I wouldn’t say I’m naïve, no, that is not it. I am just fortunate enough to be able to see New York through a more magical and idealized lens. Spike Lee’s New York, his community, is not the New York I know. In my New York there is no blatant and violent hatred or loud incessant banter that bombs the eardrums, but rather an electric harmony that somehow just works. Obviously, my view of New York is extremely peripheral. I have lived in Northern New Jersey my entire life. Though I visit Manhattan and Brooklyn a lot, I have never lived in New York before this year. It makes sense that I mostly see the good and beauty in the city, rather than the social tensions and violence.
Yet, even with my sugarcoated vision, the New York portrayed in Mad Hot Ballroom makes more sense to me. It is more real and more balanced than Spike Lee’s New York. I guess my comfort with the New York in Mad Hot Ballroom has to do with the fact that it deals with a child’s New York. The level of innocence I see in the city is still upheld. For these kids, no matter which neighborhood they are from, Tribeca, the Heights or Brooklyn, each of them are content with their own lot, and seem to be well adjusted to their surroundings and their fellow students. Even when a young girl from the Heights, begins to speak about the how guys will look at her differently in the streets now that she has matured, there is a level of acceptance that is barely visible in Do the Right Thing.
Then again, the two styles of the movies are each completely different. Spike Lee has made a movie about extremes, extreme communities, peoples, and extreme reactions. While the director of Mad Hot Ballroom, made a documentary, meant to depict real life. Both carry a message, but while Lee releases his message through a story of “What if…” Mary Agrelo’s message is completely based in reality.
The comparison between these two films brings me back to my first blog, the one about The Indian Wants The Bronx. In this review, I pointed out something that struck me about the play, the idea of communication between different people. Communication is what brings people together or tears them apart. I think “communication” is an interesting theme to look at in the two films.
In Mad Hot Ballroom, the smooth communication and the graceful flow between each school’s stories can be attributed to two things. One is the fact that these people in the film are mainly children. No matter where you are from. How much money you have kids will be kids. Children have a language of their own that unites them. Once children get older this understanding is sometimes shattered.
Then, there is dancing. Dancing is a language, a form of communication in itself. This dancing brought the children together, and got them excited for a united cause.
Do the Right Thing’s only communication is through screaming profanity, and eventually violence. Unlike Mad Hot Ballroom, it depicts many different communities within a single neighborhood. There is a current article in New York Magazine that speaks about rap lyrics. The article mentions lyrics from the rap group De la Soul, which formed in the late 80s. They say, “Neighborhoods are now ’hoods ’cause nobody’s neighbors.” This idea of living together physically but barely civilly, reminded me of Lee’s film. All these people live together but they can’t get over themselves and be civil. There always has to be fighting and shouting and derogatory statements. I found it poignant at the end of the film when the Asian storeowner simply said, “You, me, same! We same!” But sadly, as history truthfully projects, man will always find something wrong with those that are different than him.
Side Note: I have one more interesting point to make. Something I found in both movies is the literary idea of the child, old man, and crazy person, speaking the truth. I found the mayor, who was considered to be an old drunk, to have the most understanding and clarity. And the Asian man, who owned the store, said, “we are the same”. With the children in Mad Hot Ballroom, all of them just seemed wise beyond their years.
The End 🙂
