The Arts in New York City

Even if it ain’t all it seems I got a pocket full of dreams

Baby, I’m from New York!

Concrete Jungle where dreams are made oh

There’s nothing you can’t do

Now you’re in New York!

These streets will make you feel brand new

Big lights will inspire you

I am proud to be able to live in such a wonderful state as New York. There is no other that beats its cultural diversity and rich history. I am so glad that we got to watch “Taxi Driver” and “Do the Right Thing”, where we got to witness two different stages of New York. It’s as if we took a time machine and traveled back in time.

I remember hearing stories about how bad Manhattan was in the past and how Times Square used to be filled with hookers, street gangs and anything else your mind could imagine, but I could never picture it. The Manhattan we know of now is the place to be when you have nothing to do and want to go hang out with friends or do some shopping. It is also probably the #1 tourist attraction. “Taxi Driver” helped me invision what New York really looked like back then and it was very interesting. I got a glimpse into the dark side of the Big Apple. Sex, drugs, gangs, hookers, violence and corruption pretty much sums it all up in this movie.  Fortunately I can’t fully relate to this New York because it was so long ago that times have drastically changed…for the most part.

And thus we hop into our little time machine (woosh) and travel to another time of New York in “Do the Right Thing.” Although this neighborhood in Brooklyn wasn’t much better, I liked it and identified with it more than “Taxi Driver.” This movie truly captured a variety of different cultures and somehow was fair to them all. What I mean by that is that although he made a lot of racist and discriminatory comments, he made them to all of the different ethnicities leaving no one safe and essentially putting us all on equal grounds. Although we all want to say that we live in a world where racism and hate doesn’t exist it pains me to break that bubble and say that it does still exist. Maybe not as much as before but I do not think we will ever be able to get rid of it completely because there will always be that one person, the scrooge or the grinch, that feels differently.

What makes Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing” even more relatable is that we still have some neighborhoods that are segregated by ethnicity. For example, Chinatown, Little Italy and Harlem. My cousin also told me once that there is a neighborhood in Brooklyn that is mostly Russians (I forgot the name). Although we might not get as heavily discriminated upon when we enter these neighborhoods some of us might feel a little out of place like the white guy in the movie that is walking into his house. The neighborhood in “Taxi Driver” most certainly does not exist today at such extremes(Which is another reason why it is unrelatable to us) but the neighborhood in “Do the Right Thing”could be any neighborhood of today( with less discrimination and racial tensions :p).

One similarity that the movies shared, that for the most part does not exist today, is the corruption of the law enforcement. In “Taxi Driver” the cops were nonexistent and really held no power whereas in “Do the Right Thing” they were always around and abused their power. In both cases though they were corrupted.

Even after seeing these two sides of New York I still love this place nonetheless, just like we seem to love a person even if they have some bad qualities. Although in our world racism and hate still exist I think that New York is a place where most people are able to open their minds to new ideas and customs and learn to love and respect other people too. In the end we’re all one big family anyways. =)

NEW YORK BABEYYY ♥ ♥
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kjmIXr6MoI&feature=related

The Mineola-Portuguese Center. The Italian-American Center. The Irish-American Center. The Knights of Columbus.

While driving through the town I live in you may notice so many different centers for so many separate communities, and yet these communities all get along because they are one community.

Yes people are different, but everyone gets along. We all respect one another and our differences. That’s what a community does.

One word can describe my feelings while watching Do the Right Thing, Shock.

I’m so used to living in a community where although there are so many different types of people living in the same area, we all get along so well, that while I was watching this film I found it extremely hard to believe that such hatred could exist within a community.

Because of this I found it a lot easier to enjoy Mad Hot Ballroom.

In Mad Hot Ballroom, it was clear that many different communities were being documented, but all these communities got along, and worked side by side. The children all came from different backgrounds, and yet they all went to the same school and worked together to achieve a goal. The children in Mad Hot Ballroom all seemed to “know” their community so well. What do I mean by “know”? Well all of the children understood how their neighborhood functioned. The children seemed so mature for their age, and while watching the documentary I was actually surprised to hear them talking about issues in such a mature way.

