Spike
Lee’s Do the Right Thing gives the
viewer a glimpse into the inner workings and racial tensions within a specific
New York neighborhood. Although there is no apparent plot, the film focuses
instead on the daily lives of its characters and the relationships between
them. However, the community we are shown is not a happy one, as racism and
prejudices between different social classes abound. Throughout the film there
are several people who view themselves as victims and raise a fuss over matters
most would consider trivial. In the climax of the film, Buggin’ Out and Radio,
two African American teenagers, along with Smiley, a mentally disabled white
man, storm Sal’s Pizzeria causing a fight to break out. When the police arrive
to break up the fight, Radio is killed, causing the black community to riot.
If you
are looking for a movie with a happy ending, Do the Right Thing is not the film for you. The purpose of the film
is to show the ugliness as well as the consequences of different kinds of hatred,
especially racism. Throughout the film we see tension between several different
ethnicities: Caucasians, Latinos, Asians, African Americans, and Italians.
However, much of the film focuses on the racial tension between Sal and his two
sons, an Italian family that owns and runs a local pizzeria, and a few members
of the African American community, specifically Buggin’ Out, Radio, and Mookie,
Sal’s delivery boy. Generally, Sal and his two sons, Pino and Vito, get along
very well with the rest of the community. However, Sal’s oldest son, Pino,
shows a general distrust of the black community and often mistreats Mookie,
Vito, Smiley, and an old, black drunk referred to as “Da Mayor,” who is a
drunk, but is also generally a kind man.
As a result, we see not only racism, but hostility between people who
belong to the same social groups as well. Pino constantly mistreats Vito,
Mookie is part of an extremely dysfunctional family, the community seems to
view Smiley as nothing more than annoyance, and nearly everyone mistreats Da
Mayor. In short, the members of the community tend to treat each other poorly
on a regular basis. This general lack of peace in addition to close quarters
and a heat wave leaves the community on edge. All they need is a push for
disaster to strike. This “push” just so happens to be appropriately named,
“Buggin’ Out.”
Buggin’
Out is what I like to call an Instigator. An Instigator is someone who takes
everything personally and raises a fuss over every little thing. They are
someone who feels so victimized that they begin to feel the need to victimize
others and gain revenge in order to right the “wrong” they feel was committed
against them.
What offense pushed Buggin’ Out over the edge so that he
began to cause trouble? The fact that
there were no pictures of African Americans on a wall of pictures in Sal’s
privately owned business. As time goes on, Buggin’ Out attempts to find
people to boycott Sal’s over this matter. When he finds out that he is the only
one who cares about the wall, he instigates feelings of anger in other people
toward Sal. He digs into them, finds small matters that happened between them
and Sal, and blows them out of proportion in order to stir up anger against
Sal. These people are what I call “Responders” because they allowed themselves
to be affected by Buggin’ Out’s ploys. Once they take action, the Responders become Instigators, creating a vicious
cycle. The cycle spins out of control when Sal, instigated by Radio, destroys
Radio’s boom box, causing a fight to break out. After the fight is broken up by
the police and Radio is accidentally killed, Buggin’ Out instigates the crowd
of onlookers, and, once again, the Responders become Instigators when they burn
down Sal’s restaurant. Some of these people had little to no idea what had
happened. They merely used the incident to justify their feelings of
victimization and as an excuse to act on those feelings.
Throughout
Do the Right Thing, we only see one
person who does not respond to the Instigators: Da Mayor. Although he is put
down frequently and has every right to be bitter and unkind, he always responds
to his Instigators with kindness. Despite his faults and his affinity for
alcohol, Da Mayor proves to be a very wise man, who only wants to help his
community. He shared wisdom with a group of teenagers who were harassing him,
he saved the life of a very ungrateful child who was almost hit by a car, and
even showed constant kindness to Mother Sister, and elderly woman who seems to
live alone. Mayor serves as our moral compass and as an example of how we
should react when faced with hatred.
My
viewing of Do the Right Thing could
not have come at a better time. The riot at the end of the film was very
similar to those going on right now as a result of the Michael Brown case.
Those who respond to the news in a violent manner have turned from Responders
to Instigators, even though only a handful of people know for sure what
actually happened. Now is the perfect time for this film to resurface. It is
important historically in that it reminds us of events likes these and warns
against them. However, it may be even more important to the history of film
because it allows us to view ourselves and our actions from the outside.
Sometimes we can’t see our own ugliness. Sometimes we need an outside source,
one that is unrelated to us, to show us the truth. Do the Right Thing does just that; it shows us the truth.
Ultimately, Do the Right Thing,
serves as a powerful example of the consequences of hatred. The only qualm I
have with the film is its somewhat graphic nature, as things such as profanity
and nudity are simply not my taste. Otherwise, I highly recommend this film and
the message it sends.
No comments:
Post a Comment