Introduction
The book “open city” by Teju Cole and the film “Do the Right Thing” are some comparable and contrastable literary works. The book has its setting in New York, and the film with its setting in Bedford, a black African neighborhood in Brooklyn. The article will develop, compare and contrast the theme of social relations in the book “Open City” and the film. However, before discussing both, a better understanding of the storyline of the book and the film is important.
According to Cole (12), the book Open City by Teju Cole brings out the narration on wandering. Julius, a flaneur, is both a participant and an observer in the city life, basically in New York and Brussels, as highlighted in the novel’s first chapters. Julius, an American training psychiatrist in Manhattan of Nigerian and German extraction, has no roots in New York. Julius, entranced in the city, is anxious but not about his outsider status, which is a fetishist. Furthermore, he is on the rebound of the relationship. His mind connects with many walks he makes across the urban grid, now aimlessly and for purpose.
People Also Read
Furthermore, the book Open City has a lot of profound reflections on these walk descriptions and cultural forms. It praises the city as a power, community, and dedesiredenue. Breaking through the anonymous crowd, Julius encounters strangers, friends, and acquaintances, among them Moji (Cole, 23-76).
The book is more about conversation than strolling in the city streets because Julius engages in conversations constantly with everyone he meets. The conversation is how Julius participates in city life; his conversations are more than just chit-chat. However, they are the type of conversations crucial to true cosmopolitanism. The book’s initial pages are sebaldian intensely, and the narrator tells of how he began to go for a walk in the evening “last falls” (Cole, 26) and found the neighborhoods. These walks lengthened steadily, taking me farther and farther to the field every time, so that I found myself often at quite a distance late at night from home, and was to return home after being compelled by subway” (Cole, 28).
“Do The Right Thing,” on the other hand, is an American drama film written, directed, and produced by spike Lee. The movie brings out a story of a simmering neighborhood racial tension that degenerates and culminates into a tragedy on the summer’s hottest day.
A young black man, Mookie, resides in Bedford Stuyvesant, an African American neighborhood, together with her sister, Jade. Mookie delivers pizza in the neighboring pizzeria, and Jade wants him out of her apartment because he is ambitionless. However, he works to support Tina, his girlfriend, and Hector, their son. Salvator, an Italian American owner of the pizzeria, has a son called Pino, who hold racial contempt for the black and detest the working place. Vito, the younger son of Sal, is a friend of Mookie, but Pino is out to make life of Mookie miserable. Lee pointed out that within the strict location and temporal confines of the film “Do the Right Thing” lies the concerned work tackling America’s enormous themes. That is liberty, violence, economics, urban survival, ambition, and race relations on a micro-scale. With its unorthodox and thrilling blend of Black artificiality and Aristotelian unity, it gives the location of the big among the small and, finally, the national in the local.
The theme of social relations is seen in many instances in the book. To begin with, social integration as part of social relations in the book will be discussed. The theme of social integration in “Open City” comes out where people must learn how to talk with others to learn and understand how to reside with others. Therefore, there should be a series of conversations whereby an individual carefully listens to what other people are saying with the willingness to change their minds on something important if they realize the partner they were conversing with has a better idea or thinking ways than them. Cole (45) asserts that human beings are fallible and should constantly be on the lookout for better mechanisms and ways to make corrections on errors in their thinking modes of behavior or to improve them.
In both the book “Open City” and the film “Do the Right Thing,” the theme of social relations is also portrayed in how the characters forget about their differences and hold truce to improve their social relations. The notion that cities and neighborhoods are just historical sites having many layers is brought out vividly. The cities have had large populations for a very long time; therefore, many people have lived and died throughout the history course. Lee pointed out that some of these tragic happenings have been forgotten. The metropolitans and bustling metropolis are often seen as Broadway shows of skyscrapers with the inhabitant’s stories being neglected or falling by the wayside. The main character in the book “Open City” is described as wandering in the city and documenting whatever he sets his eyes upon. Forgetfulness and remorse for improving social relations are revealed at the end of the film “Do the Right Thing.” There is an element of truce between Mookie and Sal. Both are aware of their previous night’s violent and reckless actions and wish they could have just moved on without the ingrained societies’ racial suspicions and stereotypes. However, for them to speak that way means it is unrealistic socially but also hurts the provocative ambiguity of the ending.
In contrasting the movie “Do the Right Thing” and the book “Open City” to bring out the prevailing themes, the settings of the book embrace the cosmopolitan conversation, unlike the film, which does not. Julius reproduces conversations frequently that later produce an opportunity for him and the other points of view of other people in the stories at length. These conversations sometimes relate to how he improves his social relations with the members of the public. For instance, in the conversation scenario of Bootblack and Julius observed by Cole (62), Julius does not even comment on what he has just heard. This lets the readers, and the audience at large make judgments for themselves. However, the conversations later prove to be having some resonance kind. In the film “Do the Right Thing,” the conversation element is not embraced by the parties. Racial animosity, hatred boundaries in the small town, and violence inhibit people from embracing conversation, jeopardizing social relations.
The theme of social relations in the book and film also comes into the limelight from the racial tension in the film “Do the Right Thing.” To begin, no one is a racist, including Sal and Buggin, but racial tension exists as the stereotype scenario portrays. Lee inserts the white guy who is obnoxious and whose car gets ruined by the black youths. Lee further pointed out that probably everyone expected the police would chase the black youths, but that did not happen; they side with the black youths. This shows that racism does not exist and social relation is at their best.
