Do The Right Thing reminds me a lot of Los Angeles in the ’90s. Following the acquittal of officers that brutally beat of Rodney King, thousands participated in looting, arson, and assault, in what became known as the LA Riots. The tensions between Blacks and the Koreans that existed in the movie somewhat reminded me of the killing of Latasha Harlins, which occured prior to the LA riots, and involved a Korean shopkeeper shooting a young Black girl in the head.
Something I found interesting about the movie was the repeated notion of America being a “free country.” It’s the justification for Sal to choose to exclusively put up photos of Italian-American actors, it’s what Mookie uses in explanation for why they can’t keep Buggin’ Out from coming back to the pizzeria, and it’s what the white man who lives in the neighborhood says when a group of Blacks express dissatisfaction with him living there. Overall, it’s the same concept but is used very differently by each character.
Another thing that was interesting was when Mookie was expressing racial insults against Italians, Pino against Blacks, Sonny against Jews, etc. They’re all minority groups, and occasionally work together, but seem to mostly carry a lot of hate for each other.
I can’t help but think of the lack of change that has happened since this movie was created and now. It seems as it has been about thirty years and the same themes of racism, identity, and violence are still at the ever present point of the battles that we, as a society, are confronting. As many have said, the scene where Radio Raheem is choked to death parallels George Floyd, Rodney King, and Eric Garner. I also think the characterization of Lee was super interesting as it is clear that stereotypically he may be seen as angry but within the movie I would say that he is much more introspective and somber.
MLK’s quote at the end of the film, specifically the line “destruction for all,” is so apt as a summary. I couldn’t help but feel bad for Sal when he was sitting on the steps of his burnt pizzeria, even though he couldn’t find any remorse in starting the fight that killed Radio Raheem. Pino as a character is really interesting to me because, other than the cops, he was the most hatefully racist character. There were so many acts of racism coming from all sides throughout the film; the asian americans in the convenience store are the characters that show this the most in my opinion. Radio Raheem and others make fun of their accents, and they make racist comments back, but at the end of the film the black community and the asian americans are mutually accepting. Pino, along with the cops and the white guy in the car, are so much more spiteful in their comments and actions, whereas the asian americans and the african americans seem more inconvenienced by each other in their more casual racism, and I just thought this dynamic was interesting.
After reading Ruthie’s response it seems like we both had very similar reactions to Do The Right Thing. I was immediately reminded of the recent murder of George Floyd and a representations of emotions, mentalities, and societal structures that promote racist ideology today. The fact that the films criticisms of American culture, in particular white culture, remain true some 25 years later is disheartening. I thought Do The Right Thing connected well with Citizen in that both of them show how many seemingly little things (no POC actors on the wall of fame / intentionally bad calls on the tennis court) can have such a massive impacts on the people they effect. Through this both works seem to urge an intentional look at ourselves to discover unknown microaggressions we may subconsciously or unknowingly present.
While watching this movie Rue and I first talked about the setting, the time period, the city, and of course the heat. Next we noticed the very clear race divisions, joking about the very stereotypical Italian names and the fact that they worked in a pizza shop. Although the beginning was slow, I agree that from the start there was a steady build of tension. It seemed like the action all happened at once and Raheem’s death was very sudden. The physical details that Spike Lee added in such as the wall of photos and Raheem’s boom box playing “Fight the Power” are the most important parts of the film and represent the race divisions.
I thought that Do The Right Thing did a good job of demonstrating the many tensions of people of different race and backgrounds had in a neighborhood. I thought that the character of Sal created an interesting dichotomy. In one sense, he was able to understand the poverty of the many figures like Da Major, and gave him money. However, he also refused to see the perspective of putting up pictures in his restaurant of important black figures like MLK Jr. This is why it led to so much of this tension because many of the people who supported his business and felt like it was a memorable place of their neighborhood were black. I also feel like the more I look at specific scenes in depth after watching the movie, I have begun to notice new small details. One, there is a picture of the pope behind the counter at Sal’s. This is interesting because usually the pope would represent peace and love, when in fact Sal’s restaurant became a place of hate. There are also so many other themes like responsibility, language, violence, feelings of being stuck, community, and heat, just to name a few that go beyond the major theme of race.
This was such an interesting movie. I was initially going to write about the interesting role of the narrator and how it sounded out of place, then learned I had accidentally watched the entire movie with audio descriptions on and there is in fact no narrator…
I think the 2 things that stood out to me the most was the use of the color red as both a border and unifying point, and the communal aspect of the entire film. I keep thinking to the scene with Mookie walking past the red wall with his red & black striped socks and how much of a border it looks like. Comments on both sides of the street are made about it, and it is so interesting.
I also agree with Ruthie & Jack about the build up towards the ending, and how much the hot day and tensions building foreshadowed in.
The ambiguity of the title feels powerful. Even in Malcom X and MLKj’s quotes at the end is disagreement about what constitutes “doing the right thing”. It seems so easy to just say it but so hard to determine who is actually “right”. The film embodies this in a powerful escalation of emotions and relationships. It shed a new light on my conception of how biases relate to conflicts and violence.
This movie felt very real despite the different time period and setting. Radio Raheem’s death was very reminiscent of George Floyd’s death and so many before it. I also think that is feels even closer to home with everything that happened last weekend on campus. It’s so unfortunate that racist events in the 1980s-1990s are still plaguing society today, it feels like every step we take forward we take two backwards.
I appreciated how the film makers built up the tension. I think that the setting of a really hot day was perfect foreshadowing for rising tensions, fiery outbursts, and eventually fire.
