At a crucial point in Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing,” the viewer watches in an interaction between Spike Lee’s character Mookie and Sal’s son Vito, in which the two dispute the significance of a person’s Blackness when they happen to be role models or enormously talented. Mookie poses the question: are the people you look up to, like Magic Johnson and Eddie Murphy, not black? Do the omnipresent racial biases Vito carries not apply to Black people who he happens to admire them? This is an important discussion because, other than simply allowing Vito to acknowledge the hypocrisy of his feeble logic, it forces a raised-racist white person to acknowledge that his irrational reasoning because of the composure of a Black person to package and present this information nicely to him. The lack of hostility from Mookie’s character is what makes the scene profound because obviously, he has every reason to interrogate and villainize Vito, but instead of being combative he merely explains why it’s absurd to think the way Vito is thinking.
The idea of being prompted to think about how discriminated-against groups live every day, from the point of view of a non-discriminated against group, is handled similarly in Citizen. Though less confrontationally, Do the Right Thing allows the viewer to explore life as a Black person facing discrimination in many different aspects of life. This scene particularly elucidates what it’d be like to have to explain basic human rights and equality to a man with a deep-seated racist conception of Black people.
I greatly enjoyed this film. The acting was at such a high level that each character, or group of characters representing different types of people living in the town Brooklyn where the movies was set, were developed so intricately. The camera angles played a big role throughout the film. Spike Lee uses obscure angles to portray different situations and, in some cases, uses a camera angle that make some character look much smaller than others. The specific scene that I am mentioning is the one where Radio Rahim comes in the pizza shop to buy a couple slices. He walks in blasting his radio making the owner of the shop angry who demands him, Radio Rahim, to turn it down. Throughout this whole tension filled interaction, the angle of the shot made Radio Rahim much taller and somewhat daunting when looking through the eyes of Sal, the owner of the pizza shop. This entire movie is based on the tensions between different races and racism in the united states. The film beautiful shows how divided our society can be. Furthermore, the angles help create the black individuals as daunting and somewhat scary. This helps create the divide that Spike Lee was looking to portray throughout his brilliant film, “Do The Right Thing.”
In the film, “Do the Right Thing”, Spike Lee comments on white ownership of spaces which is a concept that is echoed in Citizen by Claudia Rankine. In one scene, Sal is repeatedly asked, “why there no brothers up on the wall?” The camera focuses on the images, specifically the eyes, of many white men on the wall, and the voices that are heard in the background are voices of African Americans who are eating in the shop. Sal replies, “American-Italians on the wall only”, which Buggin’ out then questions as there are dominantly black folks eating in the pizza shop, but there are no images of African Americans on the wall. Buggin’ Out crafts a greater argument of underrepresentation of people of color in relation to the white dominance of the space. Although the majority of the customers are black and their purchases keep the shop going, Lee highlights the continuous marginalization of African Americans.
Following this scene, later in the film, the repeated desire for representation is presented: “we want the black people on the f***ing wall NOW!” As Sal addresses this statement with a comment to turn off their music, they respond how it is not about the music, it is about the wall. Lee intentionally crafts this interaction to display how initially they are not on common ground. Both parties are coming from separate places and understandings, as Sal is focused on the music, and they are arguing for representation on the wall. Sal’s thrown insult of “f**k your music” is a direct attack against black culture, and the scene violently unfolds as he smashes the radio, playing music that symbolizes of their black culture, with a baseball bat – physically representing his destruction and hatred. As the scene escalates into a physical fight, the screen then flashes to a photo on the wall – an image of boxers, one of them African American and one white. This image highlights the only display of African American’s in Sal’s is one of aggression. The visualization and representation of African Americans in sports also circles back around to connect to Citizen. Lee uses the film to speak to issues of racialization between whites and blacks.
In Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing, black characters are depicted in an animal-like manner in a lot of ways. The majority of the characters in the movie are of black ethnicity, and although some of them are depicted in a humane manner, some characters such as Radio Raheem and the group headed by Cee. I believe this characterization serves in a number of ways to dehumanize these characters in a satirical fashion. In the case of Radio Raheem, this dehumanization could serve to numb the viewer to his death at the end of the movie.
In examination of the character of Radio Raheem, we see the way in most of the interactions that he is a part of are very cinematic or overdramatized. Whereas most of the rest of the characters can be identified having some superficial or developing interactions with the other characters, Radio Raheem is seen almost always in a confrontational sense, seen competing to raise the volume of his boombox higher than competitors or imposing some kind of intimidation factor on the other characters. Additionally, Radio Raheem is often depicted visually in a different manner than the other characters. Often when he is shown, the camera is closer to him and at an uncomfortable angle. This discomfort caused by the cinematic form creates a greater separation between the viewer and Radio Raheem. It is important to note that this cinematic style is used with other characters at some points, but with Radio Raheem this happens much more frequently. It could be argued that this directorial choice was made with the knowledge that Radio Raheem would be brutally killed by the police at the end of the movie. By animalizing Radio Raheem, Lee could have been trying to create the desensitized reaction to police brutality within the movie as it also appears in real life.
Another example of this animalization of black characters can be seen in the neighborhood group headed by Cee. In this group, the 4 characters are only ever depicted together, and are never seen acting apart. Additionally, they often act with reference to each other, as in the way that one of they may make a comment, and the other three simply add on to that comment. This group is most often seen heckling other characters. In this way they are characterized as a pack of animals, like a murder of crows or a wake of vultures. This has the effect of satirically reinforcing the “gang-mentality” stereotype that often is applied to black culture. Additionally, this dehumanization again serves to address the unconscious bias possessed by whites toward blacks.
