“Extra Cheese Costs $2”: Response #5

The New York Times defines civic engagement as, “working to make a difference in the civic life of our communities and developing the combination of knowledge, skills, values and motivation to make that difference. It means promoting the quality of life in a community, through both political and non-political processes”. After watching the film, Do the Right Thing, I think that one could argue that Mister Senor Love Daddy embodies what civic engagement should be. He remains a neutral character throughout the entire movie, always standing in the background and never choosing a side.

Civic engagement, to me, is heavily defined by peoples’ abilities to talk things through with one another. Love Daddy’s job essentially is to talk. He is a radio announcer, and his occupation is to provide entertainment and enjoyment to his listeners. As Radio Raheem and the Puerto Ricans blast their loud and distracting music, Love Daddy is shown playing soft and romantic tunes, with intentions to soothe his listeners’ minds. Love Daddy continuously broadcasts about the dying heat, and reminds all to stay cool. This heat, as I mentioned before, directly parallels to the rising violence within the community. Love Daddy’s constant urges to “cool down” lead me to believe that he is warning the community of the consequences that will soon result if the neighborhood does not set aside their differences and talk things through.

At the end of the film, Love Daddy stands in his radio station and watches through the glass, horrified, as all of the violence and rage within the community unleash. He takes no part in any of the turmoil, and cannot believe what he sees happening in his very own neighborhood. Love Daddy begins the movie with a catch phrase, “…that’s the truth, Ruth…”. Maybe if the community would have taken the time to face the truth and their problems instead of letting it boil over, things would have been different.

Love Daddy nonchalantly encourages the community to talk things through and to “cool down” their tempers. I feel that he embodies the idea of civic engagement completely but, as you can see at the end of the movie, no one listens to him. Love Daddy is just a voice on the radio; always there, but people do not take the time to listen to what he is really trying to say. The radio star never appears on the streets of the neighborhood, but is instead always behind a glass window, cut off from the rest of the world. Civic engagement is only successful if it is allowed to exist and flow throughout the community. Love Daddy’s inability to do this very thing symbolizes civic engagement’s inability to exist in this neighborhood. Mister Senor Love Daddy most definitely symbolizes civic engagement in this film.

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