Do the right thing response

Nicholas Hernandez

5 February 2018

ENGW 1101

Reaction

Do the Right Thing

After watching and reading the production film of spike lee’s “do the right thing” is takes viewers into the feeling of the racial tension at the time. The film captures the time during the 1980’s in Brooklyn, New York. Different cultural backgrounds and races living in the same neighborhood, portraying stereotypical characteristics. The movie takes place on one day, on the hottest day of the year which makes tensions much higher. The neighborhood Sal’s pizzeria begins to have altercations with a couple of the characters in the movie. Examples is when radio Raheem enters the store and blasts his radio to its max capacity, or the main part when bugging out asks why there is no African Americans on Sal’s wall of fame. This eventually comes to the end of the film where a riot strikes and the protagonist Mookie who is a delivery boy for Sal throws a garbage threw the stores window. There is also another scene when a white male steps on Buggin outs new Jordan’s, which he then questions him moments after in an aggressive tone.

Personally, this was a great film, there was a focus on African American and whites, but it takes a whole perspective with other races such as Hispanics and Koreans. There are constant scenes where if the characters are doing the right thing. it often leaves the readers thinking contradictive on which side to choose. It questions a person’s morals and values that so how what’s more important. The quote explained in class from Martin Luther King can serve as the movie motto because violence cannot stop violence, only leading both sides devastated.

The cultural groundbreaking film " Do The Right Thing" directed by Spike Lee takes place in Brooklyn on the hottest day of the year. during the year 1989, Lee captures the everyday racial  tension at the time. scenes throughout the script/movie show many different altercations between the pizza store owner Sal and the rest of the prominently black neighborhood. one example is when "buggin out" questions Sal about why he doesn't have any pictures of African Americans on is wall of fame. Claiming that his only customers are black people so they deserve a piece of respect. Between their conversation Sal grabs his mickey mantle bat showing that he is willing to assault showing aggression. everyday whether it is internal or external the question of what the right thing to do is always present. During the film that question is not so clear. coming from different cultures and race during groups of races had their own set of conflicts within the world around them. It all intertwines with a persons values and morals, the grey line is hard to depict but the one sure thing the movie do is tip toe over it. Characters such as Mookie and Buggin out was often oppressed by Sal, the right thing to do for them was not to just stand up for oneself but for the black community as a whole. Within the script you see how violence overwhelms the atmosphere of the day which contradicts the acts of doing the right thing, because through the words of Martin Luther King violence is never the answer. the script simply provides readers what the characters perceive is the actual right thing to do considering the moment. Making it difficult to understand the moral choice