Love vs. Hate

I could tell that this was an independent film from the first line Samuel L. Jackson speaks. He states that his radio station may be "last on your dial," but it is still "first in your hearts." Such is the case with independent films; they may not be as popular as those of Hollywood cinema, but they tend to strike a special cord in their viewers that they don't experience from watching mainstream films. For example, any Hollywood film that I've ever seen has always presented love as a major theme. However, in Do The Right Thing, we get love vs. hate as a major theme, which I think opens viewers up to a whole new line of thinking, where Hollywood doesn't dare to take us. Independent films such as this one make us question the values and ideas we learned from popular movies. Honestly, I think it's about time we realize that falling in love, for example, is nothing like what it appears to be in Hollywood films such as The Notebook.

I get a truer picture of what love actually is from films like Do The Right Thing. Love vs. hate has always been a theme that has stuck out to me because, according to my beliefs, they are the same emotion. We get the same feeling when we strongly adore someone as we get when we strongly despise someone else, the only difference is the positive or negative stamp we put on the emotion. In addition, it is easier to feel the opposite emotion towards someone a person already loves/hates because the passion is already there. All they really have to do is "turn the dial" and percieve the feeling the other way. We see this in the film when Radio Raheem puts the "love" rings on one hand and the "hate" rings on the other, then puts the words side-by-side, equally.

Almost every relationship in this film seems to exemplify this type of rationale. The most interesting to me was that between Mookie and Sal. It's fascinating how Sal tells Mookie he is like a son to him, and Mookie (changing into uniform according to Sal's wishes) seems to comply. However, not 5 minutes later in the film, Mookie is seen smashing a trash can into the front window of the pizzaria, an act that begins the violent destruction of the business. I don't believe Mookie would've been able to perform this act of intense hatred had it not been for the intense love he already felt for his boss. This same type of fierce passion exists even in classical literature such as Wuthering Heights, and I believe it has been one of art's most interesting and prominent themes throughout history. In conclusion, I find it sad that Hollywood cinema, which is probably the most widely dispersed type of art, not only fails to present viewers with this type of theme, but lies to their viewers by giving theme a false hope of what life "should" be like. One really has to dig deep into literature or independent films to discover what I think is (along with destiny) the most interesting and true theme ever explored.

Paige Brinkmann