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 🙂

What is it about you. You’re big. You’re Loud. You’re tough NYC.

I go years without you, then I can’t get enough.

Enough of the cab drivers answering back in the language far from pure.

Enough of [the] frankfurters answering back [too].

Brother, you know you’re in NYC.

[It’s always] Too busy, too crazy, too hot, too cold, [and] too late.

I’m sold again, on NYC (Annie – N.Y.C.)

I know exactly what you’re thinking and you’re wrong. It isn’t because I ran out of ideas. Pfft it’s far from that… ish. But the real reason I decided to paraphrase these lyrics from Annie was because it just so happens to be the first thing that came to mind after reading the prompt.

And from what I can remember, Mr. Warbucks’ singing wasn’t half bad. For me he was probably the first male actor I remember singing [well] in a film.  What attracted me to his part in particular was the way he described our city. He had managed to fit in glimpses of the city that were familiar to me—assembling them into a cheerful and fairly convincing song.

It’s a shame that it doesn’t always work out that way. From what I’ve heard, the sounds of New York can be loud, deafening in fact, and even scary. Even scarier than politics. The sounds of gunshots, rape screams, and street violence. There are portions of New York that I haven’t seen and have only heard about from the news and word of mouth.

In the films Do The Right Thing and Taxi Driver, I was able to see the darker side of New York that was previously unknown to me. I took into consideration that the films were shot in the past, but it’s still hard to believe that it’s the same city I grew up in.

The incident that occurred at Sal’s pizzeria (Do The Right Thing) was a tragedy. Knowing that it was all scripted didn’t change much, I felt disgusted at all the racism and hate that was spread throughout the community. Although forms of racism still exist today, it was nothing like what I had seen, like there was two different definitions of the word.

How is it possible for something to balloon to new proportions and literally burst into flames like that? I am familiar with Korean deli owners, Italian pizzerias, Latino and Black delinquents, but I have never seen them that pissed off at one another. It was like each group had something negative to say about the other—attacks on even the most ridiculous of things, eating habits for instance. How could New York, the place I have learned to love, be so painful to watch?

Taxi Driver exposed an entirely different darkness, characterized by prostitution and under-aged sex. The idea wasn’t unheard of, but I didn’t REALLY think it was that bad until all the excessive violence and murders were shown. It seemed so surreal, one minute a guy is chasing love, and the other he goes commando. The fight scenes were a tad exaggerated and left me skeptical, but I had gotten a feel for the history that was being shown to us. It wasn’t pleasant and I didn’t expect it to be. I don’t think murder can ever be justified.

I can’t really say I’m accustomed to seeing films about New York. I haven’t been into the city enough to understand anything besides its hustle and bustle, and I haven’t been exposed to the so-called violence existing in Brooklyn, the Bronx, or Harlem. Neither one of the New Yorks felt real, and perhaps it’s a refusal on my part—I refuse to believe that the city we live in now could of existed in such a state of turmoil. I’m just too damn prideful.

I hope these films are just magnifications of regular street violence, just some work of fiction, just a source of entertainment.

I really do. It’s a shame if the New Yorkers of before had to live like that.

A real shame.

Melting Pot or Salad Bowl? How would you describe New York City?

When I was first asked this question, in the beginning of ninth grade, my response was immediately “melting pot.” Looking back, I think this response could be attributed to my innocent thoughts and genuine hopes that all people of different backgrounds and cultures would be able to co-exist in peace and harmony.

I asked myself this question again after watching Mad Hot Ballroom and Do The Right Thing, and quickly realized that an artist can force you to view New York, or any society, from his or her subjective point of view. These two films show that all art must be taken with a grain of salt, and an educated audience will be able to pick out what is fact and what is solely based on the artist’s perspective.

Let my preface my discussion about the two films with a quote that sums up the importance of studying these two films simultaneously. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “We must learn to live together as brothers, or we will perish as fools.” According to the two films, tolerance is taught in schools, and accepted by children; however, the “adults” of society are prejudiced against certain groups of people.

