Do the right thing by Spike Lee
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
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 can choose between peace and violence. From the film before, one can see that both choices may lead to dire consequences if the people as a whole would not embrace the same ideal, but that would have to be left to the people to choose. The film shows the full extent of the depressed conditions of the inner city by showing the incompetence of its residents. The residents have much pent up frustration of their own situation and anger towards everything. The heat wave only worsen the situation and they are all waiting for a reason when all their frustration and anger can explode. Sal, unluckily, gave them the opportunity by ignoring the threat and not putting up pictures of black celebrities on his wall of fame. 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
Some common words found in the essay are:
Malcolm King, , Malcolm X's, Radio Raheem, Public Enemy, Korean Italian, Spike Lee, Sal's Pizzeria, Raheem Sal, radio raheem, Enemy Smiley, malcolm king, sal's pizzeria, picture malcolm king, korean grocery, grocery store, black community, money sal, picture malcolm, character movie, public enemy, korean grocery store,
Approximate Word count = 804
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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