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| author | Peter Michael Talarico |
| title | "I Still Think There's Hope:" Racial Tension Depicted Through Form, Text, and Structure in Spike Lee's 'Do the Right Thing,' 'Jungle Fever,' and 'Clockers' |
| abstract | This dissertation examines the techniques film director Spike Lee uses to emphasize racial tension between characters. The argument suggests that these subtle means of accentuating such tensions are intended to extend the conversation on race and race relations. Through elements such as subtext, camera position, framing, music, costumes, and lighting, Lee encourages us to enter the worlds of his films and to analyze how they provide suggestions regarding how to help eliminate racial tension in the world around us. The first chapter, on Lee's 1989 opus Do the Right Thing, examines the role the camera, essentially functioning as a character itself, plays in establishing this kind of tension. This is followed by an examination of Jungle Fever (1991), in which Lee demonstrates the dangers of stereotypical attitudes on race through the depiction of characters that are enclosed, or trapped, in their respective, narrow environments. The final chapter concerns Clockers (1995), and speaks to the same techniques used in Do the Right Thing and Jungle Fever by examining conflict, both between and within, the film's characters. Ultimately, the dissertation seeks to explore the form, techniques, and text of a director whose talent in invoking the subtleties of these elements remains unmatched. |
| school | The Caspersen School of Graduate Studies, Drew University |
| degree | D.Litt. (2019) |
| advisor | Laura Winters |
| committee | Liana Piehler |
| full text | PMTalarico.pdf - requires Drew uLogin |
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