Tag Archives: wk03

Mookie. Why did you do that? (4)

Mookie’s change of character at the end of the film came as quite a shock to me. It was apparent that he was lazy and sometimes not the greatest worker, but he always seemed loyal to Sal especially when he kicked his best friend out of the pizza shop. The underlying cause of Mookie’s surprising actions can be traced back to his roots and that of his community. The black community is depicted in this movie as thinking they are superior to everyone else and that any of their actions are justifiable. This is apparent with Mookie using advantage of his delivery job to hang out with friends and procrastinate. His arrogance is shown through the way he handles his family and how he doesn’t understand how fortunate he is to have a job. Although not entirely racist like his other friends, Mookie still believes in loyalty over justice and doing the right thing. Although neither side used rhetoric during the confrontation in Sal’s pizza shop, Radio Raheem had no right to blast his music and make demands. Sal shouldn’t have used racist words or destroyed the radio either. Clearly both both sides were at fault here. During the ensuing brawl, I believed Mookie would stand up for Sal, but instead was a spectator. After Raheem and Sal brawl in the street, Mookie then feels it is Sal’s fault when Raheem is killed by a police officer. He then uses irrational thinking and throws a garbage can through Sal’s window and basically starts the riot that leads to the destruction of the building. This all goes back to loyalty over everything. Sal knows he did it because he was backing his friends up and failed to think at all. Mookie falls victim just like so many others to the problems of his society and instead of being a solution, he just becomes part of the problem. I have always believed that any situation can be solved with constructive conversation, calmness, and never using violence. One needs to throw out any personal feelings and look at the argument from both sides. Mookie’s actions were not justified as he failed to do any of these things in attempt to stop the violence. Instead, he betrayed his shop owner who had provided him with a job, promoted violence, and defended his people solely on the basis of loyalty and nothing else.