The film Mad Hot Ballroom, profiles the ballroom dancing program found in certain elementary schools of New York City. In these schools, children dance with children of different cultures, and they work together to win the championship ballroom dancing competition. Although the kids know far too much for their age regarding the problems in society, the children are depicted mingling with children of other races and nationalities. Additionally, the dances they learn are heritage dances of certain cultures, but all children are able to participate.

I believe the prevalence of tolerance in the movie is partially a result of reality, but is also partially attributed to the filmmaker’s goals in creating the movie. The filmmaker wanted to highlight the beneficial aspects of the ballroom dancing program in elementary schools, but more importantly, he wanted to make a movie that would appeal to New York City children and parents. Overall, the movie had a positive energy about it, and the inclusion of racial tensions, would have drawn attention to the negative aspects of society.

On the other hand, Do The Right Thing was centered on the cultural tensions of Manhattan. Radiohead and his friends barged into Sal’s pizza place because they viewed him as pro-white due to the fact that all of the photos in his restaurant were photos of famous white people. A fight erupted outside of the restaurant, and Sal was almost chocked to death by the boys, and the cops killed Radiohead. The cops didn’t have an issue going against Radiohead and his friends, but it could be argued that Radiohead and his friends were breaking the law by setting the pizza parlor on fire. When the mob turns to the other side of the street to attack the Korean store, the storeowners convince the mob that they are not white, and as a result, are able to save their store.

Each time Smiley came onto the set, the only emotion I felt for him was sympathy, and when Smiley appeared following the destruction of the pizza parlor, I actually began to cry. The character of Smiley reminds us to be grateful for what we do have in life and to cherish the little things. I think Mr. Man is the hero of the movie. If the use of the hoses to spray down the mob could be compared to the civil rights movement, then Mr. Man could be compared to Martin Luther King Jr. He tries to bring the community together, and he risks his life to do the right thing – he jumps in front of a moving car to save a little boy.

These two films show what the filmmakers want them to show about New York City. I personally am more familiar with the New York found in Mad Hot Ballroom. Although I did not attend a New York City public school, and therefore did not have the opportunity to participate in the Ballroom dancing program, I was a child living near the city, and had the opportunity to interact with children of all different cultures. We were kids…we didn’t judge each other, but happily played with one another, not worrying about the places we came from and the religions we practiced. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would have been proud!

The views of New York in “Do the Right Thing” and “Mad Hot Ballroom” couldn’t be more different.  The communities depicted in “Mad Hot Ballroom” are of naive and innocent children, with few prejudices other than mild ones based on gender.  The town in “Do the Right Thing” is full of people who are angry, have seen harsh realities, and some are the most prejudiced people I’ve ever seen.  The children are very open to new ideas, despite initial reluctance.  Though some did not want to dance at first because it was uncool or they didn’t like the idea of getting so close to the opposite sex, they eventually got past their reluctance and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.  The characters in Spike Lee’s work were incapable of getting past their prejudice and just became more angry over the course of the film.

“Mad Hot Ballroom” also showed more variety of community than did “Do the Right Thing.”  This is one of the many reason that the New York of “Mad Hot Ballroom” was more familiar to me.  I could identify with the shots of crowded Manhattan which I am used to when I go there as well as the shots of playground and residential neighborhoods.  There were one family houses with small yards and space between the houses.  This is visually much more like my New York than the series of connected apartment houses.  The look of the people in “Mad Hot Ballroom” was more familiar to me as well, but that may just be due to the time period of “Do the Right Thing.”

The strongest reason I could better identify with the New York of “Mad Hot Ballroom” was the general feeling of the atmosphere and experiences of the characters.   The grammar school experience in “Mad Hot Ballroom” was very similar to mine.  Kind, caring teachers, the conflict of trying to be “cool” or “mature” while still being young, and the awkwardness of boy-girl interaction was all part of my time in grammar school.  I could also relate, to a degree, with the process of learning dance.  Though I never had as extensive a program as the one depicted in “Mad Hot Ballroom” I did have to take part in a spring performance every year.  For this “Spring Show” the teacher would pick a song and, with the help of a local dance teacher, choreograph a simple dance.  There would be initial complaints and protests from the boys, but in the end everyone enjoyed it.  Like in “Mad Hot Ballroom” there was always discomfort involved when boys and girls had to be paired up.  There would be teasing if a pair got too close, and no matter who I or any other boy was partnered with, the question “do you like her?”  Seeing all these similar conversations and emotions in the interactions of the children in the film made me strongly relate to the New York shown.

