Do the Right Thing takes Spike Lee’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood and transforms it into an onscreen spectacle. On this screen, Lee presents racial issues to which the neighborhood must solve. This neighborhood features a well-rounded community in the sense that all aspects of a typical Bed-Stuy neighborhood are shown. We have the elder generation, Da Mayor (Ossie Davis) and Mother Sister (Ruby Dee). Da Mayor’s philosophical outlook alongside Mother Sister’s eye on everyone creates a ‘grandparent’ like feel to them. They bicker like an old couple but sweetly romance each other in the end. Aside from our elders, we have a ‘chorus,’ who are essential to the movie, but perhaps not so much if we were to consider the neighborhood by itself. The ‘chorus’ is made up of Sweet Willy (Robert Harris) and his two friends who not only comment on the action, but show the flaws of themselves. While the Koreans (Steve Park and Ginny Yang), who have been in Bed-Stuy for less than a year have their own shop, one of the trio members complain not being able to open their own shop because he is black. The other member refers to one day opening a shop, but Sweet Willy exposes their flaws and explains they also got off the boat like the Koreans. Additionally we have Mister Love Daddy (Sam Jackson) who is the DJ and much like the trio, he is part of this ‘chorus’ that provides commentary. A lot of the action surrounds Mookie, (Spike Lee) and his boss Sal (Danny Aiello) who owns the pizzeria. The only other two prominent Italians (aside from the cops) are Sal’s sons, Vito (Richard Edson) and Pino (John Turturro) who have different takes on Radio Raheem (Bill Nunn) and Buggin’ Out (Giancarlo Esposito) throughout the movie.
The social interaction between a majority of the characters become increasingly hostile throughout the play. With the exception of the elders and Mookie, the end result is a war due to cultural differences and misunderstanding. Smiley (Roger Smith), Radio Raheem and Buggin’ Out all have conflicts with Sal and Pino. If it’s not a music issue as caused by Radio Raheem, then it’s a feud between Sal and a customer, and in some cases, it just boils down to pure racism as expressed by Pino. The social fabric within the community loosens for a variety of these reasons, including jealousy as seen when the Koreans were able to succeed in a short time period compared to the residents of Bed-Stuy.
As for Mookie, I had mixed feelings about his actions. At first, I wondered if him throwing the garbage can at the window of Sal’s pizzeria was a tribute to his fallen friend, Raheem. It seemed reasonable that this was the case considering he yelled, “Hate,” before throwing the garbage can because it marked the anecdote provided by Raheem’s story, love versus hate. However, after another consideration, I felt Mookie did the right thing. Perhaps the only reason he yelled “Hate” was to make it seem like he was on the crowd’s side. By shifting the attention off Sal and his sons, it gave them a chance to escape the wrath of the crowd.
The conflicts which happen parallels the visual aesthetics incorporated into the film. The most notable is in the scene that occurs at 1:24:40. Both brothers are somewhat hostile, with Pino wearing a white vest and Vito wearing a black vest; each symbolizing their mentality. While Pino is comfortable with his other white people back home and looks down upon the community he works in, Vito befriends Mookie. The two brothers have a little skirmish, perhaps representing a soon to be brawl between the Italians and Bed-Stuy community.
Musically, the film expresses an important idea. The beginning of the film starts off with Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power,” and continues to associate the message of the song in a negative way by intertwining it with the intimidating Radio Raheem. The death of Raheem proves that fighting does not work. More so, it does not work in the violent way that Raheem uses it, but it is successful in the way Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Junior use it as we are reminded at the end: “Violence ends by defeating itself. It creates bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers.”