Fahmid Rashid
Do The Right Thing Response
April 25th, 2019
Spike Lee’s “Do The Right Thing” investigates the close ties between minorities in a Black community in Brooklyn. Through the lens of his character, Mookie, we are taken on a journey into the workings of the Italian-American working class, as well as the disputes arising from various power structures between the several ethnicities. This is made evident, for example, from one of the most basic necessities; food. Sal’s Pizza, which is shown to be a popular hub of social gathering in the neighborhood the movie takes place in, is run by an Italian-American. Similarly, a Korean household runs the shop across from Sal’s. Despite being run by minorities –both in the United States as a whole, as well as the community the movie takes place in – these two shops are staples in this society.
The film’s ending is a very powerful scene. As it closes off with two opposing views about violence and resolution from Martin Luther King and Malcolm X (both of whom are prominent, well respected figures in the American American movement) before it fades away to a photograph of them shaking hands. Not only is this an allusion to an earlier scene of Smiley meandering around the neighborhood trying to sell colored pictures of the aforementioned leaders, it also serves as a metaphor for the ongoing dispute and tension between the multiple ethnic communities coexisting. Much like Smiley wandering back into the smoldering remains of Sal’s Pizzeria to finally hang a picture of a “brother” on the Wall of Fame, and much like Mookie and Sal reconciling due to Mookie’s demand of his weekly pay, the closing minutes of the film also remind us of an important lesson; despite all the differences between human beings, it is possible to coexist without the harm of one another.
Madison Middleton
April 24, 2019
“Do the Right Thing” Response
In his film “Do the Right Thing,” Spike Lee highlights misunderstandings between individuals and cultural groups. On a hot day in New York City, he meticulously interweaves a myriad of storylines to slowly build tension until all breaks forth and results in tragedy. Throughout the film, Lee represents different American identities: African-American, Jamaican-American, Italian-American, Korean, Puerto Rican. The police, another force altogether, float in-and-out of the story. In one instance, Lee frames a stare-off between three Jamaican-Americans and the police in their cop car. The moment is intense and quiet, underscored by slow jazz. When it ends, instead of railing against the police, the three black men instead turn their attention to the Koreans across the street running a bodega, proclaiming that the Korean immigrants are the problem in the neighbourhood despite their contribution to the community economically and industrially. By redirecting their attention to the Koreans, they also redirect the responsibility that the police have for subjugating the neighbourhood. Instead of blaming the systemic source of oppression, Lee’s characters continuously misidentify the true cause of their issues.
This conflict comes to fruition when Radio Raheem is murdered by the police, and instead of the police being held responsible, the neighbourhood community destroys the local pizzeria. This event brings a larger argument of Lee’s film into focus: What is the right thing to do in moments of tension? The title of the film directly poses this issue by asserting “do the right thing.” By the end of the film, though, one wonders if violence or nonviolence is the answer. Lee concludes the film with two quotes by Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X. The latter adheres to the path of violence, stating that within the context of self-defense, bloodshed is “intelligence.” In this case, the riot at the end of the film was an intelligent act of self-expression and self-preservation. However, King claims that violence is “impractical because it is a descending spiral ending in destruction for all.” Lee suspends the film between these two ideas. The film leaves the audience with the complete and fiery destruction of the neighbourhood pizza shop — the destruction for all — but also the self-validation of a community who lost one of their members to police brutality. The audience, too, is left with the unanswerable question: What is the “right” thing to do in the face of oppression?
Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing,” poses a variety of questions about race, gender, and social hierarchy within a concentrated two hour period. Lee put himself into the movie, centering the narrative around his voice as the all encompassing eye. Lee, as Mookie, sees most of Brooklyn. He sees the workings of the Italian-American conflict, the Black community of Brooklyn, and even the Latinx narrative. He listens to Pino, listens to his steady racism, and speaks to it easily. He doesn’t react except to lightly correct. He directs fluidly, and navigates race unlike any other character. At one point, his friend tells him to “Stay Black,” as he leaves the white space of the pizza shop. Suggesting that, although Mookie’s identity as a Black man was apparent through his appearance, the fluidity of his relationship between different racial spaces could effect the identity most commonly associated with him by a societal and personal standard.
The cuts of insults between various members of the communities of Brooklyn are stunted by Love Daddy yelling “You all need to chill out,” breaking his character as smooth talking radio DJ into the urgent voice looking in. His break in commentary seems personal, as do the rest of the insults, as the broken fourth wall brings the audience into the movie. Viewers, at this point, may ask themselves what role they play in the plot line, if Spike Lee is hashing out insults and bringing the fire of conflict to screen to poke at his viewers. In this sense, he fiddles with the pleasure of entertainment and wonders at the role it can play in education. He brings various perspectives into his artistic piece, even that of the audience, suggesting that they can all exist in the same space but questioning how cohesively they can actually live amongst one another.
Spike Lee brilliantly demonstrated the thin line that separates a divided society from violence. The film’s setting was especially important. On the hottest day of the summer, everyone is on edge. Hot days in cities tend to be the most violent for many reasons. People are forced into the streets just to deal with the heat, often inviting conflict. And of course, people tend to get stressed more easily when they are too hot. This situation creates the perfect conditions for a minor incident to become a riot. Spike Lee’s film shows that in the right conditions, the racial tension that exists in any cultural melting pot can burst into violence. An innocuous question, like when Buggin’ Out asks Sal why his wall only includes pictures of Italian people, can be the tipping point that sends a neighborhood into turmoil. One of my favorite things about this film was that this tension was present in different ways almost every shot. Every detail, from the vibrant city walls to the orange/ gold tint to the sweat that covered every character reminded the viewer of the setting. I could feel the heat for the entire movie.
