Topic 5 Identity

Brandon Wright

Prof. Saphire

COM 126.01

11/18/20

All three of the films that were presented to me this week were fascinating takes on different underrepresented demographics that existed in New York City. The groups of people represented were not usually seen in many films, created at that time, as the main focus. 

Mean Streets focused on the daily lives of a group of Italian low level mob members who commit petty crime and try to work their way up the rankings. The setting being in New York City is crucial to the story in regards to how the characters interact with each other. Racism comes naturally to each of the characters represented, but none more evident than Charlie. There are multiple instances where Charlie is openly racist, for example, when he gets anxious to be seen with Miligene because he fears what other people on the street will think about him. Growing up in little Italy Charlie was part of the majority, also taking place in the 1960’s were factors that influenced him to be discriminatory of other races. Scoursese used many different techniques when directing this film, but one scene that stood out to me in particular was the scene when Charlie got drunk. The camera was attached to Harvey Kitel’s body to give the viewer a much closer shot of his face, and move along with his body. We got to see all the expressions on his face and infer the different emotions he was feeling. 

Do The Right Thing, unlike Mean Streets, takes focus on multiple different minorities in the slums of New York. The primary focus of the film is on the African American community and the Italian’s that own Sal’s famous pizza. The use of New York in this film is more used to portray all different demographics of people living in the same relative area and how their daily interactions are. The message of this film is simple and it, ironically, is to always do the right thing. This message is continuously pounded into the main protagonist’s head, yet still the people in the neighborhood telling him this are so filled with hate themselves that they are clouded from doing the right thing. The continuous reminder of heat also adds to the tension that is felt throughout the entire neighborhood leading to the ultimate outburst of rage in the end of the film. Even if this is a film from the 80’s it still has relevance to this very day in terms of racism, police brutality, and how people view different cultures.

Annie Hall was a film unlike either of the two prior ones, because instead of being about violence and the mafia, it is a love story between two people. While this film technically is a romantic comedy, it strays away from the tropes of a typical rom com in the 1970’s. All of the humor in the film has a dark tone to it and in the final act of the movie the guy does not end up with the girl, which never happened in romantic movies at that time. The importance of New York in this movie I believe is that it is simply one of the most romantic cities in the world and makes a fantastic setting for a romantic movie. The realism of the film is what makes it a masterpiece to this day, depicting what a real relationship in New York would look like.