Ethan Asam, Hannah Michael, Alex Sheinman, Jon Winneg
Critical Viewing
Do the Right Thing
7/30/14
An analysis and explanation of the portrayal of racial tensions in a Brooklyn neighborhood in the 1989 movie Do the Right Thing
Thesis:
Do The Right Thing (1989) specifically demonstrates the racial differences and tensions underlying the decades following the Civil Rights Movement. The movie portrays a predominantly black neighborhood with a Pizzeria owned by an Italian family, and a Korean grocery. Spike Lee highlights the racial tensions between the two cultures specifically in one of the ending scenes where the community burns down the Pizzeria and attempts to do the same to the Supermarket. This is where Spike Lee shows the viewer that people in fact aren’t that different when the owner of the Supermarket says that him and the community were the same. The Supermarket owner was Asian and even though ethnically the owner and the community are different, they are both Americans who are trying to make it in this dog eat dog world.
Step 1: Detection
Identification:
The 1989 movie Do the Right Thing is the subject of the analysis and criticism. The movie is available on Youtube, DVD, and On Demand.
Step 2: Description
Detailed Description:
In Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing, the story follows members of the Bed Stuy neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York. In particular he focuses on a character played by himself named Mookie. Mookie is a pizza delivery man for Sal’s Famous Pizzeria, one of the only white owned businesses in the neighborhood. Working at the Pizzeria is the owner Sal, and his two sons Vito who is friends with Mookie, and Pino who is a racist. The block has many quirky characters, like “Da Mayor” who provides life lessons, and also tries to impress the matriarchal character “Mother Sister”. There is Mookie’s best friend Bugginout who promotes black power, and has a bad relationship with Sal because he won’t put any black people on the wall. Other characters are the radio DJ who is the voice of reason, and a well respected in the community guy named “Radio” Raheem who plays the song Fight the Power from his boombox throughout the film. Lastly there are the local teens and young adults of the neighborhood who shake up the story through questioning the old drunk, almost getting hit by a car, and emphasizing how children are raised in the community.
The story shows how everyone copes with the intense heat wave which is taking over New York at the time. Throughout the movie, the characters discuss their views on life, and the current situation of their neighborhood. A lot of the discussion that occurs in the movie has to do with race and questions peoples place in a community because of race. Three men of the neighborhood talk about the Korean corner store, the Puerto Ricans have tensions with the blacks, and Pino has a problem with all of the black people in the neighborhood He ultimately asks his father to move their restaurant to their own neighborhood but Sal says he will never move. The owner Sal is very nice to the members of the community, and his pizzeria has been a staple in the neighborhood for years, so everyone respects them. Sal later in the movie is set off though because Bugginout tries to get black people on the wall but he wants to keep his wall of fame full of famous Italians, and Radio Raheem not turning off his radio in the store. This leads to Sal in the end brutally destroying Radio Raheem’s boombox with his bat and this causes an altercation between Sal and Raheem. The police are called, and instead of making peace, they kill Radio Raheem even when he clearly is passed out. This leads to civil unrest and the destruction of Sal’s store. The movie ends with Mookie and Sal talking and sort of making peace, and sense of last nights chaos. Lee shows that everyone needs to relax and learn to live with one another rather than fight over small differences.
Creator; Creator’s Purpose:
Spike Lee’s purpose was to show the racial tension that existed in Bed Stuy, but to also show that despite this tension all of the races were just trying to make a living in the working class economy. He wanted to show that everyone can live together peacefully, and no matter what the color of your skin is, you are member in society just trying to get by. He also wanted to highlight the police brutality that occurs in today’s society against minorities. Lee also wanted to stress the importance of being a man. He talks about the importance of having a job, and being a present father in your childs life. Lee wanted to create a movie that critiqued the problems of today’s society, specifically urban.
Function/Purpose/Genre:
The primary function is a source of entertainment, and to send a message about racial tension in urban society. (Dramedy)
Step 3 : Deconstruction
Underlying myths/Stereotypes:
In the movie Do the Right Thing there are many stereotypes and myths being depicted. Some of the stereotypes are that most of the black characters do not have jobs in the film. Actually the only black character with a job is Mookie. Another myth is when the black characters don’t listen to the white man driving the nice convertible car. The man warns them several times to not get his car wet but they proceed anyway. Another stereotype throughout the movie is that the black characters don’t abide by the policemen request. Specifically in the scene when a fight breaks out in front of Sal’s Pizzeria. Some of the characters jumped on the firemen and began to fight them.