In contrast, I could find very little relatable in the experiences of the characters in “Do the Right Thing.”  The obsession with race and the seemingly incessant conflict is not remotely present in my New York.  There is clearly a focus on racial tension and conflict in the movie- Buggin’ Out’s insistence on the presence of Black people on the wall of fame, and the successive shots of community members spewing racial slurs being two of the strongest cases.  However, I was struck by the presence of both racial awareness and conflict in general.  Buggin’ Out’s commands to “stay black” as well as Sal’s pride in his Italian heritage are not about conflict, but a general focus on race.  This was never something present in my community.  Whitestone is made up of mostly Italian, German, and Irish, and Greek people, but the only flags to be seen are American.  There is very little talk of ethnic pride or identity except on major holidays and festivals.

The only thing that exists less in Whitestone than racial pride is conflict, and this is not due to the lack of racial tension.  The community of “Do the Right Thing” is filled with conflict in addition to those which are racially charged.  There are a number of non-racial conflicts in the movie- Sal’s conflict with Radio, the Mayor’s with Mother-Sister, Mookie’s with Tina, the young men’s with Mayor, as well as man others.  There is an anger and readiness to fight in the community that is not in mine.  The community seems defined by conflict, but the movie doesn’t explore the reasoning behind this.  Perhaps instead of making the major issue race, the issue should be the readiness for and acceptability of violence.  If not for the angry, violent atmosphere of the neighborhood in general, the explosion of violence leading to Radio’s death may never have occurred.  If the general population in “Do the Right Thing” was more inclined to deal with problems civilly, they may have been able to find a better way to settle the conflict over the pictures, the radio, and everything else people were angry about.

When I watch movies, I usually feel like an outsider.  I’m not the girl shooting spells from a wand, or the girl sneaking out the window to go to a party, or the girl trying to find romance in the big city.  Instead, I’m the bored girl sitting in front of the TV screen to pass some time away.  When I saw “Mad Hot Ballroom”, I didn’t feel this way at all.  Instead, I felt like an insider.  I saw my city in the movie and I got excited.  I saw the schools and they reminded me of my old elementary school.  I saw the streets and even though I didn’t know what streets they were, they were undeniably the streets of New York.  Seeing all this in one movie made me feel happy and childlike again.

By contrast, “Do the Right Thing” left me feeling enraged.  I ended this movie as a furious girl who really wanted to punch something.  The sad thing is, the racism in the movie didn’t even surprise me that much.  It saddened me and angered me, but it didn’t surprise me.  When the policeman killed Radio Raheem for example, I wondered if Spike Lee had gazed into a crystal ball and seen all the different times that the police would brutally overreact and kill black males.  This violence is what made watching this movie such a different, more difficult experience for me from watching “Mad Hot Ballroom”.

“Mad Hot Ballroom” made me fall in love with the kids preparing for the ballroom dance competition.  As I followed these kids on their journey to the finals, I saw their lives in New York City.  I saw them walking past vendors in the street, hanging out at the park, and walking to school.  This all seemed so familiar to me; it took me back to my elementary school days when I would walk to the library with my neighbors and siblings, chatting incessantly.  The cheerful, merry music that accompanied these scenes added to my enjoyment of the movie.

When “Do the Right Thing” began, I was irritated by the loud, headache-inducing music.  “How much longer will this continue?” I thought when the music went on for several minutes.  The music finally stopped and the movie began, but rather than ending my irritation, my irritation only grew as I continued to watch the film.

The film showed a hot, oppressing day playing out in the Bronx.  As I watched this film, I grew increasingly upset with how awful some of the characters were.  Everyone seemed to have a stereotype of a person of another race and ethnicity and to me, it seemed that everyone was just making things harder for themselves.  For example, when the man with the fancy car was driving through the street, the kids playing with the fire hydrant hosed his car, even though he had yelled at them not to. This man could have asked A LOT nicer, but I don’t think he deserved to get his car hosed.  In the end, the kids only reinforced the racist attitude this man had about blacks, and what good is that?  The only thing such actions could accomplish is increased tensions between people.