While watching Do the Right Thing I was surprised by the way the people were speaking, but in a completely different way. I was so shocked by the way each group disliked every other group. I mean can’t we all just get along? One part that really stood out to me that shows this is when each group was talking about another group, and they had so many different ways of describing the other groups. Each person would describe a different group with so many negative names. You could really sense the hatred of blacks towards whites, and the hatred towards the other groups such as Asians and Hispanics as well. The stereotypes just seemed too extreme, and made it really hard for me to relate to the movie. Could it be that the New York City I know now could have once been this way?

The thing is, stereotypes still do exist today. I guess I just haven’t been exposed to them. Maybe they don’t exist as much as they used to, but they do still exist. The New York City that is portrayed in Do the Right Thing exposes all of this, while the New York City in Mad Hot Ballroom shows that it still exists, but isn’t as extreme as it used to be. Mad Hot Ballroom shows how we still have our differences, but we can put these differences aside and all get along as one greater community. That’s what I loved about this film. It was so great to see kids from so many different backgrounds working together for a common purpose.

Overall Mad Hot Ballroom was just more interesting to me. In this film New York City was portrayed through the view of children. I guess that’s why I was able to relate to this film more than in Do the Right Thing. No I am not a child! (even though sometimes I wish I could go back to being a child), but  you could consider my knowledge of New York City as childish since I know very little about the city and the communities that exist within it, since I was brought up in a sheltered suburban community. Do the Right Thing really exposed these racial tensions to me, but Mad Hot Ballroom reassured me that although differences exist, these differences can be disregarded, and we can come together as one greater community.

I was so sheltered. (But I didn’t live my life in a box…not completely…)

I used to peek out from behind my mother to try to catch a glimpse of the world. It was always so scary…and my mom taught us to be afraid. To be aware and to be afraid. Of everything. “The world is a cruel place,” she’d tell my siblings and me. The worst is that we only lived on Long Island. We never even went into the city, except that one time to get our ears pierced.

Neither of these movies was a familiar setting to me. I felt almost out of place watching them. But the interactions and relationships portrayed in the movies were different. At least here I could make some connections.

In  Mad Hot Ballroom, the children spoke in ways that completely astonished me. At ten years old they were talking about the dangers of strange men with pretty young girls, which was one of the main things my mom always told us to watch out for. But these kids…they were so young… Instead of being at home playing house and watching silly “kid shows” like Barney or Dragon Tales, they were out learning about and talking about adult things. But after the movie…after dwelling on the premature growth of these children, I realized that it’s not so crazy. My brother’s 9. He’s already making “That’s what she said” jokes. It made me sad that this is what today’s youth is becoming.When I was younger, I wasn’t even allowed to leave my block without an adult, but now kids are out running wild, wherever they want. It makes me wonder, where are their parents? Why aren’t parents protecting their children from the cruelty of the world anymore?

Mad Hot Ballroom took place in the middle of the city, spanning from Queens to Manhattan to Brooklyn to the Bronx. It covered everywhere. Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing however, was concentrated in one area and focused on one community of people. There was something else between the two movies-the types of communication. In Mad Hot Ballroom, it was all positive energy, the children were dancing, the teachers were encouraging and praising them. But in Do the Right Thing, WOW. There was nearly no “nice” communication in the whole movie. The interaction between people, even family members, was harsh and loud and nasty. It was always F*** this and F*** that. There were no loving words except the few from the Mayor to Mother Sister.

When I first started watching Do the Right Thing, I automatically thought of my childhood in Baldwin and the riots between Baldwin and Oceanside. They weren’t really race riots, but they were two conflicting communities that would destroy each other’s members and property, the way the blacks and Italians destroyed each other in the movie. The more I thought about having to write this blog though, the more I thought about after I moved to Wantagh and went to a Levittown school. The first thing I did when I moved here was notice the color difference. There were no black people. Anywhere. And the whites hated the few that there were. Just the way the blacks in the movie hated the Italians on their grounds. My Levittown school wasn’t diverse the way Baldwin was. But in Baldwin, everyone was integrated and got along together. In Levittown, like in the movie, if you were different, you were an outcast.

Surprisingly, I was able to relate both movies, in some small way to my life, and to the places I’ve lived in. When I first heard the movies were about NYC and that part of the blog was to relate it to our lives, I freaked out a little, thinking, “…but I live on Long Island.” Well, after watching these two films, I realized that societies don’t have to necessarily take place in the same time period or the same area. All areas experience the same things, just  at different times.

