Do The Right Thing (1 Viewer)

[Seth Paxton]

Spike Lee does not know the right thing himself.

I agree with this too. At least that is how it feels to me. It's almost like we upset with the film for not giving us the answers, but the film's point is only to ask the questions in an HONEST way.

If the real questions had simple answers, we wouldn't have racist issues in the first place.

Contrast it with Guess Who's Coming to Dinner to see just how far film has come on the subject. We don't need to put a perfect hero black character out there to legitimize the issue any more. And that's good because how many of us ARE like Portier's character in that film? The character couldn't be more all-American hero. That film makes it ridiculous to side against him. Clearly anyone standing in the way of that marriage was just racist, stubborn, or set in their ways. No fault of the film, it is a product of the times and was probably very good medicine for America at the time (and it did show prejudices from both races).

The fact that Spike has NO heros like this on either side speaks volumes about where we are at now. Much closer to facing the problem right at the root of it all.

Maybe the fact that the film exists is the most hopeful aspect.


Bryant, it's been about 6 months but I don't remember Sal going after Buggin Out with a bat. I thought the bat came out because of the radio.

 

[Bryant Trew]

Bryant, it's been about 6 months but I don't remember Sal going after Buggin Out with a bat. I thought the bat came out because of the radio.

Oh yeah, he pulled out the bat and asked BO if he was a trouble maker. His sons intervened though.

 

[Patrick Larkin]

Wow. I could go on and on about what this movie means to me but thats best left for verbal conversation -- my hands would be too tired... (I saw this during its theatrical release - my university actually gave discount tickets to see it.)

I think Sal is a racist.

I think Spike Lee used Sal as the type of guy that silently walks through life claiming not to be a racist and when push comes to shove, the N word explodes from inside -- releasing deep seeded hatred for "these people." His absolute resolve not to put any "brothers on the wall" is proof that Sal is fine with taking the community's money but not trying to assimilate his own business into the community. Sal thinks he is doing the right thing by his very presence in the community. His deep dark feelings be damned. (And wonder why the sons act as they do?)

Radio Raheem is "fighting the power" with his boombox. He is constantly told to turn down his music. This is his way of doing the right thing - living life but following other's leads, namely Buggin Out and the Public Enemy message blaring from his box. Buggin Out believes he is doing the right thing by beginning a boycott. Who is doing the right thing? Buggin Out or the rest of his friends that are actionless. Buggin Out's boycott started out fine but ended very badly.

The white guy. Any wonder he is wearing a Celtics shirt? (The coach of the Celtics once said something to the effect that he would always start 5 white players but if they were behind he'd play 5 black players.) Is he doing the right thing by moving into the neighborhood where the citizens know only white oppression and top it off by wearing a Celtics shirt? And Buggin' Out's reaction to the white guy is just a culmination of what he believes is humiliation. A white guy buying up a choice brownstone, wearing a Celtics shirt, and stepping on his shoe!

The white cops. The black neighborhood is reminded constantly of their oppression. The white cops sneering at them. The white cop murdering Radio Raheem - no, it wasn't an accident. The cop had ample time to release Raheem. The Koreans, who easily set up shop in their community. Where are the black businesses? Could it be because of the generation of Sweet Dick Willy and Da Mayor? Did they fail or did they lose hope turning to drink or sitting actionless, the opposite of their younger counterparts?

This was Spike Lee's most brilliant film and while he packaged so many issues into a tidy one-day package, they are all REAL issues. While I have no answers and only my interpretation, I think Spike pretty much drove home a pretty powerful message.

 

[LaMarcus]

Excellent post Patrick, it's obvious you went to college
Lew, I appreciate your appreciation.

 

[LaMarcus]

And yes , I too would like to know where the hell Rich is?
Bet he didn't know what he was starting.

 

[LaMarcus]

Oh one last thing, the cops did killed Raheem by accident, but that fcuken asshole shoulda let him go alot sooner. But after Raheem was dead the cops kicked him and said get up. So they thought he was still alive, hence the "accident".

Even though it sure feels like murder when your watching it, but the cops didn't intend to kill him. It was just a result of bad police procedure that has been wisely done away with.

 

[Bryant Trew]

Point was, that kind of police brutality only happens to blacks.

 

[Mike Broadman]

Of course Sal is a racist! I'm surprised there's even a dispute about that.

A non-racist would have a problem with Raheem's radio blasting because it is loud and rude, not because it's "jungle" music or have anything to do with his being black. When Sal loses his cool, his true feelings come out. The whole point is that it shows us how people feel.

Sure, I'd say it's his right to put up pictures of whomever he likes in his pizzeria, but this movie isn't as much about what people do as to what they think and feel.

The police killed Raheem- it was a not a conscious murder, but they treated him harsh because they're used to seeing the black residents as "lesser," or animals that they have to keep in check. It was an accident... but not really.

 

[Patrick Larkin]

The people in the community didn't care if Sal liked rap or had pictures of blacks on his wall, it only became an issue when someone (and this was really just Buggin' Out, if you notice he was the only one who ever really cared) with an agenda began to use it to sow chaos.

I kind of think that was part of the point. The rest of the kids, including Mookie, were actionless. They had lost the spirit that lived inside Malcolm X, inside ML King. Smiley with his M-m-m-m-malcolm picture repeatedly contrasts with the kids.

And to top it off, the laziest of them all, Mookie, in essence wakes up and throws the trash can through the window.

 

[Lew Crippen]

Contrast it with Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

Indeed! Actually I think that you are a bit too easy on this film. I felt at the time, that it was pretty much a cop-out to cast (as the stubborn (or racist) parents) Tracey and Hepburn, icons of American cinema toward the end of their careers, when they were immune to all criticism.
Or perhaps, if I view the film with more charitable eyes, given the times that no others actors could have pulled off being the bad guys, but still allowing the audience to understand their humanness.
Perhaps, then you have taken the correct view.