Smiley comes over to the window, Pino freaks out and gets very angry and yells, when Sal is just sitting there not doing anything. Then, he tries to comfort him with his money.
In this scene, the camera makes meaning in many ways. One way is by placing Pino and Sal across from each other, which shows their contrasting views and adheres to the confrontational tone of this conversation. Second, Sal's placement directly in front of the pole in the window represents his divide and uncertainty on whether or not to agree with his son and sell the restaurant. Third, the color palate of the scene has shades of red, or even red objects like the flower, which foreshadow the violence that will take place at the end of the film.
ReplyDeleteLee carefully manipulates the props in this scene to convey a feeling of entrapment to the audience. Sal and Pino sit behind a glass window, framed by a striped awning and cross-hatch railing; they are symbolically barred in by their surroundings. The entrapment imagery cooperates with the dialogue in this scene, when Pino says they must leave the neighborhood, Sal replies that he is proud of his restaurant, which he later explains he himself built. Sal has literally constructed many of the barriers that are symbolically trapping him and Pino in this scene. Sal understands the racial tension and dangers of continuing his business but is incapable of relinquishing his hard work. Throughout the scene, this is symbolized by the pole that divides Sal's body into too, and separates half of him from Pino in the two-shot the scene is composed of, preventing him from agreeing with his son.
ReplyDeleteSal and Pino are living in two opposite worlds. Sal wants to coexist with different races, and continue his pizza shop in the neighborhood. His son, Pino, has a very different view and is a racist who can't stand waiting on and working with African Americans. Sal and his son argue about the future of the shop, and can't reach a choice on what to do about their situation. Each argues their side, and visually the viewer can see the awning across the street that represents the entrapment both white, Italian men feel in a black neighborhood. Then, when Sal leans forward and goes outside, he is literally between the panes of glass. He is between two decisions and two ethnicities, and can't make a choice. When Smiley shows up trying to sell a photograph (stupid Pino is cruel to him), it is a picture of MLK and Malcom X. This is representative of two philosophies of how to reach equality, and Sal and Pino are between the two. Sal advocates for MLK's nonviolence, while Pino is more vocal about wanting to use violence to achieve his ends. The two men have totally different perspectives, and the shot illustrates this.
ReplyDeleteThe camera makes meaning of this scene by giving the viewer a view from Sal's pizzeria only and not showing shots of this scene from outside of the pizzeria. By keeping the camera inside where the conversation is taking place, the audience is able to better understand how truly isolated Sal and his sons are from the rest of the neighborhood. When Smiley comes up to them through the glass, it furthers the idea of isolation and entrapment that we have seen in previous films. There is also the glass motif and bar motif that we were first introduced to in The Graduate, but is being used here as well to emphasize the entrapment the men feel. The glass barrier between Sal and Pino and Smiley also shows the different approaches both men have towards their differences to the other people that live in the neighborhood. Sal waves at Smiley, and Pino hits the glass and tell Smiley to go away. These reactions show how each of them feel about being isolated and trapped because of their racial differences.
ReplyDeleteIn this scene the camera starts with filming Sal and his son from a zoomed out perspective, as the conversation becomes more indepths the camera goes closer to the characters until there no room left in the shot for much else. This demonstrates the confinement that both characters feel. Sal knows that he is not always loved in the neighborhood, but also feels he can not give up his shop. Pion, on the other hand, feels trapped by the location of the shop, but is unable to do anything about his situation because his father won't let him. The fence in the background reinforces this idea of entrapment. The poll going down the glass window separates Pion from his father, furthering the conflict between them. When Smiley comes up to the window he bangs on the glass and hold the picture of Malcolm X and MLK up to the glass, but is never able to some inside with that picture. For now the glass window separates Pion and Sal from what is going on outside the store, but at the end of the film, when Smiley puts the picture in the store it shows how the outside forces eventually got into the store and destroyed it.
ReplyDeleteSpike Lee slowly zooms into the conversation of Sal and Pino as it continues. This is one of the several aspects to this shit that represent their confinement within this society. It seems like they are almost trapped in the shot, there is also a fence in the background, as well as the glass window. This highlights their isolation from this neighborhood due to racism, which is furthered when smiley comes to try and sell the pictures of Malcolm X and MLK. Smiley selling the cards illustrates how racism is what is entrapping them. Lee also creates meaning in this scene where Pino and Sal both have different views on racism, which is seen by the pole that is between them.
ReplyDeleteSpike Lee's camera, while it does not move much, makes this meaningful dialogue more symbolic. The camera sets up a wide shot of Pino and Sal discussing their family's future. As the camera zooms in, it seems as if it will halt to perfectly frame Sal and Pino. However, the camera continues past this point and focuses on the Chinese conviencence store across the straight. This parallels their conversation of their future in the neighborhood. Sal understands their alienation in the neighborhood but refuses to accept that they must leave. At the same time Pino is surrounded by the color red accenting his anger that he constantly feels towards his surroundings. He cannot let go of his prejudice and this shows when Smiley tries to sell them his picture of MLK and Malcolm X. Spike Lee adds to his well written dialogue with provacative colors and sublte shots that accent the hysteria he attempts to capture throughout his film.
ReplyDelete