Do the Right Thing directed by Spike Lee, highlights the racial problems that were in the USA at the time the film was produced (1989). The film portrays racial and cultural stereotypes of the time, especially with regards to the Italian American, Korean American and African American communities. The impact of racism and police brutality is also depicted in the movie. The moral decisions that the people make are highly influenced by race and the film shows the impact of negative perception, based on their race. The characters in the movie are presented stereotypically to stress the theme of racism more. The use of cinematic attributes such as camera, lighting, music, and narrative structure further help the director to pass the thematic messages to the audience. These themes are explored here.
The movie uses iconography to highlight the segmentation of the society in Brooklyn along racial lines. The American Italians in the movie such as Sal and Pino wear crosses and tank top shirts. Radio Raheem wears a medallion and plays loud rap music on his stereo, all which are stereotypical attributes of African Americans.” There is also a group of Latino youth with Puerto Rican descent who listen to salsa music all the time as they share beers. The youth also speak Spanish despite the fact they are in a neighbourhood that uses English as the main language. The film is dominated by insults in which the characters bring out the sentiments that they hold against each other. The belief in injustice and the lack of equality is evident throughout the film – most prominently in the segment where Buggin’ questions the Italian wall. The struggle for power in the society is also aligned to the racial groupings. Racism is, in fact, the cause of the power struggle in the neighbourhood. Activism in the film such as by Buggin’ and Mookie’ sister is also racially biased and it leads to animosity instead of helping the people to live in harmony.
“The social interactions of the characters in the movie show their belief in Marxism.” Buggin’, for instance, harasses a white man for running over his shoes (Jordans) and asks him what he is doing in Buggin’s neighbourhood. The fact that the man is a legal property owner in the neighbourhood implies that the poor African Americans connect their economic inferiority to their psychological problems. Buggin does not take it as an accident but views as an exploitation by a wealthy man. The negative sentiments by some characters against Sal is also a projection of the power struggle caused by racism. The divisions among the African Americans and the Korean and the Italian merchants can be attributed to the differences in their financial status. The police are also hard on the poor African families, as compared to the other races in the neighbourhood. The arrest of Buggin after the fight in Sal’s pizzeria, totally ignoring the fact that Sal and his sons too were involved in the fight brings out the brutality that the poor people in Brooklyn went through in police hands.
The interracial liking or disliking of particular characters such as Sal and the Korean business owner is based on the fact that they own a business. Some of the African Americans such as Mookie are happy to have a job that helps them to cater for their needs while others like Buggin view the business owners as foreign pests whose main aim is to exploit the poor and impoverished them even further as they make profits. The African Americans in the movie loved Sal’s pizza and they only become aware on Sal’s negative sentiments against them after Buggin’ confronts Sal about the fact that there was no black man in the wall of fame inside the pizzeria. The denial of Sal exposes his control over black patrons in the pizzeria. The black and Hispanic characters in the film fight over material possessions too but remain peaceful in the long run. Mookie is depicted as a peacemaker in the better part of the film until he stands up to fight for what he believes is fair at the expense of his job.
“The negative racial sentiments lead to a violent confrontation in Sal’s pizzeria”. The fight starts with a lot of racial-based insults and the destruction of Raheem’s radio, the fight is divided along racial lines in which Raheem is defended by the African Americans and Sal by his sons. The fight is a culmination of the long-held racial and power rivalry. The African Americans tell Sal and his sons that even though they have monetary power over the other people, they lack the actual power since they are very small in number and would not eb able to fight back to a great extent. “The judgement of the people of the events that had just occurred was also based on racial interests. The crowd ignores the fact that Raheem was choking Sal before the police came and they pin all the blame on Sal and his sons.” The biased judgment raises tension and Sal’s restaurant is looted and destroyed in the process. “The reaction of the police also shows that they are biased and they protect the people that have more financial power in the neighbourhood more.” A view of the Marxist society is seen in this scene as all the opinions of the people and the police are biased on the one who is in power. Sal and his sons are not even considered since they are seen as powerless beings. The arrests made only included African American and Sal and his sons were left free despite their active participation in the fight that they too had caused.