This view of New York was more serious and more foreign to me than “Mad Hot Ballroom”.  Even though I felt that I recognized the Bronx neighborhood, where there is the pizzeria and the grocery store everyone goes to, I didn’t recognize the racist actions of people.  I couldn’t make connections, as I could with “Mad Hot Ballroom”.

It’s interesting because both movies explore ethnicities and races so differently.   “Do the Right Thing” shows how people in a neighborhood- the Koreans, blacks, whites, and Hispanics, grow increasingly frustrated with one another.  They all have problems with each other, such as Buggin Out freaking out about the fact that Sal did not have any pictures of black people on his wall.  “Mad Hot Ballroom” shows how ballroom dancing changed the behavior of minority kids who were underprivileged and may not ever have had the chance to get dance lessons.  As one of the teachers mentions, the Hispanic kids also came from low-income families and did not always have the opportunity to be around their parents all the time.  This could have led them down bad roads, if it were not for the ballroom dancing.  It was inspiring to see how far the kids came in the competition and made me want to become a teacher just so I could change people’s lives that way.

Few things can actually bring people as much pride as seeing their neighborhood immortalized. In sixth grade, the new principal of my school decided to reach out to the students by having us create a rap video. Our principal was rapping!! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZFZiw0spVA) When he first rapped, everyone began laughing; they thought he was doing this just for personal fame. Personally, I found the whole thing hilarious, but it was the video that particularly interested me. When they forced us to watch it, I focused on the setting, thinking to myself, ‘That’s where I would embarrass myself at handball everyday!’ or ‘that’s the deli where my dad and I would walk to every summer!’ It just felt special.

The fact that this video was shown on television and film festivals made me feel a bit proud (even if I hated the music): the world will get to see something that is such a big part of me. I wonder if that’s how the children of Mad Hot Ballroom felt when viewing the finished movie.

Honestly, I was not a big fan of Do the Right Thing. At least, I was not for the first few minutes of watching it. The colors and fashion of the movie were so unusual to me that I could not relate to it. As I continued watching I began to remember that this society really did have such fashions and music and dialect. The movie did begin to interest me, however it was still very unfamiliar.

Mad Hot Ballroom, on the other hand, was exactly like the scenery I am used to. When they he showed children in the Forest Hills school, I seriously thought the actors were inside my elementary school gym. The blue mats against the wall and the scattered equipment reminded me of my elementary school. The resemblance was striking. Even the outside of the school looked exactly like my Queens Village elementary school.

These children, mostly middle class with few minorities, were the children that surrounded me in my elementary school. When introducing the school, views of the quiet neighborhood abundant with trees was a sharp contrast to the schools previously shown. The Brooklyn schoolchildren were aware of problems such as infidelity and drugs while the Forest Hills children appeared to be the 5^th graders most of us are used to. Even the neighborhoods were very different: while one was quiet and pleasant the other was busy and noisy. It was also filled with minorities, most of which were speaking Ebonics, which is often related to a lower status. In addition, the program had different effects on each group of children. The Forest Hills children were forced to smile and had to follow strict dance instructions. The children from Brooklyn truly enjoyed dancing: they would practice during their free time and they had authentic smiles on their faces. Dancing changed their lives and turned delinquents into well-behaved students.

Distinct from these two neighborhoods was the school in Manhattan with the younger children and pleasant teacher. Although the school was also in a busy neighborhood it was very different from the other school. The way the children spoke revealed more innocence. The outside of the school was beautiful; these were clearly children from high-class homes. These children also enjoyed dancing, but they did not reach the finals in the competition. The scene with the children crying was heartbreaking, especially after seeing their teacher cry after the progress the children were making. I must admit that once the teacher was bawling, I shed a few tears too.

Ultimately, my elementary school experience only resembled the Forest Hills school. I was able to relate to it and wonder if I would have enjoyed the program more than they appeared to. Perhaps I would hate it, especially if I had their instructor who appeared to be mean. Either way, Mad Hot Ballroom was really touching and an excellent preserver of three different communities.