New American Cinema, Identity, and New York
Kathleen Brosnahan
History and Criticism of Film
Professor Saphire
December 6th, 2020
In the seventies, post-war new American cinema was born, characterized by satire, assimilation, and dissidenism. Satire mocks and turns cinematic norms on its head, creating a characterture of the genres portrayed. Assimilation respectfully reinvents genres of the past and reinvents them in a fresh, new way. Dissidenism is in between satire and assimilation, and creatively challenges film norms, breaking the mould and expanding the genre they take on. Do The Right Thing, Annie Hall, and Mean Streets all tackle an element of new American cinema as well as delve into the identities of not only the minorities portrayed in the films, but the character of New York itself, showing it in unique and different lenses.
Do The Right Thing, directed by Spike Lee, highlights a sweltering summer's day in a black neighborhood in New York. The protagonist of the film is a young man named Mookie working at a pizza restaurant owned by biggoted Italian-American Sal and his sons. The film starts off comedic and hopeful, but as the day goes on and tensions rise with the temperature, Sal is confronted for his racism, and a riot breaks out thanks to police brutality. Spike captures the life of urban African-Americans, from their celebration of music, their culture, and their struggles with racism and violence. New York is portrayed as an equally colorful and corrupt place with the gradually shifting tone of the film. Spike utilizes satire to tell this story, using unconventional wide angle shots and having a diverse set of characters perfectly capturing this unique and struggling community.
Another film showcasing the Italian-American community is Martin Scorsese’s Mean Streets. It focuses on a mafia in Little Italy, specifically on members Charlie, avid Christian and nephew to leader Giovanni, and Johnny Boy, an irresponsible deviant swimming in debt.. Johnny isn’t paying his dues, and time and patience are running out, Charlie is trying to help him, and Johnny’s cousin Teresa is pulled in the drama and Charlie has an affair with her. Ultimately, they are shot during a car chase and crash. This film sheds light onto the Christianity, family, beliefs, and mob violence found in the Italian-American community, especially in the cities. New York is completely characterized by cruelty, chaos, and danger, like a hive of wasps. This is evident by all the violence in the film, and the only positivity found in the city are the loud, confused parades. The element of new American cinema Scorsese uses is assimilation as he takes spin on old mob movies of the past with new elements to reinvent the genre.
The final film highlighted in this topic is Woody Allen’s Annie Hall. It presents us with the relationship between awkward comedian Alvy Singer and nightclub singer Annie Hall. The film takes us through their meeting, ups and downs, and their inevitable break up. Annie Hall also showcases identity, specifically that of Jewish-Americans, and their family, pursuit of success, and discrimination. The racism is brought up several times in the film by Alvy, but isn’t nearly as central to the story as Do The Right Thing. Out of all of the films, Annie Hall presents New York in the most positive light as a stage for something bigger, and a place to escape from. Woody Allen heavily uses dissidenism and bends the rules of romantic comedies. The fourth wall is broken, mediums change, and shots and cuts are experimented with.
865gtfv6Mean Streets, Do The Right Thing, and Annie Hall all use an element from the post-war reinvention of American cinema in the seventies. Scorsese uses assimilation, Allen uses dissidenism, and Lee, satire. They use them to expand and better tell the stories their films present as well as the theme of identity, specifically of minorities. Mean Streets focuses on Italian-Americans in the hands of mob violence in a dark, chaotic New York. Do The Right Thing sheds light on the African-American community in a complex New York bearing the weight of racism and riots. Lastly, Annie Hall highlights Jewish-Americans trying to make it in society in a New York that is a shrinking stage.
History and Criticism of Film
Professor Saphire
December 6th, 2020
In the seventies, post-war new American cinema was born, characterized by satire, assimilation, and dissidenism. Satire mocks and turns cinematic norms on its head, creating a characterture of the genres portrayed. Assimilation respectfully reinvents genres of the past and reinvents them in a fresh, new way. Dissidenism is in between satire and assimilation, and creatively challenges film norms, breaking the mould and expanding the genre they take on. Do The Right Thing, Annie Hall, and Mean Streets all tackle an element of new American cinema as well as delve into the identities of not only the minorities portrayed in the films, but the character of New York itself, showing it in unique and different lenses.
Do The Right Thing, directed by Spike Lee, highlights a sweltering summer's day in a black neighborhood in New York. The protagonist of the film is a young man named Mookie working at a pizza restaurant owned by biggoted Italian-American Sal and his sons. The film starts off comedic and hopeful, but as the day goes on and tensions rise with the temperature, Sal is confronted for his racism, and a riot breaks out thanks to police brutality. Spike captures the life of urban African-Americans, from their celebration of music, their culture, and their struggles with racism and violence. New York is portrayed as an equally colorful and corrupt place with the gradually shifting tone of the film. Spike utilizes satire to tell this story, using unconventional wide angle shots and having a diverse set of characters perfectly capturing this unique and struggling community.
Another film showcasing the Italian-American community is Martin Scorsese’s Mean Streets. It focuses on a mafia in Little Italy, specifically on members Charlie, avid Christian and nephew to leader Giovanni, and Johnny Boy, an irresponsible deviant swimming in debt.. Johnny isn’t paying his dues, and time and patience are running out, Charlie is trying to help him, and Johnny’s cousin Teresa is pulled in the drama and Charlie has an affair with her. Ultimately, they are shot during a car chase and crash. This film sheds light onto the Christianity, family, beliefs, and mob violence found in the Italian-American community, especially in the cities. New York is completely characterized by cruelty, chaos, and danger, like a hive of wasps. This is evident by all the violence in the film, and the only positivity found in the city are the loud, confused parades. The element of new American cinema Scorsese uses is assimilation as he takes spin on old mob movies of the past with new elements to reinvent the genre.
The final film highlighted in this topic is Woody Allen’s Annie Hall. It presents us with the relationship between awkward comedian Alvy Singer and nightclub singer Annie Hall. The film takes us through their meeting, ups and downs, and their inevitable break up. Annie Hall also showcases identity, specifically that of Jewish-Americans, and their family, pursuit of success, and discrimination. The racism is brought up several times in the film by Alvy, but isn’t nearly as central to the story as Do The Right Thing. Out of all of the films, Annie Hall presents New York in the most positive light as a stage for something bigger, and a place to escape from. Woody Allen heavily uses dissidenism and bends the rules of romantic comedies. The fourth wall is broken, mediums change, and shots and cuts are experimented with.
865gtfv6Mean Streets, Do The Right Thing, and Annie Hall all use an element from the post-war reinvention of American cinema in the seventies. Scorsese uses assimilation, Allen uses dissidenism, and Lee, satire. They use them to expand and better tell the stories their films present as well as the theme of identity, specifically of minorities. Mean Streets focuses on Italian-Americans in the hands of mob violence in a dark, chaotic New York. Do The Right Thing sheds light on the African-American community in a complex New York bearing the weight of racism and riots. Lastly, Annie Hall highlights Jewish-Americans trying to make it in society in a New York that is a shrinking stage.
Thorough and well-organized intro. There is particular clarity in your contextualization of the city, and the ways in which it is a stage; a cacophony of cultural parades; and riotous and corrupt. I appreciate your confident attempt to tie the three films to Mark Cousins’s complicated categories for New American Cinema. While I’m not sure that the films are correctly categorized here, I do think that arguments could be made to support your claims, as you begin to wade into in the essay. The only aspect that seems to be missing here is to expand, compare and contrast a bit more between Mookie, Charlie, and Alvy; and the ways in which they are surrogates for the three filmmakers. Your essays have gotten more and more organized throughout the semester, Katie, great job.
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