Analysis Of The Film Do The Right Thing: Discrimination And Racial Altercations Among The African American Community
The film “Do the Right Thing” by Spike Lee is an arduously striking drama concerned with the viciousness and bigotry in present day contemporary society. “Do the Right Thing” is set in a fundamentally African American majority neighborhood and right in the focal point of this area exists a pizza parlor that is owned, operated, and managed by a standout amongst most characters in the movie, Sal Frangione. “Do the Right Thing” exhibits and emphasizes the spectacle of widespread discrimination and racial altercations among the African American community.
“Do the Right Thing” opens with the introduction of a few major and minor characters showing their daily activities and lives. Although a variety of characters are presented, the audience is introduced to a standout, who although shares a similar amounts of screen time with others, has his life and agenda explored far more vividly as oppose to others. This character of course being Mookie, portrayed by the director and producer, Spike Lee. Mookie works at Sal Frangione’s pizza parlor with Sal’s two sons, Pino and Vito. Inside Sal’s Pizzaria there exists a wall containing pictures of notable men and women throughout history. Being the only African American employee, Mookie faces the tension head on when several customers share their concerns and discomforts with the fact that Sal’s wall contains no photographs of any African American figures who were either on a similar level as other people on the wall or have greatly represented or impacted the African American community. Even though Sal’s costumer base is predominantly black and despite their complaints, Sal continues to refuse incorporating notable black individuals on his wall.
As aforementioned, the protagonist Mookie is caught in the middle of such racial tension because he works at Sal’s Pizza parlor. Throughout the film, the pressure on Mookie’s shoulders grows too heavy and he essentially becomes the catalyst of the riot resulting in Sal’s Pizzaria being burnt to a crisp. The destruction of Sal's Famous Pizzeria will leave an engraving in the minds of any individual who watches and the audience as a whole. The scene in which Sal crushes Raheem's radio, the strain swings to mayhem. A spiral to blatant tumult occurs within minutes after the death of Raheem by the city police. This could be a physical assault on the two sides. Both moves made by Radio Raheem and Sal were uncalled for and resulted in both chaos and violence. Mookie played out a gallant commitment in sparing Sal's life as he moved the battling from Sal and towards Sal's Pizzeria. Amidst the turmoil the Korean man says, "I'm dark, you, me, the same. " This reflects how individuals in society endeavor to fit into specific gatherings that appear to be the right thing to do at the time. This also may have been the reason that the Korean man’s business was not destroyed as well. In the beginning of the movie, Sal is demonstrated touching base to work with his two children Pino and Vito. This portrays Sal as a family man who is both hardworking and aspires to put food on the table for his family. Also, this shows Sal’s passion for providing great pizza to his community.
At first glance, Sal is depicted as a persevering, kind, and giving person. Simply the way that he claims his own business in this harsh and intense economy demonstrates that he is a keen, proficient, and a devoted man. Later in the movie the viewer learns that Sal built his pizzeria, step by determined step, board by board, which was no little undertaking. The manner in which Sal gets the opportunity to impart his creation and diligent work to his children makes everything the more extraordinary to him. After Sal has completed his pre-opening arrangements Sal's Pizzeria is open for the day. Not long after this, the primary character of the movie, Mookie, comes walking around the eatery. As mentioned prior, Mookie functions as the delivery man for Sal in this film. Mookie truly delivers pizza, yes, yet he likewise goes about as a mediator between the two races. Sal depends on Mookie not exclusively to get the pizzas delivered to customers, yet to likewise keep his community and people content with Sal so they will come and dine in his restaurant. This demonstrates an exceptionally intriguing side of Sal. It generally pawns him off as a racist business man who takes advantage of his employee in order to bring in more customers into his establishment. From one viewpoint he can put on a happy face and welcome all the African American individuals as they shell out their well-deserved cash out to him for his pizza. On another note, he transforms into a narrow-minded person, loathing most African American individuals. This can be inferred from the fact that Sal is seen talking poorly of their good faith behind their back. Emphasis on “most” due to the fact that Sal appears to have a father-son bond going ahead among him and Mookie where Sal is the white father and Mookie the black child who at long last dissidents like all children do sooner or later in their life.
The principal word that rings a bell when pondering “Do the Right Thing” is hot. Everything about this movie was sweltering, starting from the weather to the themes and issues it raised. Overall, the warm, yellowish coloring of the movie radiates a sort of tension and discomfort to the viewer. This perfectly captures the discrimination and prejudices shown in the film. There's a lot of space for banter with respect to whether anybody made the best choice in this content, as most would like to think, most of the characters did not “do the right thing. ” What's fascinating, is to think about what Spike Lee thought about the right and wrong thing to do in this screenplay. What was Spike Lee’s vision throughout the making of this film? It is not simply his words as a performing artist assuming a job, he likewise composed, coordinated, and delivered the means for those words and activities to spring up. It is difficult to isolate Spike from Mookie, and most would not think Spike Lee would even need the audience to. I additionally ponder about a few changes from the screenplay and the film, and the impact they have on the general message of the film.
One of the things viewers can know for certain, with very little space for elucidation is that it's hot in Brooklyn when this story takes place. It was unmistakably a heat wave, and that heat wave said a lot with regards to the current racial atmosphere in the city. A singing hot city added to the strain the characters were feeling, however Spike Lee completed a pleasant activity of letting the pressure work all through this piece. Indeed, even toward the scenes concluding the film when the madness at Sal's emits into a mob scene, viewers are yet shocked to witness it. It resembles the characters were living with the abusive warmth of the summer, and one can realize that the warmth was a piece of life that needed to be lived with.
For the greater part of the film, none of the characters shied at all around the subject of race either. It relatively made the audience simply acknowledge that these characters are who they're portrayed to be. A distinct connection to this strong theme of a line between love and hate is emitted to the viewer throughout the film. Love unfortunately does not receive enough inclusion. I believe a viewer can assume this to be an anecdote about a battle between love and hate. Yet I don't think love was genuinely portrayed here. Love in “Do the Right Thing” is more of a façade due to having to adapt to such a racially diverse culture. It was intriguing to see the community at first unyieldingly deny boycotting Sal's, discussing how they grew up eating Sal’s pizza, and to perceive how over the span of a night they were droning to burn it down. This emphasizes the theme of hate winning over love. The buried hate and anger rise above love causing nothing but destruction. From the get go, Sal’s pizzeria was a symbol of racism and hate as it primarily exhibited the framed photos of famous Italian actors and failed to be inclusive of all races. This furthermore encompasses the idea of hate and how the surrounding environment had to adapt to such a hateful premise. However, the ending left a bitter taste in my mouth as one could hope that violence is never the “right” conclusion.
The general theme of racism as displayed in the movie would have been better put to rest, metaphorically, had there been some sense of change within the characters and community. Instead, the brutal conclusion represented a hopeless resolve to the racism problem in America. Personally, through a one hundred- and twenty-five-minute development of society, I thought there may be some head of the field outcome, which now only feels over-idealistic.
