Racism and Multiculturalism
Racism is still a major issue in America today. These two recent films, "Do the Right Thing" by Spike Lee and "Two Towns of Jasper" by Whitney Dow and Marco Williams, were made to expose these truths about American society, to better educate the people of America, and help prevent situations such as these from taking place.
Both of these of these films, "Do the Right Thing" and "Two Towns of Jasper" relate to the theory of exclusive multiculturalism. Exclusive multiculturalism is when a group of people only teaches of their own culture to restore one 's pride and self-esteem in their own culture. This in turn also creates a sense of ethnocentricity within the group. In the Spike Lee film "Do the Right Thing", every race has great pride in their own culture and shows it openly within their community of Bed-Sty, Brooklyn. Each group, the Italians, the blacks, the Hispanics, the Koreans and the white policemen, segregate themselves because they have all created their own ethnocentricity. They not only have pride in their own culture, but refuse to accept others. They 're community lacks cultural tolerance. Though "Two Towns of Jasper" also represents
exclusive multiculturalism, it 's a slightly different situation. Their ethnocentric attitudes are hidden behind closed doors, while the people of Bed-Sty outwardly put down the other races in their community. In the town of Jasper, there are only two races, the blacks and the whites, and by the way the movie was filmed, you can tell that they keep their truest thoughts to themselves and their own culture or race. Another difference between the two scenarios represented in each movie is the simple fact that one is fictional and the other is a documentary. The relationships that the races have between themselves in each of the movies are similar to each other but differ in many ways. They are similar in that each race within the community has a great sense of pride within themselves. Ethnocentricity
Both of these of these films, "Do the Right Thing" and "Two Towns of Jasper" relate to the theory of exclusive multiculturalism. Exclusive multiculturalism is when a group of people only teaches of their own culture to restore one 's pride and self-esteem in their own culture. This in turn also creates a sense of ethnocentricity within the group. In the Spike Lee film "Do the Right Thing", every race has great pride in their own culture and shows it openly within their community of Bed-Sty, Brooklyn. Each group, the Italians, the blacks, the Hispanics, the Koreans and the white policemen, segregate themselves because they have all created their own ethnocentricity. They not only have pride in their own culture, but refuse to accept others. They 're community lacks cultural tolerance. Though "Two Towns of Jasper" also represents
exclusive multiculturalism, it 's a slightly different situation. Their ethnocentric attitudes are hidden behind closed doors, while the people of Bed-Sty outwardly put down the other races in their community. In the town of Jasper, there are only two races, the blacks and the whites, and by the way the movie was filmed, you can tell that they keep their truest thoughts to themselves and their own culture or race. Another difference between the two scenarios represented in each movie is the simple fact that one is fictional and the other is a documentary. The relationships that the races have between themselves in each of the movies are similar to each other but differ in many ways. They are similar in that each race within the community has a great sense of pride within themselves. Ethnocentricity
Cited: Whitney Dow and Marcos Williams. "Two Towns of Jasper". Spike Lee. "Do the Right Thing". 1998. Nina Rosenstand. The Moral of the Story, An Introduction to Questions of Ethics and Human Nature (Mountain View, California: Mayfield Publishing Company, 1994).