In Spike Lee’s Bedford-Stuyvesant there is an almost tangible cultural and racial conflict. Bed-Stuy is an obviously black neighborhood. It is dominated by a culture different from that of Sal and his son’s. Sal’s Famous Pizzeria seems to be a different world, separated from Bed-Stuy by the window. Music is not allowed in Sal’s, but is a prominent atmospheric theme on the streets. Sal’s pizzeria oozes whiteness- it is run by his rules and has only pictures of American Italians on the Wall of Fame. The only evidence of the culture of the surrounding community are is the patrons in the restaurant. For example when Radio Raheem walks into the pizzeria with his boom box, Sal yells at him to turn it off because it is “his” restaurant and in his restaurant there is no music (especially not rap music). Despite this pretty clear division, there is a level of tolerance and often moments of affection if not acceptance. For example, when Buggin Out initially tries to gather support for a boycott of Sal’s Famous Pizzeria, everyone thinks that he’s crazy. They remark that Sal’s never done anything to them and never caused any kind of trouble and that they were “born and raised” on Sal’s. Sal even says that he considers Mookie to be like his son and that there will always be a place for him at Sal’s. It is only after a commotion is started in the restaurant that the mob mentality begins and trouble begins.
The problems start when the silence of the pizzeria is interrupted by Radio Raheem’s theme song “Fight the Power,” which is exactly what they plan to do. The camera angle during Sal and Radio Rasheem and Buggin Out’s initial confrontation adds an interesting visual representation of the tensions being acted on. The camera looks down on Sal and up on Radio Rasheem and Buggin Out’s faces. This gives the viewer the idea that Sal is no longer dominant and is no longer in control. His pizzeria is no longer his domain. Buggin Out and Radio Rasheem’s reluctance to turn off the music escalates these tensions, causing both parties involved to start screaming derogatory things at each other and Sal to whip out his baseball bat to destroy the music. Once the silence of the pizzeria is restored, relations between these two groups of people go from civil, to bad, to nonexistent. All respect and tolerance that existed between these two groups of people disappear and a crazy fight breaks out in which everybody is hurt in some way.
I don’t believe that Mookie had any option but to throw the garbage can. This action served two purposes. The first was to empathize with his wronged community. He had to show a loyalty to someone, so outwardly, he chose them and broke the window boundary between Bed-Stuy and Sal’s world. However, I think he also expressed his loyalty to Sal. In throwing the garbage can he created a sort of diversion so that Sal and his family could escape and not get physically hurt. The mob was too concerned with destroying the restaurant that they forgot about Sal. In that way Mookie expressed his loyalty to Sal and protected him from harm.
