Was the store clerk a pervert?

No he was no perv, he was just swatting her outside.

I am the prototype

I just saw this on BET last night, and yes, the clerk did seem a little suspect by todays standard. First he asked for a kiss on the cheek and when the girl said no, he threated to tell her mother.
Then as he kicked troy out the store he swatted her butt, but of course this is me looking at this with 2008 eyes.
If the movies was set in the 70's or 80's it was most likely nothing.

I think Spike Lee was trying to show how kids deal with all kinds of *beep* every day, from getting beat up by older kids to having pervy adults come up on them -- and how kids are strong, smart, and resilient, like the girl who won't kiss the guys and when he says he's tell her mother defiantly says "go AHEAD!" Or how Troy smshes the glue-huffer over the head and tells him to get out of the neighborhood.

So, yes, I think he's implying the grocer might be a little creepy re: pretty little girls.

I thought it was kind of weird how he was almost demanding that that little girl give him a kiss on the cheek. She handled it well though when he threatened to tell her mother. She answered, "Tell her." That was so funny.
There are so many great scenes in this movie. It's so underrated.

Interesting thought. I don't know about you, but I grew up in the '70s, and it was typical for adults--close acquaintances or even strangers--to discipline other people's children. That's how I saw the shop keeper's swatting gesture, since Troy was trying to shoplift.

As for the other comments about his asking the other girl for a kiss, back then, men did things like that all the time. I thought it was indicative of the relationship he had with her family. Communities used to stick together; people weren't alienated from their neighbors, so it wouldn't have been a big deal for a relative or family friend to ask for a kiss. Not that he couldn't have been pervy, too!



Deep inside, in your mind, you will find no reason; there's no rhyme — are you now?

I think a real pervert would be the last one to act like a pervert in a public place.

First, the pat in the butt was just a way to push her outside, so she can get the hell out of there, since what she did was serious in his mind, she deserved to be treated like that, he'd have done the same to a boy and the movie insisted on showing that she was still looking like a child, not even a pre-teen, which would have made the gesture more suspicious.

For the other one, it's more ambiguous. I still don't think he was a pervert but it was an awkward way to treat her like the 'grown-up' girl she wanted to look like, when she shoplifts, she has a sort a flirtatious smile as if she knew she could almost get away with it even if he suspected something, she enjoyed playing the pretty girl card and he was just pushing that little game a bit too far. And yes, it's disturbing from today's standards.

Still, it's incredible how everything is judged now on a binary basis, either something is black or white, while there are many layers in people's behaviour, you can't just label someone as a pervert because of one look or a gesture without taking the context into consideration, otherwise, anyone can become guilty on suspicion.

"Darth Vader is scary and I The Godfather"

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As a kid in the 70's neighborhoods were close knit. When i would get in trouble somewhere someone would yell or swat my behind then tell my parents so they could yell and swat my behind. People just looked after each other then. it literally took a neighborhood to raise a child in those days. As far as the clerk being a perv. He knew her mother, thus why he threatened to tell her. He was either a close family friend or could've been a relative. I know about pervs in the 70's.. they weren't as blatant and out in the open with their pervness.. If you ran into one of them, you best believe the only way he would mention your mama would be to not tell her anything!


Everything i know i learned from After School Specials. 