The Right Thing To Do

These stills comes from Do the Right Thing, and  Crimes and Misdemeanors. Both of these stills are juxtaposed because they present two different ways to deal with a problem. These shots also show moral ambiguity because it doesn’t tell the audience how to approach a problem. Instead, it gives us our options for dealing with a difficult situation. That way, the audience must use their interpretation in the director's choices to understand our options.

                The first still is a medium shot of Radio Raheem. In this shot, Radio Raheem is directly talking to Mookie, but the camera shifts so that it seems like he is also directly talking to the audience. The rings love and hate are centered in the frame, which makes it the focal point. Radio Raheem explains the difference between love and hate with a story about how they are always fighting against each other. Yet, in the end, love will always conquer. I think what Radio Raheem wants to tell us is that we can learn to either love or hate something. If we love something, we are ultimately doing the right thing. However, if we hate something, then problems will start to develop.

Something else I noticed in this shot is the car on the left. Throughout the movie, we rarely see any cars that are driven by African Americans. The cars that we do see are owned by white people, which is a sign of wealth. Because the car is positioned by the side of love, this may imply that if the African Americans and whites learn to love each other, they can appreciate each other’s differences. Then, everybody can call a car of their own and there will be fewer problems.

                The second shot is a medium close up shot of Judah and Ben. Judah is alone on a stormy night, and he imagines Ben there too. At this point, Judah is contemplating what to do with his relationship with Miriam and Dolores. Ben reminds Judah that people are forgiving and that people should always do what is right. Compared to the still from Do the Right Thing, this shot is much darker in terms of lighting. This choice makes the audience wonder what Judah will decide to do, because it foreshadows the unlikeliness of Judah listening to Ben’s advice. In addition, you can see Ben looking directly at Judah, while Judah is looking out in the distance. This may imply that Ben’s view on forgiveness is clear, while Judah is still unsure about what he believes. Something else I noticed is that Ben is wearing glasses, while Judah isn’t. Again, this may imply that Ben sees the solution to this problem clearly, and Judah doesn’t know if he should listen to Ben’s advice or not.