Significant Omissions:
In the movie Do the Right Thing there are some significant scenes and important information that was left out. How come Mother Sister gave everyone such a hard time? The movie never really included any information about her background and what causes her to be so angry with every other character. Lee also didn’t provide the audience with closure about why Mookie was the one to start the destruction of the restaurant. Mookie seemed loyal to Sal, why did the police’s actions lead to Mookie taking it out on Sal?
Cited Commentary/Research:
Roger Ebert who operates his own website wrote an article in 2001 talking about the movie Do the Right Thing. He said, “Not everybody thought the film was so even-handed. I sat behind a woman at the press conference who was convinced the film would cause race riots.”
He continues to add, “There are really no heroes or villains in the film. There is even a responsible cop, who screams “that’s enough!” as another cop chokes Radio with his nightstick. And perhaps the other cop is terrified because he is surrounded by a mob and the pizzeria is on fire. On and on, around and around, black and white, fear and suspicion breed and grow.” Vincent Camby wrote an article review for the New York Times on the movie Do the Right Thing. The article dates back to 1989 the year the movie came out. He goes on to claim the “The film, which opens today at the National Twin and other theaters, is the chronicle of a bitter racial confrontation that leaves one man dead and a neighborhood destroyed. The ending is shattering and maybe too ambiguous for its own good. Yet the telling of all this is so buoyant, so fresh, so exact and so moving that one comes out of the theater elated by the display of sheer cinematic wizardry.”
Camby continues to say, “Though the action is limited to one more-or-less idealized block in Bed-Stuy, the scope is panoramic. It’s a contemporary ”Street Scene.” It has the heightened reality of theater, not only in its look but also in the way the lyrics of the songs on the soundtrack become natural extensions of the furiously demotic, often hugely funny dialogue.”
Ebert, Roger. “Do the Right Thing Movie Review (1989) | Roger Ebert.” All Content. N.p., n.d.
Web. 30 July 2014.
Canby, Vincent. “Review/Film; Spike Lee Tackles Racism In ‘Do the Right Thing’”The New
York Times. The New York Times, 29 June 1989. Web. 30 July 2014.
Step 4 Diagnosis:
Meaning and Possible Interpretations (Preferred and Oppositional)
The preferred (dominant) reading of this film is that everyone has their differences whether it’s ethnicity, interests or gender and in the end, your differences do not matter because we are all just people. The film makes it clear that if we fill our minds with hate it only ends in destruction for example the fire of Sal’s Pizzeria. Spike Lee was sending a message directly to his audience that racial tension still remains even into the 1990’s. Spike Lee questions why this is still a problem in the U.S because in reality, racial tension makes no sense; it’s pointless. The film also demonstrates the racist behavior of the police and their brutality towards the black community specifically with the killing of Radio Raheem.
The oppositional (resistive) reading of this film is that in the end was the fighting worth it? Sal and Mookie in a way rekindle at the end and Sal says “The fuck is wrong with you? This ain’t about money, I could give a fuck about money. You see this fucking place? I built this fucking place, with my bare fucking hands! Every light socket, every piece of tile, me, with these fucking hands!”. Sal didn’t care about race or money he just had a passion of working hard and that is the underlying truth of Do the Right Thing. Race and money do not matter in life; just live your life to the fullest.
Most rational models indicate that people of different races don’t intertwine and should stay separate but in reality that belief is flawed and wrong. The film demonstrates that Pino did not want to work in Bed Stuy and many people didn’t want Sal’s Pizza in their neighborhood as well. Spike Lee shows how Mookie can successfully work in an all white Pizza Place. Overall Spike Lee shows us that people are meant to mix and that racial tensions only lead violence and hate.
Potential Effects (Harm):
The potential effects of believing this false model is that it can seriously limit a person to living their life with meaning. If you stay with your culture and people like you your whole life then in the end you will miss out on some of the best parts of life. Meeting new and different people is how you grow, learn, and it changes your personality. Meeting people unlike yourself instills your interest and literally opens up the world to you.