Richmond Hill.

The place where I have lived for exactly seventeen years and three hundred and sixty-three days to be exact.

The grocery stores owned by Chinese, Koreans, and Asians in general, on every corner of Liberty Avenue.

Tommy’s Pizzeria on One Sixteenth Street where I’ve been doing since I was little girl, owned by Italians.

The bodega on the corner owned by Hispanics.

The cops cracking down on the West Indian teens with nice cars and loud music.

I have been accustomed to these stereotypes for as long as I can remember.  They’ve penetrated my childhood memories and they have become almost a tradition to me.  If I walk into a grocery store and an Asian doesn’t own it or if I walk into Tommy’s Pizzeria and an Italian isn’t in charge, something makes me a little nervous.  I’ve become a part of this community, Richmond Hill, and it has become a part of me.

Despite the large West Indian population, these stereotypes amongst business owners and their businesses still remains true.  In Spike Lee’s, “Do the Right Thing” he effectively and correctly places these different races in places where they’re stereotypes are true.  What is crazy to me is that these stereotypes are still pretty much the same, if not exactly the same, today, especially in more urban areas like Richmond Hill.

I’ve noticed that Spike Lee has preserved this one moment in New York’s culture and another artist might even be preserving the communities at present to show the differences between then and now, with many of the same themes.

Although racial segregation and discrimination still exist in all of New York City, Spike Lee chose to use the conflict between blacks and whites, but what is interesting to me is that he brought in other cultural groups, like the Italians and Koreans.  Usually when artists are depicting segregation and discrimination against blacks and the racial tensions between blacks and whites, we never really see the other side.  Many movies are created just showing the points of views of the blacks and of the whites, making it seem as though New York is only made up of those who are black or those who are white–two opposite ends of the spectrum.  Instead of doing this, Lee includes the entire community and shows them all at war.

Though I do see his film as pushing it a little, I like the fact that he actually showed a wide view of the entire situation that occurred.  Radio Raheem and Buggin’ Out were both treated very severely by the police officers, and we see this occurring even today.  Segregation at that time was a hot topic and even though it is not so ”hot” today, it still exists.

Spike Lee’s version of an urban area is similar to my neighborhood in that many of the businesses are segregated and stereotypes and racial tensions still exist.  However, the only thing that really separates the different communities—mine and the one portrayed in the movie is that the time periods are very different so relationships amongst people of different races have calmed down since this crazy, disheveled time.

On the other hand, Paramount’s “Mad Hot Ballroom” shows an entire different perspective of New York City.  I think what’s really important is to note the change in attitudes between the different time periods, “Do the Right Thing from the 80s and “Mad Hot Ballroom” which is pretty recent.  The kids all have different ideas about segregation and at this young age, they are too innocent to even judge against their peer’s race.  The only thing that actually bothers them is gender—which is completely normal at their age.  One thing that I noticed was the coming together of races in this film.  The two films are from two opposite sides of the spectrum but it is the author’s way of preserving these moments in time so that we could look back and say “My, how times have changed.”  The children really worked together to achieve their goals instead of splitting apart.

Unfortunately, the only parts of “Mad Hot Ballroom” I could connect to were seeing New York, as I know it, rather than the really old eighties look in “Do the Right Thing,” and the dancing (sorta).  I could obviously relate more to the new look of New York City and so it was a little more interesting for me.  Also, when it comes to the dancing, in elementary school I participated in a ballet class after school with a man named Eduardo. (I will never forget his name because that’s the only thing I understood when he spoke to us).

These films both show that our society has changed so much when it comes to the younger generations, but the older generations who have experienced racism, segregation, and discrimination are still suffering from it.  The artists both preserved times in history that will be looked back upon by generations to come.

