Brecht and Do the Right Thing

Brecht’s Verfremdungseffekt or estrangement effect is a theatrical philosophy and technique used to distance the audience from the performance in such a way that inspires within them critical thinking and analysis (as opposed to getting “lost” in a fantastical epic). As Spike Lee makes films that are brutally insightful and thought-provoking, it is not coincidental that many parallels can be drawn between Brecht’s epic theatre and the direction of Do the Right Thing. Everything in the film seems to distance the audience from the film. The setting is not conventional as the narrative happens not only in one single day but also on one single block. And yet, the way Lee shoots the film makes the block seem quite bigger, larger than actual life would allow it to be. The shots are almost all saturated with color. Close-ups are frequently used at varying angles to create an odd relationship with space. Vignettes, like the racial slur montage or the “Love and Hate” monologue by Radio Raheem, are sprinkled throughout the film in fracturing ways. The juxtaposition of diametrically opposed philosophies in Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. is one of the more overt ways in which Lee distances the audience from the film. Simply from a formal standpoint, and however overwhelming Lee’s bombardments can be, there exists a consistency in the way Lee makes sure the audience knows it’s watching a film that is tackling complicated issues.