Throughout GSP, students will have the opportunity to watch multiple films as part of the Classic Film Series. This week featured two movie days, including one double musical installment. Do the Right Thing was screened Wednesday evening of the first week, and scholars had the choice between Singin’ in the Rain and Rent for that Saturday afternoon showing.
Wednesday’s showing of Spike Lee’s 1989 film Do the Right Thing showed scholars the racial tensions between African Americans and Italian Americans in a Brooklyn pizzeria. The film shows life over 24 hours during a heatwave in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, which comprises several different ethnic groups, but is predominately black. The film centers on a man named Mookie, a young black man who works at Sal’s Pizzeria. The restaurant is run by Italians Sal and his sons, one of which is very prejudiced to Mookie and other black people in the neighborhood. What begins as a simple complaint by one of Sal’s customers – Buggin’ Out, who wonders why there are only Italians on Sal’s wall of fame in a predominantly black neighborhood – eventually disintegrates into violence, as frustration brings out the worst in everyone.
After one of Mookies’ close friends is killed by a police officer, he throws a trash can into Sal’s restaurant, which ensues a riot. The restaurant is burnt down, and people are arrested. This film leaves a lot of people with a question; did Mookie do the right thing? Was he justified in showing his grief for the loss of his friend by ruining Sal’s restaurant, leaving him without a job? This film does an amazing job at showcasing what can happen as a result of racial prejudice and tensions, and scholars noticed.
One scholar in particular stated that the movie exemplified how “violence doesn’t really solve anything” and that “racism affects everyone, and it’s a bad thing.”
On Saturday, scholars attended the Curris Theater to view Singin’ in the Rain, a 1952 Gene Kelly film showcasing the transition from silent films to talkies in the late 1920s. It follows the career of silent film actor Don Lockwood, played by Kelly himself, as he must become comfortable with the sound aspect of filmmaking.
Throughout the film, on-screen actress Lina Lamont, played by Jean Hagen, is seeking Lockwood’s attention, but he is more fond of theater actress and talented singer Kathy Selden, who is played by Debbie Reynolds. Lamont does not handle the transition to talkies well, and Selden records audio for her on-screen performances. One scholar found a lesson about the unknown in this plotline.
“You should embrace change. In the movie, they were uncertain about whether or not talkies would be successful, but they were.”
The romantic comedy left many scholars amused with the demise of attention-seeking Lamont at the end of the film, when it is revealed to the public that the more talented actress Selden was behind her voice all along.
Scholars saw this come with a clear message: that “you must own up to yourself and what you do.”
Along with the compelling plotline the film offered, scholars were also fascinated by Kelly’s dancing and singing talents.
Overall, the film allowed scholars to fully contextualize the cultural environment of the 1950s both musically and choreographically while also showing the major changes occurring in film in the late 1920s.
“It’s a great movie,” Scholar Eden Bridge-Hayes states.
Rent, a movie adaptation of the 1996 broadway musical, covered the stories of a group of friends in the 1980’s and their experiences during the AIDS epidemic. Set in Alphabet City in New York, Rent follows Mark on his journey to make a documentary, wanting to give the world an unfiltered view of the unhoused population and those affected by AIDS. At the same time, he’s struggling to keep his apartment as investors are working to replace the housing with a new CyberCity art installation.
“It gave me insight on the 1980s AIDS crisis. It also opened my eyes to how everyone was suffering, not just the people who had AIDS,” Scholar Stefany Nix states.
As many tenants work to protest against this demolition, we meet the other main characters in this story. Roger, a musician trying to finish a song and find meaning as he deals with the death of his girlfriend after she committed suicide, finds himself falling for Mimi, a young girl struggling with addiction. Maureen, the voice of the protest, adds humor as we see the awkward interactions between her, Mark (her ex), and her new girlfriend Joanne. The last pair we follow in the movie is Angel and Tom, a couple that connected through a chance meeting after the drag queen found Tom mugged on a street corner.
Nix said, “I did quite enjoy it. It was strange at some points, but I enjoyed the dance numbers and the singing.”
On Saturday, the film series will continue with the showing of Rocky at 3 PM in Curris Theater.
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