Do The Right Thing reminds me a lot of Los Angeles in the ’90s. Following the acquittal of officers that brutally beat of Rodney King, thousands participated in looting, arson, and assault, in what became known as the LA Riots. The tensions between Blacks and the Koreans that existed in the movie somewhat reminded me of the killing of Latasha Harlins, which occured prior to the LA riots, and involved a Korean shopkeeper shooting a young Black girl in the head.
Something I found interesting about the movie was the repeated notion of America being a “free country.” It’s the justification for Sal to choose to exclusively put up photos of Italian-American actors, it’s what Mookie uses in explanation for why they can’t keep Buggin’ Out from coming back to the pizzeria, and it’s what the white man who lives in the neighborhood says when a group of Blacks express dissatisfaction with him living there. Overall, it’s the same concept but is used very differently by each character.
Another thing that was interesting was when Mookie was expressing racial insults against Italians, Pino against Blacks, Sonny against Jews, etc. They’re all minority groups, and occasionally work together, but seem to mostly carry a lot of hate for each other.
I can’t help but think of the lack of change that has happened since this movie was created and now. It seems as it has been about thirty years and the same themes of racism, identity, and violence are still at the ever present point of the battles that we, as a society, are confronting. As many have said, the scene where Radio Raheem is choked to death parallels George Floyd, Rodney King, and Eric Garner. I also think the characterization of Lee was super interesting as it is clear that stereotypically he may be seen as angry but within the movie I would say that he is much more introspective and somber.
MLK’s quote at the end of the film, specifically the line “destruction for all,” is so apt as a summary. I couldn’t help but feel bad for Sal when he was sitting on the steps of his burnt pizzeria, even though he couldn’t find any remorse in starting the fight that killed Radio Raheem. Pino as a character is really interesting to me because, other than the cops, he was the most hatefully racist character. There were so many acts of racism coming from all sides throughout the film; the asian americans in the convenience store are the characters that show this the most in my opinion. Radio Raheem and others make fun of their accents, and they make racist comments back, but at the end of the film the black community and the asian americans are mutually accepting. Pino, along with the cops and the white guy in the car, are so much more spiteful in their comments and actions, whereas the asian americans and the african americans seem more inconvenienced by each other in their more casual racism, and I just thought this dynamic was interesting.
After reading Ruthie’s response it seems like we both had very similar reactions to Do The Right Thing. I was immediately reminded of the recent murder of George Floyd and a representations of emotions, mentalities, and societal structures that promote racist ideology today. The fact that the films criticisms of American culture, in particular white culture, remain true some 25 years later is disheartening. I thought Do The Right Thing connected well with Citizen in that both of them show how many seemingly little things (no POC actors on the wall of fame / intentionally bad calls on the tennis court) can have such a massive impacts on the people they effect. Through this both works seem to urge an intentional look at ourselves to discover unknown microaggressions we may subconsciously or unknowingly present.
While watching this movie Rue and I first talked about the setting, the time period, the city, and of course the heat. Next we noticed the very clear race divisions, joking about the very stereotypical Italian names and the fact that they worked in a pizza shop. Although the beginning was slow, I agree that from the start there was a steady build of tension. It seemed like the action all happened at once and Raheem’s death was very sudden. The physical details that Spike Lee added in such as the wall of photos and Raheem’s boom box playing “Fight the Power” are the most important parts of the film and represent the race divisions.
I thought that Do The Right Thing did a good job of demonstrating the many tensions of people of different race and backgrounds had in a neighborhood. I thought that the character of Sal created an interesting dichotomy. In one sense, he was able to understand the poverty of the many figures like Da Major, and gave him money. However, he also refused to see the perspective of putting up pictures in his restaurant of important black figures like MLK Jr. This is why it led to so much of this tension because many of the people who supported his business and felt like it was a memorable place of their neighborhood were black. I also feel like the more I look at specific scenes in depth after watching the movie, I have begun to notice new small details. One, there is a picture of the pope behind the counter at Sal’s. This is interesting because usually the pope would represent peace and love, when in fact Sal’s restaurant became a place of hate. There are also so many other themes like responsibility, language, violence, feelings of being stuck, community, and heat, just to name a few that go beyond the major theme of race.
This was such an interesting movie. I was initially going to write about the interesting role of the narrator and how it sounded out of place, then learned I had accidentally watched the entire movie with audio descriptions on and there is in fact no narrator…
I think the 2 things that stood out to me the most was the use of the color red as both a border and unifying point, and the communal aspect of the entire film. I keep thinking to the scene with Mookie walking past the red wall with his red & black striped socks and how much of a border it looks like. Comments on both sides of the street are made about it, and it is so interesting.
I also agree with Ruthie & Jack about the build up towards the ending, and how much the hot day and tensions building foreshadowed in.
The ambiguity of the title feels powerful. Even in Malcom X and MLKj’s quotes at the end is disagreement about what constitutes “doing the right thing”. It seems so easy to just say it but so hard to determine who is actually “right”. The film embodies this in a powerful escalation of emotions and relationships. It shed a new light on my conception of how biases relate to conflicts and violence.
This movie felt very real despite the different time period and setting. Radio Raheem’s death was very reminiscent of George Floyd’s death and so many before it. I also think that is feels even closer to home with everything that happened last weekend on campus. It’s so unfortunate that racist events in the 1980s-1990s are still plaguing society today, it feels like every step we take forward we take two backwards.
I appreciated how the film makers built up the tension. I think that the setting of a really hot day was perfect foreshadowing for rising tensions, fiery outbursts, and eventually fire.