Do the Right Thing ends with two quotes, each presenting a different view of violence. Films rarely do this, they almost always use one quote to present their message. Instead, Spike Lee presents too sides of a conflict, leaving the audience to contemplate the relationship between violence and non violence. The film suggests that the two may be more closely related than we assume.
Bruce Lee’s Do the Right Thing is an up close look at race relations in a predominantly black Brooklyn neighborhood. The film contains several different ethnic communities, all of which come into friction with one another is some fashion. There are inherent power structures built into the fragment of the movie. Sal’s Pizza, for example, provides the most popular meal in the neighborhood; it is run by an Italian-American. In addition, the shop across the street, which supplies the community with plenty of Miller Lite, is owned by a Korean family. Even in this majority black neighborhood, the individuals in power come from a different background, much to the chagrin of its inhabitants.
Another interesting note from Do the Right Thing is the color scheme: the movie is shot with almost entirely red backgrounds and a ton of red costuming. I believe that this represents two ideas. First, red is symbolic of the heat on the “hottest day of the summer, contributing to the rising tensions between different community members. Second, red is foreshadowing of Radio Raheem’s death in the movie’s final act at the hands of a New York police officer.
In my viewing of Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing,” I found the high-pressure water to be a compelling image, specifically in how two scenes (one in the beginning of the film and one in the end) are juxtaposed but both represent symbolic references to the Civil Rights Moment. The water first appears when two boys unscrew a fire hydrant to provide a refreshing stream of water in which to play in on a hot day. The kids and teenagers of the block play and laugh in the water, taking turns being blasted by the water. However, the high pressure water blasting black bodies reminded me of videos of protestors being driven back by police power hoses during the civil rights moment. I believe that the water was used in this cheerful moment as an homage to the Civil Rights Moment of the 1960’s and reminds viewers that many of the film’s characters’s circumstances are a result of black oppression.
This scene directly foreshadowed and juxtaposed the finale scene in which firefighters arrive with their hoses to put out the fire in Sal’s Pizzeria. They arrive with riot police and they arrive to find the crowd chanting, “Power to the people!” in front of the burning building, so there is a brief moment where I wondered whether the hoses were meant for the crowd. However, the firefighters immediately started putting out the fire. However, it doesn’t go as planned and there is about a minute of chaos when their hoses start to slip and fail them, leading to shots in which black individuals are seen being simultaneously beaten by the riot police’s wooden sticks and blasted by the water hoses. This is an even more implicit reference to the Civil Rights Moment than the first scene, injecting the theme of historical protest into a riot that was started by the police’s murder of Radio Raheem, an innocent black man.
Do The Right Things Response
William Blastos
Literary Borders
4/24/19
Spike Lee’s Do The Right Things is a close look at an Italian-American pizzeria in a predominantly black neighborhood in Brooklyn. The pizzeria represents a hub of activity in the neighborhood, but the owner of the establishment refuses to put black celebrities on his “Wall of Fame,” instead he only features Italian-American celebrities. His son, Pino, is overtly racist and openly detests working in the black neighborhood, saying things like “I’m sick of n******, it’s like I come to work and it’s Planet of the Apes.” Statements like this illustrate a key point that the film addresses, the way in which white people differentiate from and raise themselves above people of color. Pino’s character is the most overtly racist and so he is the most obvious example of this differentiation in the film. From the first moments of the film when he, his father, and his brother open the pizzeria he sees himself as too good for this black neighborhood, despite the fact that his family would be nothing without the neighborhood’s business. Lee highlights the overt racist principles in Pino to make them obvious, and thus when the Sal is racist in a more understated way, the viewer can understand his racism even though it presents itself in a less obvious way. Sal’s racism presents itself in his refusal to put any black “brothers” on his “Wall of Fame.” Implicitly this means that he does not believe that there are black celebrities worthy of being on his wall, and that the Italian-American celebrities are inherently better than them. This is the point of contention that is the catalyst for the major conflict in the film.
So, Lee develops this contentious relationship between the Italian-American family and the black neighborhood in Do The Right Thing in order to highlight how white people are often willing to use people of color as a stepping stone to find success and make money, but will continue to view themselves as superior. In portraying this relationship, Lee represents the dynamics of real life and how racism was and is widespread in many racially segregated neighborhoods in urban areas. His fictional black Brooklyn neighborhood is a representation of the real life dynamics that neighborhoods akin to the one in the film deal with everyday.
The scene that must struck me in Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing was the fire hydrant scene. To cool off from the massive heat wave, the neighborhood breaks open a fire hydrant. The water comes flooding out, its pressure continuously increasing. More and more people come to enjoy the water, laughing and splashing each other. Water sprays and completely covers the camera. Then, a young teenage girl, contently watching from a distance, is forcibly picked up and carried into the powerful steam. She lets out a (blood curdling? horror-movieesque) scream and struggles to get out of his grip. She eventually gets out, and runs away, humiliated, as others laugh (a very disconcerting moment). A quick shot shows one of the Puerto Rican young men, who the audience had seen a few minutes earlier drinking a beer away from the action , being thrown into the water. Then the man with the pamphlets is pushed into the water against his will. All the while, the song “Can’t Stand It”, by the British reggae group Steel Pulse plays in the background. At first, it works, as the music makes it seem like it’s a relaxed, fun, summer-time neighborhood scene. But then the scene becomes disconcerting as this seemingly relaxed music plays over strangely violent, mob-like activity. Radio Raheem makes an appearance, as do Sal’s sons, who are in the background arguing as they clean their father’s car. Then a racist Italian-American drives through, and after a tense exchange with the people controlling the fire hydrant spray demanding that they not hurt his antique car, is subsequently soaked upon driving through the street. The unsettling nature of this scene seems to come from, though the viewer doesn’t realize in the moment, the fact that the scene is directly foreshadowing Radio Raheem’s death and Sal’s pizzeria being destroyed in a fire. Nearly all the major players make an appearance: Radio Raheem (who the neighborhood excitedly waves to as he walks by the scene), Sal’s kids, the cops, Italian-American superiority (not just economic superiority, but also superiority from having been granted a higher standing in American society), racism towards African-Americans, and a powerful mob mentality. And throughout this scene, water, something that could have put out the fire in Sal’s place and maybe make peace, is drained away.
Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing battles with the effect of implicit and explicit racism during the 1980s in Brooklyn, New York, post civil-right movement in a supposedly “equal” America. The movie is written, directed, and starred in by Spike Lee in 1989, and demonstrates the effects of systematic racism through gentrification, bias, and implicit hatred for black individuals. Furthermore, this film demonstrates the fire burning within black individuals and their desire for a social movement revolving around true equality, feeding that fire with the words of the recently deceased Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Spike Lee uses Smiley, one of the only white characters, to demonstrate the importance of the black power movement in this Brooklyn community, but also the way in which white society still tries to reap benefits from minority groups.
Lee casts smiley as a mentally disabled, white individual who attempts to sell the images of Malcolm X and MLK to black individuals as a way to portray how white society and business attempt to minimize and profit off of black minority groups. Smiley is often seen attempting to sell his pictures to Mookie to which he always rejects. In one scene as Mookie is walking down the street and Smiley asks him to buy a picture, Mookie asks him to leave with increasing intensity and proficiency that Smiley is portrayed running away in tears. This altercation could be a representation of the influence of whiteness and its intrusion within black spaces, or its crossing of boundaries. Smiley, though well intended, makes his photos unique by drawing on them, but by doing so, he is metaphorically taking the black power movement, built off the words of these two figures, and turning it into something sold to black people for the benefit of the white majority. Similarly, Smiley represents how even after Malcolm X and MLK have done their job and passed away, even after the Civil Rights Act, white people still reap benefits, or at least attempt to, from marginalized groups. Another example is Sal’s confession that his business is built off the money of black individuals. In his context, it is a rather endearing respect for the business of this community, but it still demonstrates the same parallel.
In Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing, sight, watching, and perspective convey the animosity between different groups of people more than vocalized sentiments. The moments of watching convey all the drama, the tension that is fueled by the eerie, unspoken hate. During one scene, two police officers drive past the three men that try to escape the blistering heat under an umbrella. It is a slow shot as they pass each other and shows that the two groups lead very different lives. They watch each other like it’s only the summer heat that unites them, and it’s not surprising that the heat turns into a raging fire by the end of the film. The fire brings with it another moment of sight’s influence. As Sal’s burns, the camera eventually moves to a shot of the wall of fame. The flames lick up the wall and the glass of one frame starts to melt and it looks like the wall is crying. The utter destruction is horrific and triumphant and reflected in the eyes of the onlookers; no one quite knows whether to cheer or weep.
The reoccurring idea of perspective culminates in the scenes with Radio Raheem. The camera zooms and tilts upwards at his face and tilts downwards at what he looks at. With Raheem, Lee creates a character who is not afraid to get up close and personal. Does the tilted camera mean that Raheem has a skewed view of the world, or is the world itself not quite right? As Raheem is being choked to death, both love and hate fail him. There’s horror in the eyes of his black friends and fear in the eyes of the watching police officer. Malice is the easiest to see in the assailant.
Cecilia Needham
April 23, 2019
Do the Right Thing Response
In Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing, black women are silenced in the revolution for civil rights just as black men and people in general are erased out of American history and marginalized by society and government. After Mookie and Jade are arguing about whether or not Sal wanted to have sex with Jade, they walk away to reveal, “Tawana told the truth!” spray painted in plain white letters on the red brick behind them. In 1987, Tawana Brawley was found in in alley naked covered in feces and racial slurs. She accused three white men, including policemen, for raping her. The racially and politically charged case went to trial and deemed that Tawana had staged the event. Leading up to and following the ruling, there were many black protests with posters painted like the wall behind Mookie and Jade. There are many other examples of black women being silenced in Do the Right Thing, such as when Ella’s three male friends repeatedly tell at her, screaming, to “SHUT UP!” or when they carry her into the powerful water of the fire hydrant against her will. Mookie doesn’t listen to Tina yelling at him over the phone and in the movie’s climax, when the white and black men are fighting in Sal’s Famous Pizzeria, Ella is crying, screaming to “Stop!” but her voice is inaudible over the violence.
Does it matter if Tawana specifically was telling the truth? This case was a product of society and doesn’t seem that impractical based on other violent, evil, racist atrocities committed at the time, including by policemen. The case of Tawana Brawley is a metaphor for black women, an emblem for how they were treated at the time: raped, racialized, and treated like waste. These examples throughout the movie show this. Just like the violent, righteous ransackers of Sal’s were silenced by the firefighter’s powerful spray, Ella was silenced by the seemingly playful hack of the fire hydrant. Mookie silenced Tina by not listening to her on the phone and hanging up. And the male’s brawling drowned out Ella’s protests arguing for peace. Jade is not allowed a say in her own story as Mookie and Sal decide who will be having sex with her. Minimized by racism and sexism, women in Do the Right Thing are erased from the revolutionary narrative, described when Buggin’ Out says that Africans started civilization and will one day rule again. They are silenced just as black people in general in American society as seen through police brutality in the movie. Tawana Brawley is an example of this, and her story is the upsetting, undeniable truth of black women of the time.
