Racism, Morality and Violence – Analysing Do the Right Thing
Since its release, Do the Right Thing has been crowned one of the greatest movies of all time. Join us as we explore the nuance and purpose behind it all.
Do the Right Thing is a 1989 movie written, directed and produced by Spike Lee. The film follows the borough of Bedford-Stuyvesant, New York through a hot summers day.
Do the Right Thing captured the cultural zeitgeist of the late 80s/90s with Public Enemy’s call to action ‘Fight the Power’ and Air Jordan IV’s present throughout the film. The ever-increasing heatwave in the movie is representative of the ever-growing racial tension at the time.
Do the Right Thing features an ensemble cast. The movie stars Lee himself; Danny Aiello, Bill Nunn, Rosie Perez, John Turturro, Robin Harris, Giancarlo Esposito, Samuel L. Jackson and Martin Lawrence among others.
The movie follows Mookie (Lee), a passive pizza delivery boy who works for Sal’s. Sal’s is an Italian-American restaurant in Bed-Stuy. Tension is brought to the forefront where Radio Raheem and Buggin Out organise a boycott for Sal’s. They claim since only black people use the pizzeria, people of colour should be represented on Sal’s ‘Wall of Fame’, not just white people.
Throughout the film, most of the characters the audience meet are impoverished. Their lives are riddled with police brutality and oppression. On the other hand, Sal and his sons are financially stable in the poor neighbourhood, furthering the lack of economic or social freedom the black community has.
On first viewing, the audience can feel clueless as to the purpose of the movie. This is done to paint a broader picture of the ecosystem the characters inhabit. Whether it’s the stores they visit or the music they listen to, you find yourself immersed in the world Lee creates.
Many themes in the movie include; gentrification, racial bias, bigotry and police brutality. Sadly, a primary reason as to why Do the Right Thing remains relevant today is because many of the issues in DTRT still permeate our society today.
The climax of the movie ends with a black male being brutally killed and choked out by police. After being unreceptive the whole film, Mookie steps up and entices a riot after he watched his bredrin murdered. This conveys how the black community feel constant exhaustion and anger from experiencing systemic racism.
Sadly, the movie concludes on a sombre note. After the murder, nothing is resolved.
This is intentional to represent what happens in the real world after hundreds of black people are murdered – nothing changes. At the end of the movie, there are two quotes, one by Malcolm X and one by Martin Luther King Jr. They both shared the same vision, however where MLK was peaceful in his approach, X was more militant and violent in getting his point across.
Lee chooses to end the movie on X’s quote rather than MLKs. This potentially hints that Lee’s sides with X’s ideologies more, especially in light of the events shown in the film.
Watch Do the Right Thing on Amazon Prime here.
