So, Mr. Lee says he trusts you to figure out the movie. I want you to take him up on this compliment.
We broached the possibility that Box's drug deals on the corner may be a good bit like Bishop Enoch's work in Lil' Heaven. What do you think Spike Lee is saying about belief in this film? Is he satirizing it? Validating it? Something else? Give this some careful thought before you answer. Please post this blog by 8:00 Sunday evening. (That includes you, Yani.)
Belief plays a very important part in "Red Hook Summer." Each character has their own unique experience with belief. Bishop Enoch gains more belief and tries to spread it to others. Flik has no belief whatsoever. Flik's mother has no belief yet she was raised to have it. Box and his gang have lost their belief. The boy that Enoch took advantage of had his belief taken from him. Deacon Zee has belief not only in God but also in money. TK has belief in God and Bishop Enoch. Each character provides a different view on what belief is to them. This shows that belief in Mr. Lee's eyes changes from person to person. He in a way makes fun of it by having the Bishop take away the belief of a young boy when his job is to do the opposite. But he also plays serious cards when he has characters loose faith in the system like Box, or when TK still holds on to his faith in Bishop Enoch. Faith and belief can be defined in many different ways. It can be the common faith in a person, or the faith in God to save you. After Enoch gains a stronger faith he relies on it to get him through his troubles. Box leaves faith all together, only trusting on himself for him to survive. Faith can vary between different people. It is dealt in many ways throughout this movie.
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I don't believe that Mr. Lee is satirizing belief so much as critiquing it. Belief in this movie is never directly called a bad thing. Flik even accepts a cross necklace from Chazz at the end of the film, realizing that faith is a part of their relationship. What is criticized in this film is putting your faith before what is real and using faith to take advantage of others. Enoch wants to teach Flik to be religious, but Chazz's mother argues that faith should come after Enoch teaches Flik to be a good, responsible young man, and that Enoch should focus on building a relationship between him and his grandson, not his grandson and God. Enoch uses passages from the Bible as a justification to molest Blessing and uses his status as a preacher to get Blessing to do what he wants. Box claims that Enoch's preaching about religion is like a drug, and in a way, it is because it is something that allows people to escape the real world and live in of bliss without worry, which just isn't a healthy way to live.
I think that Spike Lee is saying that too much belief is bad. Similarly to money, at a certain point too much of it can corrupt, and too much faith can have a negative effect on certain people. For example, Enoch uses his faith to take advantage of that boy. He used his authority and faith to abuse that boy. And by Enoch doing this, he made the boy lose all his faith in God. And Enoch's daughter lost her belief and faith in religion after she had too much of it. Same with Box. Too much faith made them lose their faith. Too much faith results in people losing it completely, which is not Enoch's intention. He wants to spread faith in God and Jesus, but he ends up just making people lose their faith in religion. Mr. Lee is saying that a surplus of faith is not good for people, and makes people lose their faith even more.
ReplyDeleteI think that he is trying to show that belief can be a dangerous thing. Often times, one can become so attached to one belief that they allow many important aspects of their life fall apart. This was the case with Bishop Enoch. He used religion to try justify molesting blessing, and later he used it to forget about all the things going wrong in his life. He had a "God will take care of everything" attitude that was unhealthy, and frankly, a cowardly way to escape his problems. However, I don't think that spike lee is trying to say religion, or belief in general, is a negative thing. Maybe he is trying to say that putting all of your faith in one thing can be dangerous. I think another idea in this film is that one has to develop their own beliefs, it cannot be forced upon them. Flik's mother was raised in an extremely religious household, but she no longer attends church. When Flik first arrives on Red Hook, Enoch tries to force Christianity into his life. It is not until the end of the movie, when Flik has a better idea of himself that he seems to accept Christianity.
ReplyDeleteI think that Sipke Lee is approaching belief in two ways, first through the film and also his own personal opinion about how to relay the message of a film to an audience. In the film he has Flik ask questions about Jesus and faith in a critical way. Flick questions Bishop Enoch's faith in Jesus. These questions provoke emotional instability for Bishop Enoch because he belives that ultimatly, Jesus solves everything and if that is not true, then that would mean that Bishop Enoch was alone, with no family and no easy answers to the challenges that Red Hook faces. And without answers to people's worries, the Bishop would have much less respect and power in his community. Spike Lee shows that belief makes people stronger and having faith in something puts to rest a part of the mind that constantly worries about things and gives more freedom to live life. Bishop Enoch says that after many years of church he had healed himself and that he was a new man, his faith in God made him stronger, and even if there is no God, faith makes people stronger. In the interview, Lee says that he doesn't want to give an obvious message at the end of the movie but rather invites people to interpret it however they like. That brings multiple beliefs and opinions to the table which shows how he belives that anyone is entitled to believe in whatever they want. He also mentions the church scenes (my favorite) and says how they are powerful, and the reason they are powerful it shows people celebrating their belief in Jesus together and it shows how the church forms a community and brings people together. This is another example of faith bringing people together and making them stronger.
ReplyDeleteI think he is trying to show that belief can have some negative aspects. In this movie belief is like a drug you give money to have it and you feel good for a short period of time but after that you are back to reality. Also the people who went to the church didn't know everything about Enoch but they still trust him because they want his preaching in their lives. Similar to how we didn't know everything about Box but people still go to him for his product. So in the movie Box and Silas both can function without faith in their lives, but Enoch freaks out whenever someone disobeys their faith. So the overall message is that we can have faith in our lives, but we should not obsess to the point where it's a bad thing in your life.
ReplyDeleteJudging by the differences in belief in God, I don't think Spike Lee is satirizing belief, but rather he is showing that beliefs depends on what type of person you are and that it has a wide range of definitions. In the film, there are many different levels of belief in God. On the highest level, there are the bishops, the deacons and the sisters, who have full faith in God and in the church. On a middle tier is Flik, who in the beginning is not convinced by the power of God, but throughout the movie, develops an understanding of Him. On the lowest tier is Box and Blessing. I put them on the same level together because they both had their belief in God taken away from them; for Box, it was being caught up in the street life and for Blessing, it was Bishop Enoch, who made him read scriptures while the Bishop inappropriately touched him. Spike Lee does this to show why conflict can happen in towns like this. Since for some in the film, God is not a huge part of their lifestyle so it is hard for them to connect with their neighbors.
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