Step 5 Design:
Realistic Refrainment
In the movie there weren’t that many things portrayed incorrectly. If there was one thing that was a little unrealistic is the kids ruining the strangers car with the fire hydrant. There is a white man who drives through the neighborhood in a fancy car, and the local kids ruin it with a fire hydrant. As a result the man contacts the police to get to the bottom of things. The police don’t do anything, and kind of make fun of the man for filing a complaint. I think in real life the cops would address the situation, and apprehend the people who vandalized the property. Besides this the movie was pretty realistic, and Spike Lee did his best to accurately portray the people of the neighborhood, and the situations they get into.
Likelihood of Use
I believe that in most movies the police would do something about the vandalization of the car, especially with how hollywood portrays inner city minorities and police relationships.
Existing Reconstruction
There are many movies where a Black male is arrested for a minor crime, like in Boyz in the Hood where a younger Ice Cube is arrested for shoplifting. Movies always show situations where black males have poor relationships with the police.
Step 6 Debriefing:
Personal Impact of Dis-Illusioning: comparison of personal belief before/after, including enjoyment:
Ethan’s Evaluation:
Like most viewers, I enjoyed this classic film and thought Spike Lee did a great job portraying like in Brooklyn in the late 1980’s. Growing up in a suburb outside of Philadelphia in the mid 1990’s limited my view while watching the film. I live in a place with a lot of diversity and not much racial tension so seeing through film this new viewpoint was interesting to see how people once lived and how it limited them from truly living. This movie wasn’t really like the movies I usually watch so it was interesting to see a movie without a distinct plot. This movie was much more about the message than keeping the viewers attention and selling tickets. The message was clear to me and and Spike Lee did it in a way where I wasn’t happy but the ending prompted me to think, during and after the film.
Alex’s Evaluation:
The movie provided me with a perspective that I was not used to. I grew up in a predominately white community so I was never exposed to such racial discriminations. Although I have black friends I have never seen discrimination first hand. The movie Do the Right Thing gave a funny yet dramatic portrayal of the problem at hand. My favorite character was Mookie, because he seemed to be the leader of all of his friends. I enjoyed watching Mookie and his character progress through the film. I’ve always learned about racial discrimination in school and I love meeting people with different backgrounds than me but I thought the movie was well put together.
Jon Winneg’s Evaluation:
I believe that this movie was expertly done. Do The Right Thing did a great job on making a comment on the problems with society. Spike Lee points out how ridiculous the racial tension between the characters is because at the end of the day we are all Americans trying to get by, and it shouldn’t matter what race you are. He also carefully placed other social lessons in the movie like, the importance of being a father, and the importance to get a job and support your family. I loved the different perspective introduced by the other characters in the movie, and how everyone virtually wants the same things but in different ways. Lee also exposes the police for the use of brutality against minorities. This movie puts a comedic twist, which makes the serious topics a little more relatable. The acting, the role each character plays in the movie adds a unique touch. You could tell that Lee was one of the first to address these racial matters at that time. One of the best movies I have ever seen, it is one of those films I watch whenever it’s on.
Hannah’s Evaluation:
The film captures a sense of black pride in the later 1980’s thats was interesting to me. I was not aware of the police brutality and harsh tensions between the different races in the 1980’s. I have grown up in a community with a large black population and I have never experienced anything like how the Italians interacted with the black community. It is crazy how closed minded some of the people in the film were. Overall I enjoyed the movie and it is definitely not a movie I usually watch but I am so glad that I got to watch Do the Right Thing.
Step 7 Dissemination:
Advocacy Action Plan:
Because we believe passionately in the spreading of our culture and the branching out into others cultures – we are committing ourselves to try intently in meeting as many different people as we can to expand our knowledge of other cultures rather than stay content with our own. Many of us plan on studying abroad in order to learn as well as take in a deeper understanding of a more specific culture.
Timetable of specific activities:
History Timeline of Black History
1978: Affirmative Action: A message redirecting discrimination
1984: Jesse Jackson: Became the second African-American to mount a campaign for the President
1986: Oprah goes on air
1992: Rodney King became known after he was brutally beaten by Los Angeles police officers.
1995: Million Man March was a political demonstration by African Americans in Washington D.C to promote unity and family values.
“Black History Timeline.” History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 30 July 2014.
