Topic 5

 Jamie Horton

Hist. and Crit. of Film

10 December 2020

Identity is a daily struggle for all of us to maintain. In a way it's a performance to others, to ourselves, and to our favorite people. And the way we portray ourselves to each other and to those we love and care about can be difficult to maintain in times of stress and in hardship, causing pain, suffering, and even death. The films used in this topic each showcase the way that Identity and the self are used in everyday lives, and the consequences and troubles that It can cause, along with how it is used in everyday life. 

Mean Streets, directed by Martin Scorsese and released in 1973, is a slice-of-life film about Charlie, a lower-echelon mafia member who goes out of his way to protect a reckless hoodlum named Johnny, and struggles to keep him out of as much trouble as he can. Charlie himself is deeply religious, yet struggles with his faith, as he sees his protection of Johnny as a way of clearing his conscience, and making him feel better about his morals. Charlie is a frustratingly stubborn man, who’s internal conflict of staying loyal to his girlfriend, Johnny, and his faith, are all conflicting with his dark and morally wrong job of working for a mafia. His difficulties to reconcile contradicting principles is what makes him such an endearing character, as he is shown to have kindness, a trait that won’t get him far in his mob job, yet sticks up for those who really shouldn't deserve standing up for. On the other side, Johnny is a character that is designed for the audience to despise in a sense, making one root for Charlie to succeed even more. He is an unpredictable and physiologically disturbed young man who lies through his teeth, starts fights with anyone he can, and takes advantage of Charlie's relationship with others for his own pitiful pleasure.In this way of wanting Johnny to receive his come-uppance, it makes for tension when Johnny angers him, making the audience truly see that conflict Charlie goes through in keeping him out of trouble, but at a cost to Charlie's mentality and everyday life.

Annie Hall, directed by Woody Allen and released in 1977, is a film of Alvy Singer, an extremely insecure Jewish comedian who is obsessed with death, and is a nihilist at heart. The film tells of Alvy’s relationship with Annie Hall, a woman who we see then entirely of his relationship with on the screen, from ramblings of life and death to sex and exes, the film shows their relationship as one that devolves over time. While his rapid-firing jokes are usually endearing, he is quite neurotic, overbearing, and frankly too smart for his own good sometimes. His self loathing, failure at love and pessimism are central to his core character. His identity is tiresome to follow, and it makes it quite easy to enjoy Annie herself as a character, as opposed to Alvy. While occasionally endearing, he does not appear to grow as a human, and he stays as neurotic throughout the movie, even as Annie grows and succeeds more on her own, becoming more independent as a person. While her career is taking off, while Alvy should be happy, he is increasingly resentful, and is unable to see herself in anyone else's control, and he realizes that he truly does not have control over his own stability of mind, as well as his relationship, leading to their breakup. Because of this, he imagines his own world at times, writing a play with a happy ending about his relationship with a happy ending, contrasting the disappointing end that he faces with Annie in the end. Regardless of the odd nihilism that he shoves down the throat of anyone who can hear him, perhaps Alvy is still endearing due to his knowledge of his annoyance to others. Throughout his insecurities, fantasies, and instability, he knows that he is a hot mess, and is self aware to a fault of his faults. He is able to find happiness, but is unable to accept, for perhaps he just isn't capable of it existing in his life.

Do The Right Thing, directed by Spike Lee and released in 1989 is perhaps the most striking of the three films. It follows Mookie, a pizza delivery man who is trying his best to do the right thing as a member of his town, family, and as a father. The most cohesive of the three films, every character in the movie feels scarily realistic, as each one feels extremely flushed in the way they are presented. Mookie is perhaps the most complex character when it comes to his identity, as similar to Charlie in Mean Streets, he is a melting pot of many different characters and traits all presented at once. Mookie is a puzzling fellow at times, carrying a piece of personality from each of his family members, coworkers, and associates. His desire to work and wanting to feel independent from Jade his sister, his deep connection to the neighborhood where he lives from Mother Sister and Da Mayor, some of his girlfriend Tina’s temper, a pride for his culture from characters like Buggin Out and Radio Raheem, he shows a need of freedom that is also exhibited by Vito, and a protective nature of others that we see from his boss Sal.

His likeable nature as well is striking, as he is an extremely amiable and affable guy, who enjoys interactions with others, and striking conversation with any who he interacts with, and the complexities of him having a bit of everyone’s traits, as well as trying to do what’s right creates a character that allows him to relate to younger and older people, as well of people of all color, and to recognize Mookie as the great character that he is, in Spike Lee’s portfolio.