DTRT: race rant

• Spike Lee's father Bill Lee's jazz notes introduce the scene: reflecting Lee's auteur trait of having his family involved in the process as well as showing the low budget of DTRT.
• The floating camerawork, turning in to a MS of Mookie and Pino leant over a cigarette machine opposing eachother, reflects New Hollywood and the developing film equipment that allows lighter shots.
• The framing of this scene visualizes the conflict between Mookie and Pino: aka Italian Americans and African American: these two differing races that both experience poverty and being working class Americans and their interesting relationship in NYC in the 80s.
• Alone, Pino vs Mookie reflects the Howard Beach 1986 incident: where a three Black Americans entered an Italian pizzeria before they were confronted and chased by a group of teens, Micheal Griffith was chased into traffic and hit by a car, leading to his death.
• The attack stoked racial tension in NYC, that Spike Lee depicts in DTRT.
• This medium two shot moment of dialogue is a rare depiction of racism in film: it is depicted as casual and even passive rather than active and violent.
• The casualness of Pino's racism in this scene creates a sharp contrast with the characters shouting slurs into the camera: showing two sides of the same coin.
• When asked who his ideals are, they are all black Americans.

  Pino is avoidant of accepting that black people can have talent and success: 'they're not really black, they're black but they're not really black, they are more than black.', Spike notes in the script that with each additional world Pino is hanging himself further, making himself look dumber.
• Spike Lee conforms to the classical continuity editing following the 180* rule in the SRS
• In Pino's MCU, he retracts the n-word, but there is an obvious inherent comfortability with saying it (performance)
• Lee quote 'I've heard this argument where the most racist people, their favourite *racial slur* is black. to rationalize that, they form a group called the super *racial slur* x2'
• 'I wanted to deal with that syndrome where people might toss around the word 'n—r,' but some of their favourite athletes or entertainers are black. How does a person reconcile that?"
• Mookie has to deal with Pino through using his brain, it's like a trap, and Turturro's' performance reveals the moment when he clocks Mookie has got him.
• The soft jazz reflects the casual, calm conversation about racism.
• This scene reflects Lee auteur trait of taking a nuanced look at race, film lessons, spike in the cast and a fearless approach to social themes.
• The lack of OTS shots and tight-framing creates an antagonising, direct sense of growing tension that allows the audience to acknowledge the antagonising Pino.
• Whilst Pino is isolated in the MCU, he represented a wide held opinion that is typically not portrayed in Hollywood : Lee's nuanced look at race + fearless approach.
• This scene shows a passive conversation between Mookie and Pino escalate into a break of the fourth wall filled with heated soliloquies of racist slurs and insults.
• Pino is represented as a walking contradiction, in his soliloquy he comments on the 'chain wearing' African Americans whilst wearing a chain himself.
• The montage begins with a jump cut into MLS pushed into a LA MCU (mirrored movement for each soliloquy in the race rant) beginning with Mookie expressing his hatred for ‘garlic bread pizza slinging’ Italian Americans.
• The race rant uses stylized talk – Spike Lee showing ‘it’s funny…throwing out this viciousness’
• Following Mookie comes Pino attacking the black community, a Latino insulting Asians, a white cop criticizing Latinos and finally a Korean attacking jews before MSLD breaks up the argument.
• The race rant breaks the fourth wall and like Vertigo: creates a break in the action / narrative.  
• Lee builds the interracial tensions through the Ernest Dickenson’s cinematographers – reflecting the importance of collaborators in building an auteurs work.
• Initially, M + P are framed in the same medium shot, both seen facing eachother, and as the disagreement arise Dickerson shifts the frame to a single MCU of shots of the individual characters.
• Through the camera proxemics, Lee is able to drive distance between the figures, uncovering the rising tensions between the two.
• Dickerson drives each character as far as possible from eachother, pushing Pino into the left and Mookie to the right third.
• Subsequently, Dickerson composes a negative space between the two to emphasize their differences: whilst the storytelling is done through the dialogue it is equally told through Hitchcock’s pure cinema (visual storytelling.)
• Lee criticises Ed Koch who drove a distance between the NYC social groups and catalysed the build of tension in the city,
• The editing (Barry Brown) is traditional continuity editing but Brown manipulates this style to convey the disagreement and intolerance/.
• The abrupt counter shots establish a sense of ignorance: where single shots of each character abruptly cut between filling different thirds of the frame mimics the manner in which the characters are not listening to one another and are unable to accept each other’s opinions.
• As the sequence shifts into the montage of racial slurs, Lee’s cinematography reveals and exposes the characters prejudice.
• As the sequence shifts into the montage of racial slurs, Lee’s cinematography reveals and exposes the characters prejudice.
• The cinematography asks the audience to recognize themselves and their opinions in the characters: allowing Lee to confront the society and interracial social prejudices.
• Mr Senor Love Daddy is the only character where the camera remains static as he moves towards the frame.
• As the sequence shifts into the montage of racial slurs, Lee’s cinematography reveals and exposes the characters prejudice.
• Lee presents MSLD as the only character who is able to alter his views, instead of moving into his thoughts, he moves into the audience.
• MSLD could be argued to be the spokesperson for Lee.
• Lee sets a tense tone to emphasize the social pressures building throughout the day
• Through manipulation of lighting Lee sets a tense tone to emphasize the social pressures building throughout the day.