Hey Guys!

I thought that this link was interesting. The president and first lady’s first date was Do the Right Thing.

http://www.theroot.com/views/first-couple-s-first-flick

I just re-watched the first half of Do the Right Thing on Netflix to get it fresh in my head again. What I noticed was a number of differences from other more recent films on Brooklyn. Compared to a film like Brooklyn’s Finest Do the Right Thing employs much less use of “the n word.” This is an interesting shift in the use of this word in pop culture. In today’s rap music and culture, artists make liberal use of “the n word,” however, Spike Lee, despite his Brooklyn upbringing, makes less use of this word in his film.

Additionally, Lee creates a culture of racial divide not necessarily through violent actions between the neighborhood and the employees of Sal’s pizzeria. This tension builds up through discreet conversations between neighborhood residents. Sal’s oldest son seems to be the most volatile towards the African-American community in Bed-Stuy.

What I find to be the most bizzarre part of this film so far is the consistent buildup of tension, but a lack of real conflict to be had. So far, Radio Rakeem appears to be just a big guy with a radio. However, his haunting presence screams conflict. Additionally, Sal appears to be a reasonable person with a large presence in the community, and any actions against him would appear unfounded given the current circumstances.

I am interested to see how the plot unfolds; it’s a very interesting film.

Chris DiBari

First off, i must say that i love the movie and that Spike Lee’s mind is creatively genius. However, the movie lacks enough core substance to make it great. The fact that the film follows the interacting stories of about a dozen people makes light of how cultural differences influence views of society. The screenwriting perfectly emulates the talk and the walk of every class of New York Society at that time. Something else about the film that i find interesting is the publics attitude towards Asian-American immigrants. It seems, most likely because the are the newest, that they are of the lowest social position despite the fact that they are the most successful of the characters. Obviously, i wasn’t alive to see the influx of Asian-American immigrants into the boroughs, but i find it interesting that they were treated this way despite their economic success.

Now, i titled this post “The Right Thing?” for a reason. Knowing that it is a Spike Lee allows me to deduce that the film will have a message, most likely about prejudice and racism. The title of the film suggests that at this time everyone was doing the “wrong” thing, but this leads me to question what the “thing” actually is. Is it as vague as to cover everything? or is it simply the treatment of others? Either way, up to this point im the movie, everyone seems to be doing the wrong thing.

The first time I had heard about Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing was about two weeks ago in my Sociology class. I didn’t have any idea of what the film would be about and I was anxious to find out. Now having watched part of it, it is obvious that the film explores the issue of bigotry in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. Unfortunately, bigotry and discrimination don’t only exist in one area of Brooklyn, but all over the world today. This would explain why seeing the different ethnic groups in Do The Right Thing treat each other in a manner that is unacceptable came as no surprise to me. Sad but true, it is almost as if we expect to see the African-Americans, Italian-Americans, Asian-Americans, and Latin-Americans not getting along with each other. In the scene after Mookie talks to Pino about all of his idols being African-Americans, one individual from each racial community utters racial slurs about members of another community. While it is an eye-opening and excellent scene, I find it hard to believe that anyone who has watched the film has never heard any of those slurs before. Personally, I think the movie would have been far more interesting if the different communities did the exact opposite of fighting and actually did learn to live in peace with each other. More often than not, we watch films and read books about race tearing us apart, instead of bringing us together. What the characters in Do The Right Thing as well as people around the world fail to realize is that although we come from different places, we are all American. But for all I know, Mookie could “do the right thing” and the racial communities will come together in the end. I guess I’ll have to watch the end of the movie to find out!

My mother loves to tell stories about her past. She called those days the ‘Good Ole Days’ where she would get together with a group of friends (about thirty kids) and play on the street corner until sundown. She used to weave her tales about how the kids back then could leave their front doors open and no one would mess with their houses (a concept not shared nowadays) or how they would play “stoop ball” on the sidewalks in front of their apartments. Life was carefree and people could play in the street without fear of getting hit by a drunken driver, or they could bust open a fire hydrant and cool off because air conditioning wasn’t readily available. The wonder of Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing is the preservation of the time period that my mother describes. I watched the movie with a silent, eager awe that made me wish I had a large group of friends that could hang out and that everyone in my neighborhood would know my name and call me out to play at will. I believe that this community “togetherness” is not often seen nowadays and I do wish that the “threats” of everyday society were absent and the carefree attitude could come back.

Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing also highlighted the great problem of racial tension of the time. The “colored” people and white people were not allowed to hang out with each other and in the movie, both groups stay separate.  There are also further tensions between the “colored” groups  of the Hispanics, African Americans, and the Koreans.

One great detail in the movie that I absolutely loved was the historical accurateness of New York during this era. In my People, Power, and Politics class, we learned about the Flatbush riots and the racial tension between the African Americans and Koreans in New York from the 70’s-90’s. African Americans boycotted Korean deli’s because they opened up rapidly and were consuming black neighborhoods. African Americans believed that the Koreans were government agents of racism and believed they were part of an anti-black conspiracy. In Do The Right Thing this racism is made apparent and is shown in perfect quality with the African Americans criticizing the Korean Deli owners. I believe that Do The Right Thing perfectly illustrates the time period of New York where there was heavy racial tension and changing neighborhoods.

From the moment I saw the beginning of the movie, I had a gut feeling I wouldn’t like it very much. However, as the movie progressed, I realized that although the movie wasn’t particularly entertaining, it was bearable (which is more than I can say for many other movies). As the movie went on, I have to say, I did get a little bored, as the majority of the scenes were in the one pizzeria. However, at the conclusion of the day, I realized that although the movie did not entertain me, it taught me some thing. It taught me how people in these neighborhoods live and what they do for survival. It taught me their means of entertainment (some of which, like the water hydrant, were quite humorous indeed) and the types of jobs they both do. For this reason, my respect for the movie increased dramatically, and I found myself wanting to finish the movie.