As elaborated by Lee in the film, racial tension exists in the film, which tries to jeopardize social relations in the city. However, in the book “Open City,” pure racism is portrayed, affecting social relations in the city. Apart from other related themes in the book, such as colonialism, exploitation, and immigration, racism is common. Julius, a Nigerian man, studying in the land of America, is discussed from the African man’s perspective. He was later accused of rape by another woman while living in Lagos. The narrator recalls that at Madison, he was a medical student and recalls an uncomfortable experience at a dinner when a Ugandan-Indian doctor, who was forced to flee the country by Idi Amin, announced to his guests openly that “when I think of Africans, I want to spit” (Cole, 112). The reaction of the narrator has described next “the bitterness was startling. It was anger that I could not help feeling, was directed at me partly, the only African in the room, my background detail, that I was from Nigeria, did not make any difference, because Dr. Gupta had talked of Africans” (Cole, 112). This shows how the narrator faced racism, which drove him to bitterness and anger and consequently affected his social relations with other people.
Social relations in the film are also under attack. The happenings tend to ruin the good social relations in the neighborhood. Buggin is in a problem by giving shit to a white man just by stepping on his shoes. Furthermore, he is angry because an Italian America is giving honor to his Italian heritage. Everybody around knows that he is in trouble, and when he gets escorted out, Mookie gets annoyed by him. In fact, according to Lee, everybody is annoyed and does not understand why an Italian American should not be proud of being an Italian. On the hand, Sal is suspicious and not racist. Although Mookie is uncomfortable with him after he goes for his sister, he is a nice person who loves the neighborhoods for giving support.
The theme of social relations in the film and book is also seen in the love and hate of the characters involved. There is a contradiction in Radio Raheem, and love and hate exist in the film “Do the Right Thing.” Raheem describes himself, and he is also intimidating. He roams around, blasting loud music, and does not interact with anybody. Therefore, he is neutral. He does not build any social relations and seems like a lone ranger. Hate comes in when he gets angry at Sal and finally gets killed because of his actions to show the consequences of hate. Raheem and the police were consumed excessively with hatred, and Mookie threw the trash can aftermath. Lee pointed out that the play’s title derived its name from “Do the Right Thing” because Mookie was angry and did whatever he could. However, that cannot mean he did the right thing. Similarly, in the book “Open City,” social relations are affected by the hatred seen by the narrator when the Indian Ugandan doctor openly declares his hatred for Africans because Idi Amin evicted him from Uganda. The narrator also hates the doctor because he detests all Africans and has contempt for them, yet he is an African.
The theme of social relations is ironed out and strengthened from the relationships in the film and the book “Open City.” The novel reveals and shows that even the individuals that form particular cultural or ethnic groups have a certain social relationship with one another. The members of particular ethnic or racial affiliations or that have common interests tend or can flock together because they can identify with others just like them. Cole (97) pointed out that professional relationships of Julius included interacting with his colleagues. Furthermore, it is a relationship of the patient to the doctor that he forms with the patient as a psychologist. In the film “Do the Right Thing,” the theme of relationships is also portrayed along racial lines. Sal is brought out as an American Italian in the neighborhood. However, on the wall of his restaurants, Lee pointed out that he only sticks the picture of his racial people.
Furthermore, the black youth are seen as reacting to what may seem like racial violence. The violence erupts between two racial affiliations. This shows that relations between the people of the same racial identity affiliate themselves.
The societal social problems in the book “Open City “and the film “Do the Right Thing “also affect social relations. In the city of New York and the Bedford neighborhoods in Brooklyn, structure continuity exists and remedies people come up with for the known city life. Cities are where thousands or millions of people reside together in a small place, so the need to look into social problems like security, transportation, electricity, and water supply. For instance, in the film, Mookie is about to be evicted by her sister from her apartments, and therefore, he will lack housing. Furthermore, insecurity is seen in the neighborhood from the street violence of the black youths and the violence experienced in the streets. All these social problems affecting the people affect their social relations,
Similarly, in the book an open city, the author talks of a neighbor Julius, who lives near other people. Moreover, Cole (143) explains that in the neighborhood, something major can occur in their life without anyone being aware of its existence. He elaborates that “you can live with someone closely and nearby but know very little about the happenings in their life” (Cole, 152). That is something which, according to Cole (152), anyone residing in the city is related to. As elaborated by Cole, this scenario shows the city’s poor state of social relations and is in sharp contrast with the film. People value their privacy and rarely interact with their neighbors.
Conclusion
In conclusion, both the book “Open City” and the film “Do the Right Thing” are written and scripted in different settings. However, many of the themes are shared and come out clearly in the two literary works. The theme of social relations has been extensively discussed as Lee has portrayed it in the film and the book “Open City.” Social relations integrate social interaction and other factors that affect it.
Work Cited
Cole, Teju. Open City: A Novel. New York: Random House, 2011. Print.
Lee, Spike, Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Richard Edson, Giancarlo Esposito, Bill Nunn, John Turturro, Rosie Perez, Joie S. Lee, John Savage, Samuel L. Jackson, Ernest R. Dickerson, Barry A. Brown, and Bill Lee. Do the Right Thing. Universal City, CA: Universal City Studios, 2001.
With a student-centered approach, I create engaging and informative blog posts that tackle relevant topics for students. My content aims to equip students with the knowledge and tools they need to succeed academically and beyond.