New York City. Comprised of millions of people from different countries, cultures, ethnicities, and religions. It’s a heterogeneous mixture where people with similar cultural backgrounds stick together for the familiarity. Yes, we do like feeling safe with people who share similar views, ideals, cultures, etc., and the majority of us are open to others. Being integrated yet separated are both good and bad things. Integration helps us to get along and understand each other or it can create tensions between races. Separation can keep a community together yet cut off from others – also creating tension. “Mad Hot Ballroom” and “Do the Right Thing” show us different ways how integration and separation can bring us together or tear us apart.
“Mad Hot Ballroom” is a documentary of a ballroom dance program that takes place throughout the five boroughs, and there is a competition to see which school has the best dancers. The film documents a few schools from the hundreds that participate in the program, focusing on their background, environment, and the students’ thoughts. In a way, we are given the opportunity to see the students’ thoughts and views on different topics. Being pre-teens ( I assume that is the range of the students’ ages), they can be mature for their age: girls talking about characteristics they would want in their man and a girl talking about topics most adults would assume children would not know about. There are times when they do talk about topics that most adults assume the students would talk about: cooties, girls and guys talking about the opposite sex in terms of who is cute and the sort. There is a wide range of topics that kids talk about. In addition, the documentary also shows the students’ backgrounds in a subtle manner. We are shown the backgrounds. We do not hear about their backgrounds. In one school, we see the teacher and her students going into clothing stores such as Rainbow and Conway to look for clothes for the competition. In another school, a girl goes into her own room furnished with a TV, bed, closet, desk, and other amenities and takes out a nice dress from her closet for the competition. These contrasts show us the different economic backgrounds the students come from. We also see the different ethnicities that come together to dance. In one school, we see only the hispanic community and the effects of the program. Near the end of the documentary, we hear the principal talking about a girl in the competition who used to go to the office often because of her attitude and actions. Now, with the ballroom dance program, the girl has not been in the principals office since. Because of the programs, the students are given the opportunities to do something they like to so and thrive doing so. In another school, we see blacks, whites, asian, brown, and others dancing together. In the beginning of the documentary, we see some hesitation as students pair up, but later on there is less hesitation, as we see in one part where the dance instructor tells the students to switch partners in the middle of the dance. Furthermore, dancing has brought the different communities together for one goal: ballroom dancing. Yes, there is the competition, but the students learn to love the act of dancing itself and the competition is an added incentive to become even better. It is through the one program that so many communities are integrated together without any violence.
“Do the Right Thing” shows us the different views the communities have on each other. After Vito’s and Mookie’s argument, we then listen to the different races stereotype each other with racist comments. And yet, the community in Brooklyn is still living together with the tension building up. Throughout the film, we do not see a single store owned by a black person although there is a radio DJ who is black. We do not know who owns the station but the way the radio DJ talks is smooth and calming. Personally, I feel that he may be the most detached because even though he talks with the people, like Mookie when he deliver’s the chicken parmigiana, he is still blocked off from the community behind his glass wall. This separation between one man and the rest of the community may show how each race is separated from the other and the tension between them silently grows everyday. I still see this tension in today’s society. I still hear racist remarks that people make. It’s can be difficult to differentiate the jokes, but it’s easy to hear the distaste and anger a person has towards the “other.” This movie puts the racism out there. It puts it directly to peoples’ faces. We can’t deny ever having been racist because we all are, whether we like it or not. To be able to accept the fact, can be the way to slowly rid of it, but the stereotypes will never be fully eradicated.
Personally, I can relate to “Do the Right Thing” really well because I have seen racism in my childhood. When I was young, I couldn’t speak nor read well. My mind was still figuring out the languages: tagalog, ilonggo, and english. In the end, my teachers told my parents to speak english so I could communicate with others. It never worked out. That act just screwed my mind over. I could have learned three languages, but instead, I learned one with a mix of the other two. Anyway, I couldn’t communicate or understand well. One day at school, I was in Pre-K and I was standing with my big, fluffy jacket because it was cold. A white girl came up to me with her posse and said stuff to me. I could tell she was angry because of her tone and she started to choke me by wounding the string of my hood around my neck. The incident wasn’t long but when I look back I feel rejected, wronged, violated, shunned, hate, and anger. Even the lunch lady didn’t believe me when I tried to tell and show her the girl who choked me. The lunch lady only had a quick word with the girl. This was the only serious incident that happen to me. This most probably affected me and my view of the white people because I was surrounded by them for most of my life. I didn’t really know about any other ethnicities except through TV shows and their portrayals of them. There is so much more to this story that I don’t know how to tell it. Or maybe I just don’t want to continue it. But in high school, I met so many people of different ethnicities and races that I didn’t feel isolated or alone. I made friends whom I still keep in contact with today. Because of one of my friends, I don’t feel that animosity towards white people because it’s not all of them who are like that. I can’t generalize a group of people’s actions for the actions of the whole. It’s unfair to those I haven’t met, but I’ll still feel wary towards people in general because of all the mental beatings I have taken.
I honestly do not know how to end this. It has become personal, but not too personal. But in a way, we all have to live in a balanced society of integration and separation – or try to. The ideal is to live without racism, but the real is that we do. We just need to accept it. Once we accept that racism is still there, we can slowly take steps. We shouldn’t take anything personal because what do they know? Not much. Just laugh it off because there is no need to dwell on it and cook anger and hate. Just shrug it off.

