Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing is a film that plays on color, conflict, music, and revolution in a concoction of comedic and tense drama. While bold oranges and reds saturated the scenes giving off an aura of heat and fire, racial tension was gradually increasing as though there was something heating a fast boil. In the beginning of the film you are introduced to a variety of eclectic characters including Mookie, the protagonist, and a young adult and father living in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. You are introduced to silly characters like animated Mr. Senor Love Daddy, Mother Sister, Da Mayor, Smiley, the boisterous Greek choir, Cee, Punchy, Ahmad, and Ella, Buggin’ Out, and Sal, the owner of the Italian pizzeria. One is introduced to a community with underlying racial tensions, which only worsens after Buggin’ Out gets upset Sal not having black people on the “Wall of Fame” in the pizzeria. What’s interesting is the role of Radio Raheem who is found listening to the song, “Fight the Power, ” in his gigantic boom box. He seems to play an important role in foreshadowing the Bed-Stuy revolution that occurs towards the end of the film.
In one scene, Buggin’ Out and Radio Raheem enter Sal’s pizzeria with “Fight the Power” playing loud and clear, disrupting the “peace” and q”white”ness. Sal, who hates “jungle music” to begin with, starts a verbal brawl with the duo, and all hell breaks loose, LITERALLY. After Sal destroys Radio Raheem’s radio, RR goes on to attack Sal, causing a fight to ensue and the whole neighborhood to join in on the conflict. Eventually, the racist police arrive and release Sal from RR’s chokehold, only to purposely strangle him to death. The murder than causes the whole town to blame Sal and his sons for what the police did. At this point, Mookie, realizes that he must do something to satisfy his neighbors by throwing a trashcan through the pizzeria window. Everyone then joins in to ruin Sal’s place, but he gets away with his family, which I believe was another intention of Mookie’s when he threw the garbage can. I think the act held significance because Mookie decided that his people needed to release their anger in some way or another about the injustices surrounding them, and also realize them as well. He knew that they couldn’t be pretending much longer. However, it may also show that Mookie was trying to save his friend and his family and almost showed empathy towards them, as well
