Do the Right Thing by Spike Le

A detailed Summary of Do the Right Thing by Spike Le

The whole story in Do the Right Thing took place on an excruciatingly hot summer day and night in the neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant, a slum Black community. In that neighborhood, three businesses dominate: a Black radio station, a Korean grocery store, and an Italian pizzeria. In a space where the residents were predominately black, the two alien businesses strive to merge in and coexist. They seemed to succeed at first, but then the heat have strained tensions to the breaking point and a rabble-rouser at the end became the catalyst for a catastrophe that had lead to a racial clash between the well established Sal's Pizzeria and the relatively new Korean grocery store. Spike Lee, in the whole course of the movie, did not clearly state what is "the right thing" but he had tried to incorporate both Martin Luther King's "no violence" and Malcolm X's "violence if necessarily."

Each character in the movie has their own view of doing the "right thing." Mookie believes making money is the right thing, Sal believes keeping the business running, Radio Raheem believes listening to his own music Public Enemy, Smiley selling his pictures of Malcolm X and King. Even though each believes what they did is right, not everyone agrees. Pino

Mookie is a central and interesting character all through the movie. He is depicted as a lazy, irresponsible person with a set goal to make money. He seemed to respect Sal and tried to befriend the "outsiders." He only seemed to change after the incident when he thought Sal was trying to bed his sister and that is what I think led to his actions before the riot - starting it by throwing the trash can at the pizzeria. It may seem that it has been an unnecessary act of violence but then, it can be interpreted as him trying to get back to his people after working for a "white" person. Mookie's action after the riot shows that he have detached himself from Sal's "family" altogether, and he got back to his family, which symbolizes him being back into the black community. Not accepting all the money from Sal shows that he still has some self-conscious but also gives an idea that he doesn't want to owe Sal anything more.

This film, I believe, teaches us the idea of strained relationships and violence once pent up anger and frustration got out of hand. Spike Lee further emphasizes his point by showing us the sayings of Malcolm X and King at the end, giving the viewers a choice where one ca

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 803
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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Do the Right Thing by Spike Le

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