Augie Schultz
Prof. Cassarino
4/24/19
Lit Borders
At a crucial point in Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing,” the viewer watches in an interaction between Spike Lee’s character Mookie and Sal’s son Vito, in which the two dispute the significance of a person’s Blackness when they happen to be role models or enormously talented. Mookie poses the question: are the people you look up to, like Magic Johnson and Eddie Murphy, not black? Do the omnipresent racial biases Vito carries not apply to Black people who he happens to admire them? This is an important discussion because, other than simply allowing Vito to acknowledge the hypocrisy of his feeble logic, it forces a raised-racist white person to acknowledge that his irrational reasoning because of the composure of a Black person to package and present this information nicely to him. The lack of hostility from Mookie’s character is what makes the scene profound because obviously, he has every reason to interrogate and villainize Vito, but instead of being combative he merely explains why it’s absurd to think the way Vito is thinking.
The idea of being prompted to think about how discriminated-against groups live every day, from the point of view of a non-discriminated against group, is handled similarly in Citizen. Though less confrontationally, Do the Right Thing allows the viewer to explore life as a Black person facing discrimination in many different aspects of life. This scene particularly elucidates what it’d be like to have to explain basic human rights and equality to a man with a deep-seated racist conception of Black people.
Joe Levitan
Professor Cassarino
4/25/19
I greatly enjoyed this film. The acting was at such a high level that each character, or group of characters representing different types of people living in the town Brooklyn where the movies was set, were developed so intricately. The camera angles played a big role throughout the film. Spike Lee uses obscure angles to portray different situations and, in some cases, uses a camera angle that make some character look much smaller than others. The specific scene that I am mentioning is the one where Radio Rahim comes in the pizza shop to buy a couple slices. He walks in blasting his radio making the owner of the shop angry who demands him, Radio Rahim, to turn it down. Throughout this whole tension filled interaction, the angle of the shot made Radio Rahim much taller and somewhat daunting when looking through the eyes of Sal, the owner of the pizza shop. This entire movie is based on the tensions between different races and racism in the united states. The film beautiful shows how divided our society can be. Furthermore, the angles help create the black individuals as daunting and somewhat scary. This helps create the divide that Spike Lee was looking to portray throughout his brilliant film, “Do The Right Thing.”
In the film, “Do the Right Thing”, Spike Lee comments on white ownership of spaces which is a concept that is echoed in Citizen by Claudia Rankine. In one scene, Sal is repeatedly asked, “why there no brothers up on the wall?” The camera focuses on the images, specifically the eyes, of many white men on the wall, and the voices that are heard in the background are voices of African Americans who are eating in the shop. Sal replies, “American-Italians on the wall only”, which Buggin’ out then questions as there are dominantly black folks eating in the pizza shop, but there are no images of African Americans on the wall. Buggin’ Out crafts a greater argument of underrepresentation of people of color in relation to the white dominance of the space. Although the majority of the customers are black and their purchases keep the shop going, Lee highlights the continuous marginalization of African Americans.
Following this scene, later in the film, the repeated desire for representation is presented: “we want the black people on the f***ing wall NOW!” As Sal addresses this statement with a comment to turn off their music, they respond how it is not about the music, it is about the wall. Lee intentionally crafts this interaction to display how initially they are not on common ground. Both parties are coming from separate places and understandings, as Sal is focused on the music, and they are arguing for representation on the wall. Sal’s thrown insult of “f**k your music” is a direct attack against black culture, and the scene violently unfolds as he smashes the radio, playing music that symbolizes of their black culture, with a baseball bat – physically representing his destruction and hatred. As the scene escalates into a physical fight, the screen then flashes to a photo on the wall – an image of boxers, one of them African American and one white. This image highlights the only display of African American’s in Sal’s is one of aggression. The visualization and representation of African Americans in sports also circles back around to connect to Citizen. Lee uses the film to speak to issues of racialization between whites and blacks.
In Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing, black characters are depicted in an animal-like manner in a lot of ways. The majority of the characters in the movie are of black ethnicity, and although some of them are depicted in a humane manner, some characters such as Radio Raheem and the group headed by Cee. I believe this characterization serves in a number of ways to dehumanize these characters in a satirical fashion. In the case of Radio Raheem, this dehumanization could serve to numb the viewer to his death at the end of the movie.
In examination of the character of Radio Raheem, we see the way in most of the interactions that he is a part of are very cinematic or overdramatized. Whereas most of the rest of the characters can be identified having some superficial or developing interactions with the other characters, Radio Raheem is seen almost always in a confrontational sense, seen competing to raise the volume of his boombox higher than competitors or imposing some kind of intimidation factor on the other characters. Additionally, Radio Raheem is often depicted visually in a different manner than the other characters. Often when he is shown, the camera is closer to him and at an uncomfortable angle. This discomfort caused by the cinematic form creates a greater separation between the viewer and Radio Raheem. It is important to note that this cinematic style is used with other characters at some points, but with Radio Raheem this happens much more frequently. It could be argued that this directorial choice was made with the knowledge that Radio Raheem would be brutally killed by the police at the end of the movie. By animalizing Radio Raheem, Lee could have been trying to create the desensitized reaction to police brutality within the movie as it also appears in real life.
Another example of this animalization of black characters can be seen in the neighborhood group headed by Cee. In this group, the 4 characters are only ever depicted together, and are never seen acting apart. Additionally, they often act with reference to each other, as in the way that one of they may make a comment, and the other three simply add on to that comment. This group is most often seen heckling other characters. In this way they are characterized as a pack of animals, like a murder of crows or a wake of vultures. This has the effect of satirically reinforcing the “gang-mentality” stereotype that often is applied to black culture. Additionally, this dehumanization again serves to address the unconscious bias possessed by whites toward blacks.
