Can you believe it’s already Week 10? It feels as if I have just entered the Media lectorial for the first time, keen on taking on new knowledge and experiences. Yet here I am, writing about Week Ten’s initiative and reading, all in one post! Let’s get started.

In terms of the reading, it dived into the different types of perspectives that we may or may not be aware of. For example, it talked about the MEDIUM, LONG, CLOSE shots that have been previously discussed before (well in my Cinema class). These different types of shot produce a different type of reaction towards the audience – a close shot means intimacy and closeness whilst a long a shot portrays people as if they fall outside the viewer’s social orbit. Not only did the reading provide perspective in images but also sound. I think that is probably the most relevant in terms of project #4 mainly because we will be dealing with sound.

This reading was a perfect for my week ten initiative because! I want to discuss the movie ‘Do the Right Thing’ as my initiative for this week. I’m pretty sure I will stray away from sound perspectives but I’ll try my best to link the two completely different subject together. Whilst I was on the hunt for the analysis of this film, I came upon one where it discussed the different viewpoints of black and white people who viewed the film. Let’s use the character ‘Sal’ as an example –

(Source)

An Italian-American who owns a pizzeria in a black neighbourhood, there are arguments whether Sal was a racist or not – and relating to the perspective, it was between the perspective of the black and white people in America. To put it in a historical context, America was built on the foundations of African slavery, and some of the values continue to live in society overall.

Black people see Sal as someone who is ambiguous in terms of being racial sensitive, essentially seeing him as a racist.

To the eyes of the white people, Sal provided for this neighbourhood and offered his generosity and services to them.

These perspectives differ because of the different upbringing and childhood the viewers’ have experienced. If I were to relate it to the perspective of African Americans, they would usually see Sal from a public perspective, where his character falls outside from their social orbit, maybe because of their higher/lower social status. And as for the white audience, they would have a different perspective otherwise.

lyreca