An examination of the themes in Spike Lee's 'Do The Right Thing'

Spike Lee's 'Do The Right Thing'

There are movies and there are miracles; Spike Lee's 1989 film, Do The Right Thing, falls into the latter category. Here is my interpretation of the themes contained in the movie, some of which have been covered by others, some that probably weren't. In any case, this is the way that I see this film and if you agree or disagree, I appreciate you stopping by to read it. Enjoy!

The heat

The heat in this film represents pressure. And just as everyone in his or her own way is trying to stay cool, each person has a different way of dealing with pressure and unpleasant realities such as joblessness, loneliness, powerlessness, police brutality, and racism.

Ways that people cool off

• water
• snow cones
• the shade
• open window
• ice cubes

Ways that people escape pain (heat is pain)

This film is set on the hottest day of the year, a day so hot that people seek relief from it in his or her own way. The heat in this film corresponds to pain and the things people do to deal with pain. When people are deprived of the basic human needs such as love, acceptance, freedom, and opportunity, they seek other ways (and sometimes, dysfunctional ways) to satisfy these desires. Some choose to escape reality altogether. 

Throughout the day, Mookie delivers pizzas for a racist boss. His boss’ son uses racist slurs openly. Mookie is out in the heat all day on foot running around the neighborhood, climbing stairs, sweating. He lives under the constant threat of losing his job; he lives with his sister, and he has a son that he never gets to see. So finding an outlet for all of these pressures is difficult and limited to infrequent sexual encounters with his Tina.

Even Buggin’ Out’s behavior is a way of him escaping the harsh realities of racism and powerlessness. Having Sal to put Black pictures on the Wall of Fame is easier than getting out into the community. The pictures on the wall are symbolic and won’t be of any real benefit to the community. Buggin’s character is a paradigm of how Black people become pacified by symbolic gestures such as a Black History Month, having a Black President, Oprah Winfrey, Black athletes, having a Black win an Oscar, having a street named after a Black leader, Black holidays, or even having Harriet Tubman’s image on the $20.00 bill. 

Tina’s pain of being a single mother is relieved by Mookie coming by to spend time with her and their son. 

Radio Raheem uses his radio from which he expresses his pain and anger as a Black man in a society that has emasculated him. Buggin’ Out capitalizes on Radio Raheem’s pain and anger by directing it to a senseless cause that results in Radio Raheem’s death. 

Power, ownership, and responsibility  

The film addresses empowerment, ownership, and responsibility. The general idea is that if you don’t own it you can’t control or protect it.

Examples: 

• Buggin’ Out demanding that Sal hang pictures of Blacks on his wall despite the fact that it is Sal’s business to run as he sees fit
• Da Mayor getting pissed off at the Korean market not having his beer (Miller Lite) but gives them his business-and money-and buys a beer he doesn’t like anyway
• When the batteries in Radio Raheem’s boombox go out, he is dependent on others for his power and has to buy more batteries from the Koreans
• A comparison can be made between the lack of Black businesses and Mookie’s disapproval of Tina cursing him out in front of their son. Just as Blacks have no say over the type of service they get from Sal, the Korean grocery store, and even the police in their community, Mookie has no say in how Tina and her mother talk in front of his son. Both of these scenarios illustrate how power translates into control and these scenarios also illustrate how Mookie and the Blacks in the film give away power and control by not taking responsibility for both their home and their neighborhood. Mookie can’t protect what he can’t control and the only way he can protect his son from Tina’s negative influences is to take responsibility and be with his son in their own home. Cognitive dissonance prevents people from seeing that this film is as much an indictment of racism as it is an indictment on those who use racism as an excuse to avoid taking personal responsibility for their lives and their communities

The only time in the film that Blacks get exactly what they want is the seemingly innocuous scene where the Icee Man serves snow cones to the Black children and tells them, “Your color, your flavor.”

The vilification of Black Males and the Matriarch mindset

Mookie’s son is unwittingly conditioned to hate his father—and men—by hearing his mother and grandmother talk negatively about Mookie and men not “being shit.” This probably translates, subconsciously, to the fratricide in inner cities throughout this country. Being deprived of a male role model, the boy is also being conditioned to see women as their sole providers and heads of the house, a growing reality that is reinforced in television shows, motion pictures, and rap videos showing Black men as deadbeats, pimps, gangbangers or as simply lazy.

Examples:

• Mother Sister is cold toward’s the neighborhood wino named Da Mayor. Jade asks her why she resents Da Mayor and Mother Sister’s reply is that he reminds her of her no good husband
• A Black woman slaps her son on the behind for almost getting hit by a car. When Da Mayor speaks on the child’s behalf, the woman snaps at Da Mayor that no man, not even the boy’s father, can tell her how to raise her child
• Sal flirts openly with Jade in front of Mookie. When Mookie tells Jade to stay away from the pizzeria, she reminds him that he lives with her and has no say so over who she talks to

Black women and Black men are treated differently 

The film shows the discrepancy in how Sal treats Jade in comparison with how he treats Mookie and Buggin’ Out. Note the service he gives Jade and the service he gives Buggin’ Out—a night and day difference. Sal is nicer to her because—as Mookie explains to her—he wants to “hide the salami.”

(defiance to) Black male authority

• Black woman who tells Da Mayor that no man can tell her how to raise her child
• Sal is openly lecherous and disrespectful to Jade but when Mookie asks her to stay away from the pizzeria, she bristles and reminds him that she is providing a roof for him to stay

Whites sticking together

When Mookie tells Vito to smack Pino, Vito won’t do it because they are brothers. A real-life illustration of this logic can be seen in cases of clear-cut video evidence of excessive force by the police. There will always be something that happened prior to the beating. Rarely is any White cop charged and convicted by White juries—this is Vito. He’s not like his brother and he actually seems pretty cool. But he won’t go against Vito, either. 

Another example is when the cops respond to the fight at Sal’s and they leave Sal and his son’s alone and deal with the Blacks, particularly Radio Raheem and Buggin’ Out.