Fahmid Rashid
Do The Right Thing Response
April 25th, 2019
Spike Lee’s “Do The Right Thing” investigates the close ties between minorities in a Black community in Brooklyn. Through the lens of his character, Mookie, we are taken on a journey into the workings of the Italian-American working class, as well as the disputes arising from various power structures between the several ethnicities. This is made evident, for example, from one of the most basic necessities; food. Sal’s Pizza, which is shown to be a popular hub of social gathering in the neighborhood the movie takes place in, is run by an Italian-American. Similarly, a Korean household runs the shop across from Sal’s. Despite being run by minorities –both in the United States as a whole, as well as the community the movie takes place in – these two shops are staples in this society.
The film’s ending is a very powerful scene. As it closes off with two opposing views about violence and resolution from Martin Luther King and Malcolm X (both of whom are prominent, well respected figures in the American American movement) before it fades away to a photograph of them shaking hands. Not only is this an allusion to an earlier scene of Smiley meandering around the neighborhood trying to sell colored pictures of the aforementioned leaders, it also serves as a metaphor for the ongoing dispute and tension between the multiple ethnic communities coexisting. Much like Smiley wandering back into the smoldering remains of Sal’s Pizzeria to finally hang a picture of a “brother” on the Wall of Fame, and much like Mookie and Sal reconciling due to Mookie’s demand of his weekly pay, the closing minutes of the film also remind us of an important lesson; despite all the differences between human beings, it is possible to coexist without the harm of one another.
Madison Middleton
April 24, 2019
“Do the Right Thing” Response
In his film “Do the Right Thing,” Spike Lee highlights misunderstandings between individuals and cultural groups. On a hot day in New York City, he meticulously interweaves a myriad of storylines to slowly build tension until all breaks forth and results in tragedy. Throughout the film, Lee represents different American identities: African-American, Jamaican-American, Italian-American, Korean, Puerto Rican. The police, another force altogether, float in-and-out of the story. In one instance, Lee frames a stare-off between three Jamaican-Americans and the police in their cop car. The moment is intense and quiet, underscored by slow jazz. When it ends, instead of railing against the police, the three black men instead turn their attention to the Koreans across the street running a bodega, proclaiming that the Korean immigrants are the problem in the neighbourhood despite their contribution to the community economically and industrially. By redirecting their attention to the Koreans, they also redirect the responsibility that the police have for subjugating the neighbourhood. Instead of blaming the systemic source of oppression, Lee’s characters continuously misidentify the true cause of their issues.
This conflict comes to fruition when Radio Raheem is murdered by the police, and instead of the police being held responsible, the neighbourhood community destroys the local pizzeria. This event brings a larger argument of Lee’s film into focus: What is the right thing to do in moments of tension? The title of the film directly poses this issue by asserting “do the right thing.” By the end of the film, though, one wonders if violence or nonviolence is the answer. Lee concludes the film with two quotes by Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X. The latter adheres to the path of violence, stating that within the context of self-defense, bloodshed is “intelligence.” In this case, the riot at the end of the film was an intelligent act of self-expression and self-preservation. However, King claims that violence is “impractical because it is a descending spiral ending in destruction for all.” Lee suspends the film between these two ideas. The film leaves the audience with the complete and fiery destruction of the neighbourhood pizza shop — the destruction for all — but also the self-validation of a community who lost one of their members to police brutality. The audience, too, is left with the unanswerable question: What is the “right” thing to do in the face of oppression?
Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing,” poses a variety of questions about race, gender, and social hierarchy within a concentrated two hour period. Lee put himself into the movie, centering the narrative around his voice as the all encompassing eye. Lee, as Mookie, sees most of Brooklyn. He sees the workings of the Italian-American conflict, the Black community of Brooklyn, and even the Latinx narrative. He listens to Pino, listens to his steady racism, and speaks to it easily. He doesn’t react except to lightly correct. He directs fluidly, and navigates race unlike any other character. At one point, his friend tells him to “Stay Black,” as he leaves the white space of the pizza shop. Suggesting that, although Mookie’s identity as a Black man was apparent through his appearance, the fluidity of his relationship between different racial spaces could effect the identity most commonly associated with him by a societal and personal standard.
The cuts of insults between various members of the communities of Brooklyn are stunted by Love Daddy yelling “You all need to chill out,” breaking his character as smooth talking radio DJ into the urgent voice looking in. His break in commentary seems personal, as do the rest of the insults, as the broken fourth wall brings the audience into the movie. Viewers, at this point, may ask themselves what role they play in the plot line, if Spike Lee is hashing out insults and bringing the fire of conflict to screen to poke at his viewers. In this sense, he fiddles with the pleasure of entertainment and wonders at the role it can play in education. He brings various perspectives into his artistic piece, even that of the audience, suggesting that they can all exist in the same space but questioning how cohesively they can actually live amongst one another.
Spike Lee brilliantly demonstrated the thin line that separates a divided society from violence. The film’s setting was especially important. On the hottest day of the summer, everyone is on edge. Hot days in cities tend to be the most violent for many reasons. People are forced into the streets just to deal with the heat, often inviting conflict. And of course, people tend to get stressed more easily when they are too hot. This situation creates the perfect conditions for a minor incident to become a riot. Spike Lee’s film shows that in the right conditions, the racial tension that exists in any cultural melting pot can burst into violence. An innocuous question, like when Buggin’ Out asks Sal why his wall only includes pictures of Italian people, can be the tipping point that sends a neighborhood into turmoil. One of my favorite things about this film was that this tension was present in different ways almost every shot. Every detail, from the vibrant city walls to the orange/ gold tint to the sweat that covered every character reminded the viewer of the setting. I could feel the heat for the entire movie.
