Ali: Fear Eats the Soul and Do the Right thing; A comparison of race relations through the lens

of dominant culture

Working hypothesis: Both of these films take a direct look at how a dominant culture

surrounding a minority treat and view those minorities.

In Ali: Fear Eats the Soul the audience is shown an immigrant minority attempting to

integrate into a new society. This attempt at integration is focused through the character of Ali

and his struggles to fit into a new life in which he, and by extension, his loved ones mainly Emmi

become pariahs due to how the dominant culture views him specifically. (scenes that show this

type of viewpoint- when Ali initially comes to Emmi’s apartment and the rest of the flat mates

discuss who he is in some seemingly derogatory terms. Rather than looking at him as a human

they frame the sum total of his personality based on his skin and ethnicity.)

For Do the Right Thing the perspective the audience is shown is slightly different from

that in Ali: Fear Eats the Soul in that rather than seeing a minority integrating into the dominant

society, the audience is shown a community of the minority and how they interact with

dominant culture pushing in from the outside. (First easily seen instance of this occurs when Sal

first enters the film. Arriving at his pizzeria in an expensive(ish) car from out of the area in

what’s described as an Italian neighborhood. One of his children expresses hatred for the

location and those people inside. Despite being the minority in this location he still takes a

stance as if he is above these people, even in this “foreign” land.)

While both films evoke a strong sense of colonialism and its dominance over others that are

essentially held hostage within the borders of the dominant culture Do the Right Thing gives the
audience a deeper look into how the subculture or minority culture represents itself as opposed

to Ali: Fear Eats the Soul in which the minority culture is represented mainly by a single

character. This leads to a power dynamic difference.

This power difference between films is characterized by the black community’s more

involved responses to outside stimuli. They are more aggressive or proactive as opposed to Ali’s

more passive nature. (scene demonstrating this-multiple characters approach Sal about

hanging up pictures of black people as opposed to solely Italians, when he refuses, they plan a

boycott of his restaurant. This shows the proactive nature of their community as a whole and

rather than taking it on the shoulder and brushing it off these people in this community follow

through and actively pursue this cause.) This passive nature doesn’t mean he doesn’t feel the

effects of the power dynamic, it instead means that he only shoulders the burden. (Scene

showing this-the scene in which Ali describes the phrase “Kif Kif” and how he uses it to shrug off

the hate of others, and rather than opposing them simply living his life in the best way he can.”

Both sides have their merit and both films seek to describe the outcomes of each

method. (Scene showing the passive resistance of the hatred from those around Emmi in which

after just a short amount of time away the returning Emmi and Ali are no longer a hated duo. In

contrast the large shakeup of power and opinions of the minority group after Raheem’s death

and the incendiary reaction that follows. Ie life is difficult and those above feel as if they can do

things and get away with them but a tipping point is reached in which something must change

for better or worse.)