Violence against grace, racism against diversity,  and fame against infamy are only some of the following motifs that put Do the Right thing against Mad Hot Ballroom.  Personally, I enjoyed both films but identifying myself with one of them was definitely the challenge.

New York I’m sure is something we all have a point of view on.  Whether it’s the Big Apple, or the City that Never Sleeps, everyone has some kind of definition of New York City.  However, when we sit back and reflect on our idea of New York, do we think of ballroom dance competitions in public schools?  How about racism and boom-boxes blasting Public Enemy’s “Fight the power”?  I definitely did not have any idea of this.  New York is a city with so many features that they end up being fused into one general idea. That is why when I saw Mad Hot Ballroom and Do The Right Thing, I was definitely in for a New York outside my element.

New York in Mad Hot Ballroom is one that is somewhat recognizable.   A very quiet and calm neighborhood  with several apartment buildings is one thing that I am used to.  As the film is documented, I noticed that nothing much seemed to go on within the neighborhood. If this is the case, how come these children knew so much about different topics such as divorce and infidelity? It makes you wonder how much has happened over time and what is going on in the neighborhood itself.  To be exposed to certain things and experience so much at a young age would be very hard. As a result of these hard times, I think that dance was used for the children as a means of comfort.  I mean whenever we go through tough times, how many of us want to find an escape? How many of us want to flee from that overwhelming stress that we have.  That is why I think providing schools with the opportunity to dance was important, it gave them the chance to not only have some recognition but to find an escape from other problems. The children could now have the grace it comes to dancing and the fame it comes to winning dance titles.  Dance allowed them to see a New York that was totally different from what they and even I was used to.

Do the Right Thing was different than Mad Hot Ball Room in all aspects.  Turbulence, racism, and violence are but a few of the ideas that revolve around this film. You wonder what kind of New York is portrayed here and it may not be as easy as first. First Spike Lee portrays a typical melting pot of a neighborhood, an area filled with different races. In Mad Hot Ballroom you do see more than once race portrayed, but it is documented in a way that displays them living separate lives.  They would go from the Spanish group and then to the Caucasian schools throughout the film. In Spike Lee’s film, there is coexistence between races that heightens racial tension and violence.  We see diverse New York neighborhoods almost from borough to borough, but in reality do we suspect tension? I know I did not in the least respect.  I would never think that New York would have any kind of tension in diverse neighborhoods.  Even though Spike Lee shows a geographical community, they are not bonded in anyway.  It is more of an ethnic community, in which different groups are established by race. Sometimes I have seen several ethnic communities associate only with those of their own race.  That is something that has not changed in New York for some people.  In the film it is this that created the heightened racial tension as seen when Buggin’ Out wanted African Americans on Sal’s Wall of Fame. He wanted his race to be recognized and glorified and when it was not it led to violence.

Mad Hot Ballroom did not have any violence within its film but it shows a certain kind of community. Different races that came together bonded by dance.  They have established a dance community, before if these kids were put together they would not give the other the time of day.  They would push each other away,but now they have created a community based on dance which is so nice to see. It reminds me of my graffiti experience, I used to not give it a second look but I established a community with those who viewed the art as well for its beauty.

Now from these two films what concept of New York can be familiar to me?  It was hard but when you look at it, you realize how similar it is.  One aspect of New York is Sal’s Pizzeria.  Now I am not talking  about the New York food being the same but I am referring to common places. People of all races not caring about people’s flaws or differences, but just coming together to have a good time or even some food.  That is the New York I know.  In Do the right  Thing that is how Sal’s Pizzeria was used.  The blacks and spanish would come together to eat pizza, the only time there was no animosity.  I go to places filled with different races just to have a good time that is what is known to me.  That is my New York.