Intolerance And Violence In Pleasantville And Do The Right Thing

English 102

Violence, good or bad?

Intolerance and violence are interconnected, as they are both acts of passion and hate. There is a fine line between the two and they can often become one. As Mahatma Gandhi once said, “Intolerance is itself a form of violence.” Intolerance has shaped the violence in our society for years and should not be overlooked as it is one of the most controversial and imperative issues that needs to be resolved. Pleasantville, directed by Gary Ross, and Do The Right Thing, directed by Spike Lee, are two admirable films that explore the world of intolerance and violence. In Pleasantville, the colorless town has their world turned upside down as people and things begin to gain color through unknown knowledge that has recently been introduced. As a result, a powerful window-breaking scene is shot where the “noncoloreds” destroy what can be considered the safe house of the “coloreds”. Similarly in Do The Right Thing, the main character, Mookie, breaks the window of the white-Italian pizzeria, owned by Sal, as a result of a brawl that ended in the death of a Radio Raheem, a young black man. With these scenes, both films raise the controversial question of, “What was in fact the right thing to do?” Gary Ross and Spike Lee both examine the world of intolerance through a violent scene, in which Ross portrays it as a clearly unacceptable action through his use nondiagetic sound and camerawork, while Lee leaves it up to the viewer to decide through his uses diagetic sound and camerawork, but is perceived by me as the right thing to do.

The message that Gary Ross is portraying in the intense window-breaking scene is that the “noncoloreds” are clearly in the wrong as they destroy Bill Johnson’s color filled diner....

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...s essential that the breaking point was reached so that this respect can have a new starting point.

Do The Right Thing has impacted greatly my views on racial tension and rivalry. I have always believed the words of Martin Luther King Jr. when he speaks of peaceful protest, and I had not considered Malcolm X’s approach. This film has made me realize that although violence is not the answer, sometimes actions must be done to create respect that was never there to begin with. This film belongs in every curriculum and every home movie collection because it will spark debate and allow you to explore and understand others’ thought processes and ideas. There were always be conflict that needs to be brought to light and even if it is not between races, and Do The Right Thing shows the delicacy and intensity that any conflict may have. This is what makes it a timeless film.