The differences between “Crash” and “Do the Right Thing”

The movies “Crash” and “Do the right thing” show the complexities of racism in our society. The differences in these movies is very distinct, yet essentially tell the same story. The Movie Crash follows several characters over the course of several days througout the city of Los Angeles. The movie’s setting has a historic backround that shows, that the melting of america has not quite made its dinner. The several races represented in this movie include, korean, black, white, hispanic, etc. This is very similar to the races represented in the film “Do the Right Thing.” However ” Do the Right Thing” only follows the events of one day rather than several. What makes these films so similar is that they aritistically show the problems with racism in our society. The movie Crash uses common day themes that even the less interested mind can see, for , when the cop shoots the hitchhiker, it shows that the good samaritan cop thought Black man had a gun, yet he simply showed the saint of travel, showing how the two men were similar. These simple symbols were very powerful, yet clearly illustrated through dialouge and settings. However in the movie “Do the right thing” Spike Lee used several subtle symbols to convey his movie’s message. For example, he used camera angles, volume of sound, even the temperature to show the multitude of levels that is involved with racism. In this way, “Do the right thing” is very different from “Crash” because it tells a story without strictly outlinig it for the audience to recognize. In Spike’s Lee’s movie, the audience has to look, watch, and listen to what the movie is trying to articulate. In the movie Crash, the audience simply has to watch the movie to realize what the movie’s message is. The result of this is drastic. Even though the two movies have the same message, “Do the Right Thing” accomplishes something out of Crash’s reach. The complexity of Spike’s Lee’s movie not only gives the audience an entertaining movie, but he forces the audience to reflect upon their own views aobut other races. When one wathces Crash, you aren’t necessarily compelled to look in a mirror and ask ” I am racist?” When you watch Spike Lee’s movie, you realize, “wow, this is alot to take in”. He shows nearly all aspects of racism from all sides that one can imagine, on top of this he adds character names that coincide with his message, adding further to what the audience must compare to receive the complete vision of Spike Lee’s joint. All in all the several symbols intertwined with Spike Lee’s picture is what makes it so thought provoking. You are compelled to watch the movie with four of your senses, You must see, listen, feel, and hear every little bit to truly understand that racism is a screwed up thing, and that everyone of us apply to it in some way. However when watching Crash, I cried, but it didn’t issue me a message that I should change my ways, it only showed me that racism effects all people, only effect. Crash ended on a relatively good ending and later swithched to comical car crash, ” Do the right Thing” left you on the note of Death, the N-word, minority bonidng(in a strange way) and destruction. So the movies provide the same message, but I beilieve that ” Do the right thing” provides the audience with far more intricate movie filled with something for everybody. According to the members of my survey, they said they enjoyed ” Do the right Thing” more than “Crash” because it made them pay close, close,close attention. I whole heartedly agree that “Do the Right Thing” is a much better film.

James Butters

~ by english131blog on December 4, 2007.