Do the Right Thing

                Spike Lee’s film Do the Right Thing is an examination of race, a dominant theme in his films.  This movie does not take sides; it provides an objective view of a black Brooklyn neighborhood and the goings-on of a hot, summer day.  This is not to say that there are no sides taken within the film.  As Roger Ebert notes in his review, “some of the characters are sympathetic and others are hateful,” and he goes on to rightly validate this characteristic, asking the reader, “Isn’t that the way it is in America today?”  Lee’s characters are realistic and have their own ideologies, but his film remains objective overall, simply allowing the viewer to watch as events unfold and as characters’ biases and conflicts cause tensions to build, leading to the final, striking event that Ebert says, “had a shattering effect precisely because I was not expecting it”.  Lee uses several different methods in order to portray different ideologies concerning race.  He is able to do this through dialogue, camera shots, allusions relating to recent events of the time, and his use of music.

                One of the earlier discussions concerning race in the film takes place between Mookie and Pino, the racist son of Sal, an Italian-American pizzeria owner.  Mookie asks Pino who some of his favorite celebrities are, and Pino responds with Magic Johnson, Eddie Murphy, and Prince.  When Mookie tells Pino that he thinks he secretly wants to be black, Pino denies it, saying that they’re not black, they’re “more than black,” lamely attempting to make a distinction in order to justify his own opinions concerning race.  Another local minority has a different view concerning race distinctions.  When confronted by the riot who has just burned down Sal’s Famous Pizzeria at the end of the film, the Korean shopkeeper protests, “I black...we same,”  making a distinction between whites and blacks, but blurring the racial border between himself and his African-American neighbors.

                Lee expertly uses different shots to catch the viewer’s attention and bring to mind certain different ideas.  He uses the idea of foreground and background when Sal and Buggin Out are fighting about the “Italian-Americans Only” Wall of Fame in the pizzeria.  The fight is the focus, but the shot also shows Smiley in the background holding up his pictures of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X up to the window, reminding the viewer that the issue at hand is most certainly that of racism.  At one point during the middle of the film, there are several consecutive shots of characters staring straight into the camera each angrily uttering a string of racial slurs.  This particular sequence is another reminder of the film’s theme, but also brings the viewer into the film.  It feels as if each character is staring at the audience, directing all of their aggression and hatred towards the unsuspecting viewers.  This is perhaps one of the most effective filming techniques in the film, because as Ebert says of the film, it “requires you to decide what you think about it”.  A final type of shot that I found very interesting was used at the beginning of the final conflict.  Buggin Out and Radio Raheem come into the pizzeria and start a fight with Sal and during the fight, the camera is never straight, but is tilted to the side, creating a chaotic and unsettled feel which complements the fight.

Another method that Lee uses to address issues of racism is through allusions to recent events at the time the film was released.  References to such difficult and tragic events that were still quite fresh in the viewers’ minds must have been especially poignant, further adding to the film’s power.  At one point in the film, Mookie asks to speak with Sal and they go outside of the pizzeria, in front of a brick wall with some graffiti on it.  Mookie asks Sal to leave his sister, Jade, alone, because he does not appreciate the way that he looks at her and talks to her.  After the argument is over, both men leave, but the camera is still focused on the wall and the viewer is now able to see the graffiti that reads “Tawana told the truth,” a chilling reminder to the audience of the Tawana Brown rape trial as well as a justification for Mookie’s fears about his sister.  One of the final scenes, the climax of the film, contains two such allusions.  When police officers approach the crowd, the rioters chant “Howard Beach,” suggesting that they are displacing the murderous acts of Italian-Americans onto their local Italian-American restaurant owner in order to take revenge.  Soon after this chant, the police, who are unable to convince the mob to disperse, say that they will have to take more dire measures.  The firefighters who are working to put out the fire in the pizzeria, abandon this task to help the police, turning their hoses on the rioters.  One of the men shouts something about “Birmingham,” confirming in the viewer’s mind that Lee intended for this act to serve as a reminder of the viewer of identical crowd control tactics used by police previously, during the civil rights movement.

A final tactic that Lee uses is sound.  Throughout the entire movie, the audience hears Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power” played in various situations.  At the very beginning, Tina dances angrily and somewhat provocatively to the song, immediately calling our attention to its message.  Later, Radio Raheem gets in a more or less nonverbal argument with local Hispanic neighbors through music when each takes turns turning up their music louder and louder as if to assert their dominance.  Radio Raheem listens to nothing but Public Enemy because, as he says, that is all he likes.  The importance of black artists in music is brought to light as well when Mr. Señor Lovedaddy lists a number of black musical artists and thanks them “for making our lives just a little blacker”.  Lee clearly wants the viewer to know that the assertion of the black voice is important in the film.  After the mob has burned down the pizzeria, the camera pans through the ruin on the inside and, for a moment, focuses on Radio Raheem’s broken and charred boom box.  At this very moment, “Fight the Power” begins to play yet again, as if from the radio, but at this point it is extra-diegetic instead and reminds us that in a way, Radio Raheem’s voice can still be heard although he is now dead.  The camera then moves over to focus on Smiley, who tacks one of his pictures of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X to the destroyed Wall of Fame, asserting that their voices, too, can still be heard although they have both been assassinated.

Lee brings to light the issue of racism through his expert cinematography and relation to the audience in the time which the movie was made.  The film calls the audience to think about its message, and hopefully understand better the problem with racism.  This film makes it easier for more viewers to identify with because everyone in the film whether white, black, Hispanic, or Asian, experiences negative racist sentiments.  Lee does not tell the audience what to think, but rather asks that they simply do think.  Ebert states beautifully, “anyone who leaves the movie with more intolerance than they walked in with wasn’t paying attention”.  Lee calls viewers to mindfulness and consideration in recognition that racism is an ongoing social issue which calls for the attention of all.