“Cinematically the film brings out the heightening racial tension and power struggle in the neighbourhood.” The camera, in the last scene, pans over black people and finally focuses on the Sal and his sons. This shows the inferiority of the Italians in the fight since they are clearly outnumbered, this being the only situation that Sal’s financial superiority does not count. The African Americans in the crowd are sweating and this shows that they have taken the heat for too long and they are willing to take extreme measures to take control of the society in which they have previously been exposed to a lot of brutalities and economic oppression. The smashing of Raheem’s radio by Sal is played in slow motion and this brings out the fact that Sal was boiling with anger and hate as he was doing it. The different props and the setting of the film shows that the people who are in the crowd have been oppressed to a great deal and hence the scene is the perfect mixture of the message that the movie is portraying in collaboration with the setting that is executing the message. The camera in this scene captures the yelling of the crowd and the fighting which is occurring between Sal and Raheem. The camera focuses on the face of Raheem which shows the extreme brutality through which the character is fighting with Sal and then focuses on Sal’s face showing the damage that has been brought about by Raheem. The loud noise of the fight which comes from the crowd is also heard in the background when the fight occurs. The face of Sal which has been zoomed shows the helplessness that he feels within as his two sons are being taken away by other people and he only has to suffer the brutality that is being executed by the African Americans who are led by Raheem and feel the pain that is inflicted on him. The beginning if the fight sees Sal smashing the radio of Raheem, where no one attacks him as they wait for him to tire out. Raheem and his people wait for the perfect opportunity to attack Sal and finds it when Sal tires out after the strenuous smashing of Raheem’s radio.
The use of slow motion as Sal shouts “No!” as his pizzeria is destroyed indicates his helplessness. This scene shows the true meaning of the film where the people are not able to overcome the negativities that is present in the society against racism and have to bar the consequences due to the lack of support and changes in the society by the people. The look on his face indicates that the end of his economic power had come. The arrest of Buggin’ is also played in slow motion and he is seen protesting the whole time as he is handcuffed and walked to the police car. He is seen looking around and nobody is taken with him. The worried look on his face indicates that he does not trust the police and he is desperately seeking help from the crowd. Raheem also gasps for breath for a long time as the police choke him and the director uses slow motion to show how helpless he was in the hands of the police who even killed him on the spot and took him away in the back of their car. Echo is used to show that Raheem is dead as one of the police officers tries to make him talk by kicking him. “The kicking by the police officer is captured by the camera from below putting Raheem’s face at the forefront and the kicks by the officer from above. This indicates the inconsiderate nature of the police and the helplessness of the African Americans in their hands.”
In conclusion, the film Do the Right Thing indicates the danger of not addressing racial and social disparities adequately. The film clearly shows that people in the society have to identify the problems that affect their daily interactions and solve them or they will all suffer in the long last. The director embraced a stereotypic approach in order to show the significance of minor societal differences in terms of the damage that they can cause. The movie depicts the effects of income inequality in the society and its impact on institutions such as the police force who tend to be biased in their service to the people. The director uses cinematic skills of lighting, camera, music, and storytelling to show the escalating tensions until the eruption of the violence. The film is in line with the doctrines of the New French Wave due to its massive use of iconography and in location depiction of scenarios despite the fears about the reactions that the movie would evoke.
References:
“Do the Right Thing (1989).” IMDb, IMDb.com, www.imdb.com/title/tt0097216/.
“The Spike Lee Effect: Reimagining the Ghetto for Cultural Consumption”
John Leazer, “History and the Movies: Some Thoughts on Using Film in Class,” Teaching History: A Journal of Methods.
Mack-Shelton, Kibibi. Great Events from History: African American History. Salem Press.
Marie, Michel, and Richard John. Neupert. The French New Wave: an Artistic School. Blackwell
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