Do the Right Thing ends with two quotes, each presenting a different view of violence. Films rarely do this, they almost always use one quote to present their message. Instead, Spike Lee presents too sides of a conflict, leaving the audience to contemplate the relationship between violence and non violence. The film suggests that the two may be more closely related than we assume.
Zachary Maluccio
24 April 2019
Response
Bruce Lee’s Do the Right Thing is an up close look at race relations in a predominantly black Brooklyn neighborhood. The film contains several different ethnic communities, all of which come into friction with one another is some fashion. There are inherent power structures built into the fragment of the movie. Sal’s Pizza, for example, provides the most popular meal in the neighborhood; it is run by an Italian-American. In addition, the shop across the street, which supplies the community with plenty of Miller Lite, is owned by a Korean family. Even in this majority black neighborhood, the individuals in power come from a different background, much to the chagrin of its inhabitants.
Another interesting note from Do the Right Thing is the color scheme: the movie is shot with almost entirely red backgrounds and a ton of red costuming. I believe that this represents two ideas. First, red is symbolic of the heat on the “hottest day of the summer, contributing to the rising tensions between different community members. Second, red is foreshadowing of Radio Raheem’s death in the movie’s final act at the hands of a New York police officer.
SPIKE. SPIKE LEE
In my viewing of Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing,” I found the high-pressure water to be a compelling image, specifically in how two scenes (one in the beginning of the film and one in the end) are juxtaposed but both represent symbolic references to the Civil Rights Moment. The water first appears when two boys unscrew a fire hydrant to provide a refreshing stream of water in which to play in on a hot day. The kids and teenagers of the block play and laugh in the water, taking turns being blasted by the water. However, the high pressure water blasting black bodies reminded me of videos of protestors being driven back by police power hoses during the civil rights moment. I believe that the water was used in this cheerful moment as an homage to the Civil Rights Moment of the 1960’s and reminds viewers that many of the film’s characters’s circumstances are a result of black oppression.
This scene directly foreshadowed and juxtaposed the finale scene in which firefighters arrive with their hoses to put out the fire in Sal’s Pizzeria. They arrive with riot police and they arrive to find the crowd chanting, “Power to the people!” in front of the burning building, so there is a brief moment where I wondered whether the hoses were meant for the crowd. However, the firefighters immediately started putting out the fire. However, it doesn’t go as planned and there is about a minute of chaos when their hoses start to slip and fail them, leading to shots in which black individuals are seen being simultaneously beaten by the riot police’s wooden sticks and blasted by the water hoses. This is an even more implicit reference to the Civil Rights Moment than the first scene, injecting the theme of historical protest into a riot that was started by the police’s murder of Radio Raheem, an innocent black man.
Do The Right Things Response
William Blastos
Literary Borders
4/24/19
Spike Lee’s Do The Right Things is a close look at an Italian-American pizzeria in a predominantly black neighborhood in Brooklyn. The pizzeria represents a hub of activity in the neighborhood, but the owner of the establishment refuses to put black celebrities on his “Wall of Fame,” instead he only features Italian-American celebrities. His son, Pino, is overtly racist and openly detests working in the black neighborhood, saying things like “I’m sick of n******, it’s like I come to work and it’s Planet of the Apes.” Statements like this illustrate a key point that the film addresses, the way in which white people differentiate from and raise themselves above people of color. Pino’s character is the most overtly racist and so he is the most obvious example of this differentiation in the film. From the first moments of the film when he, his father, and his brother open the pizzeria he sees himself as too good for this black neighborhood, despite the fact that his family would be nothing without the neighborhood’s business. Lee highlights the overt racist principles in Pino to make them obvious, and thus when the Sal is racist in a more understated way, the viewer can understand his racism even though it presents itself in a less obvious way. Sal’s racism presents itself in his refusal to put any black “brothers” on his “Wall of Fame.” Implicitly this means that he does not believe that there are black celebrities worthy of being on his wall, and that the Italian-American celebrities are inherently better than them. This is the point of contention that is the catalyst for the major conflict in the film.
So, Lee develops this contentious relationship between the Italian-American family and the black neighborhood in Do The Right Thing in order to highlight how white people are often willing to use people of color as a stepping stone to find success and make money, but will continue to view themselves as superior. In portraying this relationship, Lee represents the dynamics of real life and how racism was and is widespread in many racially segregated neighborhoods in urban areas. His fictional black Brooklyn neighborhood is a representation of the real life dynamics that neighborhoods akin to the one in the film deal with everyday.
The scene that must struck me in Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing was the fire hydrant scene. To cool off from the massive heat wave, the neighborhood breaks open a fire hydrant. The water comes flooding out, its pressure continuously increasing. More and more people come to enjoy the water, laughing and splashing each other. Water sprays and completely covers the camera. Then, a young teenage girl, contently watching from a distance, is forcibly picked up and carried into the powerful steam. She lets out a (blood curdling? horror-movieesque) scream and struggles to get out of his grip. She eventually gets out, and runs away, humiliated, as others laugh (a very disconcerting moment). A quick shot shows one of the Puerto Rican young men, who the audience had seen a few minutes earlier drinking a beer away from the action , being thrown into the water. Then the man with the pamphlets is pushed into the water against his will. All the while, the song “Can’t Stand It”, by the British reggae group Steel Pulse plays in the background. At first, it works, as the music makes it seem like it’s a relaxed, fun, summer-time neighborhood scene. But then the scene becomes disconcerting as this seemingly relaxed music plays over strangely violent, mob-like activity. Radio Raheem makes an appearance, as do Sal’s sons, who are in the background arguing as they clean their father’s car. Then a racist Italian-American drives through, and after a tense exchange with the people controlling the fire hydrant spray demanding that they not hurt his antique car, is subsequently soaked upon driving through the street. The unsettling nature of this scene seems to come from, though the viewer doesn’t realize in the moment, the fact that the scene is directly foreshadowing Radio Raheem’s death and Sal’s pizzeria being destroyed in a fire. Nearly all the major players make an appearance: Radio Raheem (who the neighborhood excitedly waves to as he walks by the scene), Sal’s kids, the cops, Italian-American superiority (not just economic superiority, but also superiority from having been granted a higher standing in American society), racism towards African-Americans, and a powerful mob mentality. And throughout this scene, water, something that could have put out the fire in Sal’s place and maybe make peace, is drained away.
Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing battles with the effect of implicit and explicit racism during the 1980s in Brooklyn, New York, post civil-right movement in a supposedly “equal” America. The movie is written, directed, and starred in by Spike Lee in 1989, and demonstrates the effects of systematic racism through gentrification, bias, and implicit hatred for black individuals. Furthermore, this film demonstrates the fire burning within black individuals and their desire for a social movement revolving around true equality, feeding that fire with the words of the recently deceased Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Spike Lee uses Smiley, one of the only white characters, to demonstrate the importance of the black power movement in this Brooklyn community, but also the way in which white society still tries to reap benefits from minority groups.
Lee casts smiley as a mentally disabled, white individual who attempts to sell the images of Malcolm X and MLK to black individuals as a way to portray how white society and business attempt to minimize and profit off of black minority groups. Smiley is often seen attempting to sell his pictures to Mookie to which he always rejects. In one scene as Mookie is walking down the street and Smiley asks him to buy a picture, Mookie asks him to leave with increasing intensity and proficiency that Smiley is portrayed running away in tears. This altercation could be a representation of the influence of whiteness and its intrusion within black spaces, or its crossing of boundaries. Smiley, though well intended, makes his photos unique by drawing on them, but by doing so, he is metaphorically taking the black power movement, built off the words of these two figures, and turning it into something sold to black people for the benefit of the white majority. Similarly, Smiley represents how even after Malcolm X and MLK have done their job and passed away, even after the Civil Rights Act, white people still reap benefits, or at least attempt to, from marginalized groups. Another example is Sal’s confession that his business is built off the money of black individuals. In his context, it is a rather endearing respect for the business of this community, but it still demonstrates the same parallel.
In Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing, sight, watching, and perspective convey the animosity between different groups of people more than vocalized sentiments. The moments of watching convey all the drama, the tension that is fueled by the eerie, unspoken hate. During one scene, two police officers drive past the three men that try to escape the blistering heat under an umbrella. It is a slow shot as they pass each other and shows that the two groups lead very different lives. They watch each other like it’s only the summer heat that unites them, and it’s not surprising that the heat turns into a raging fire by the end of the film. The fire brings with it another moment of sight’s influence. As Sal’s burns, the camera eventually moves to a shot of the wall of fame. The flames lick up the wall and the glass of one frame starts to melt and it looks like the wall is crying. The utter destruction is horrific and triumphant and reflected in the eyes of the onlookers; no one quite knows whether to cheer or weep.
The reoccurring idea of perspective culminates in the scenes with Radio Raheem. The camera zooms and tilts upwards at his face and tilts downwards at what he looks at. With Raheem, Lee creates a character who is not afraid to get up close and personal. Does the tilted camera mean that Raheem has a skewed view of the world, or is the world itself not quite right? As Raheem is being choked to death, both love and hate fail him. There’s horror in the eyes of his black friends and fear in the eyes of the watching police officer. Malice is the easiest to see in the assailant.
Cecilia Needham
April 23, 2019
Do the Right Thing Response
In Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing, black women are silenced in the revolution for civil rights just as black men and people in general are erased out of American history and marginalized by society and government. After Mookie and Jade are arguing about whether or not Sal wanted to have sex with Jade, they walk away to reveal, “Tawana told the truth!” spray painted in plain white letters on the red brick behind them. In 1987, Tawana Brawley was found in in alley naked covered in feces and racial slurs. She accused three white men, including policemen, for raping her. The racially and politically charged case went to trial and deemed that Tawana had staged the event. Leading up to and following the ruling, there were many black protests with posters painted like the wall behind Mookie and Jade. There are many other examples of black women being silenced in Do the Right Thing, such as when Ella’s three male friends repeatedly tell at her, screaming, to “SHUT UP!” or when they carry her into the powerful water of the fire hydrant against her will. Mookie doesn’t listen to Tina yelling at him over the phone and in the movie’s climax, when the white and black men are fighting in Sal’s Famous Pizzeria, Ella is crying, screaming to “Stop!” but her voice is inaudible over the violence.
Does it matter if Tawana specifically was telling the truth? This case was a product of society and doesn’t seem that impractical based on other violent, evil, racist atrocities committed at the time, including by policemen. The case of Tawana Brawley is a metaphor for black women, an emblem for how they were treated at the time: raped, racialized, and treated like waste. These examples throughout the movie show this. Just like the violent, righteous ransackers of Sal’s were silenced by the firefighter’s powerful spray, Ella was silenced by the seemingly playful hack of the fire hydrant. Mookie silenced Tina by not listening to her on the phone and hanging up. And the male’s brawling drowned out Ella’s protests arguing for peace. Jade is not allowed a say in her own story as Mookie and Sal decide who will be having sex with her. Minimized by racism and sexism, women in Do the Right Thing are erased from the revolutionary narrative, described when Buggin’ Out says that Africans started civilization and will one day rule again. They are silenced just as black people in general in American society as seen through police brutality in the movie. Tawana Brawley is an example of this, and her story is the upsetting, undeniable truth of black women of the time.