A Chief Lieutenant of the Tuskegee Machine

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In Thom Pattersons article, he stated that “In the mostly black east side neighborhoods of Greensboro, there are no major shopping malls and few major-name grocery stores. It's a fact not lost on many residents.” (CNN) This related to Do the Right Thing because Bed – Stuy was a majority black neighborhood that had nothing and their living conditions were poor. In order to get what they needed there was a corner store owned by Koreans and Sal’s pizza that was right across the street from it. These two stores were the main stores that provided the neighborhood with things. Because of their poor living conditions that they were living in they could not afford other restaurants and grocery stores for the neighborhood. Most sitcoms that came on television in the 80s showed the rich and middle-class black people. Those sitcoms showed the unrealistic interruption of black people and everything seems fake. In Do the Right Thing, Lee showed that the real minorities that weren't like the polished representation that was shown on television. The people lived in an apartment that looked ran down; it was dark, it looked crowded, it seemed as if they didn’t have air condition, and you could tell that the area was poor. It was the hottest day in of the summer and seemed as if blacks could not just go in the house to cool off; they had to do things such as dip their heads in ice cold water, take cold showers, play with fire hydrants in the street, and had frozen snow cones for the kids.

Yes, the movie's representation of urban problems provides a positive effect on the audience. “No such riots occurred, and Lee criticized white reviewers for implying that black audiences were incapable of restraining themselves while watching a fictional motion picture.” (Filmmakeriq) Critics believed that after black people watched the movie that they were going to start rioting and tearing up neighborhoods. This was indeed not true. Anderson Shore said that, “Lee provides more emphasis, or even a more violent feel, on each character’s racial stereotypes by deciding to zoom in quickly to a close-up of just the character’s face. The audience can feel the anger and hatred because they are “face-to-face” with the character and able to see the emotion and detestation in their face.” (Critical Commons) It did, however, create stereotypes about the different race. There is one scene where cruel words are said by the different races to allow the audience to see how the charters have hate towards each other, this showed the racial tension between the different ethnic groups. Lee wanted to put this film in the middle of the movie because he wanted to make sure the audience see what each charter felt before the end of the movie.

Do the Right Thing was to show an oversight of racial tensions that was displayed in the majority black community and the poor black people were living in Bed – Stuy. Different scenes such as the beginning scene and the ending scene helped me to understand why the movie focused so much on racial issues. Do the Right Thing would be a movie that I would recommend anyone to watch. The film is worth seeing because even though there were a lot of real life racial issues that were based on the movie, it was a comedy to make us laugh at little things so the audience won't be too mad with what really going on. The film was very effective because it focused on real life situations that are happening in the world now. It is also showing the anger and frustration that the black community has been building up. The film did do a good job of developing the theme which was calm yet aggressive because throughout the movie Mookie was cool with everyone. He was the only black youth working on the block and he basically got along with everyone. But in the end he showed that he was aggressive by throwing the trash can into Sal’s pizzeria starting a riot.

Works Cited

- Kunen, James S. "Spike Lee Inflames the Critics with a Film He Swears Is the Right Thing." : People.com. N.p., 10 July 1989. Web. 07 Dec. 2015.

- Do the Right Thing. Dir. Spike Lee. 1989. DVD.

- Patterson, Thom. "After 50 Years of Racial Strife: Why Is Greensboro Still so Tense?" CNN. Cable News Network, 07 June 2011. Web. 07 Dec. 2015.

- "Film Screening: “Do The Right Thing”." FilmmakerIQcom. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2015.

- Shore, Anderson. "Racial Stereotypes." — Critical Commons. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2015

- Shmoop Editorial Team. "Fight the Power Meaning." Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 07 Dec. 2015.

- Sabo, Lee Weston. "Radio Raheem Is a Broken Record: Lessons from Do the Right Thing on Its 25th Anniversary - Bright Lights Film Journal." Bright Lights Film Journal. N.p., 12 Dec. 2014. Web. 07 Dec. 2015.