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. 

Do The Right Thing: plot summary

Spike Lee's 'Do The Right Thing'

There are movies and there are miracles; Spike Lee's film, Do The Right Thing, falls into the latter category. When this vibrant, ferocious little film came out in 1989, most of the top reviewers rated it as the best film of the year, and among the best of the decade. This film is one of the purest crystallizations of not only racism but of all the problems in our society and Mr. Lee lays as much blame for the problems in the Black community as he does in regards to Whites. A very even-handed film that pulls no punches to avoid polarizing the viewers when the film came out and even now the film is as palpable as when it came out almost 30 years ago. I've put together this detailed plot summary that follows the film scene by scene. Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to read it.

Love Daddy at WeLove Radio wakes up the inner city neighborhood of Bed-sty with alarm clock. The weather for today is 100 degrees. The color for today is Black.

Montage

• An old Black man named Da Mayor wakes up in his bed
• A retarded, stuttering Black man named Smiley stands outside of a Black church selling pictures of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King (“We have to fight against Apartheid”)
• Inside of an apartment, a young Black man named Mookie is sitting on a bed counting money. Then, he wakes up his sister named Jade who is sleeping late because it is Saturday and she is off work today

A Cadillac stops in front of a small storefront called Sal’s pizzeria. Sal and his 2 sons and get out of the car. Sal orders his oldest son, Pino, to sweep the front; Pino orders Vito, his younger brother, to sweep the front. Vito complains to his father. Pino hates his father’s business. A frustrated Sal says that he’s going to kill somebody today

Mookie leaves his apartment and, outside, the neighborhood wino named Da Mayor walks up with his hand out but before he can open his mouth, Mookie tells him “no!” and looks up to greet an old Black woman named Mother Sister who is sitting in her apartment window overlooking the neighborhood.

Mookie is late for work and Pino frowns at him, then orders him to sweep the front.

Mookie says no and Da Mayor walks in and asks Sal for work. Sal gives the old Black man a  dollar and the broom to sweep the front and Da Mayor shuffles off gratefully.

Pino criticizes his father for paying an azupep a dollar everyday to sweep the front.

Pino also doesn’t like Vito talking to Mookie and tells his little brother that they have to have a brother to brother talk. 

Four Black teens are hanging out in front of an apartment building. Ella, Punchie, and 2 others comment on a Black Man walking by with a big loud radio on his shoulder; the man’s name is Radio Raheem and the song blasting out of his radio is “Fight The Power.”

Da Mayor is in a small Korean grocery store complaining because the store doesn’t have Miller High Life which happens to be his favorite beer; he has to settle for what they have, a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon Lite. 

He cracks open the beer and drinks it under Mother Sister’s window and she scolds him to shame and sends him away bowing and apologizing.

Mookie’s baby-momma lives with her mother and they are arguing because her mother refuses to babysit. The child is sitting on  his grandmother’s lap and she tells him that his father is a bum. 

Three Black men named Sweet Dick Willie, ML, and Coconut are sitting under an umbrella with a red brick building in the backdrop. They are laughing, talking loud, and cursing. ML holds up a lottery ticket he bought that will get him out of the ghetto. 

An outspoken Black man named Buggin’ Out is at Sal’s buying a slice of pizza and Sal’s face and attitude are sour. Buggin’ Out complains loudly when Sal charges him an extra $2.00 for cheese. All of the customers in the restaurant but they are enjoying their food and don’t seem to care about the way Sal is treating Buggin’ Out.

Buggin’ Out looks at the wall and asks Sal why there are so may pictures of White men on it even though all of the customers are Black.

Sal has had enough. He picks up a baseball bat and orders Buggin’ to leave. Mookie walks Buggin’ outside where he lays into Buggin’ for making it hard for him. He tells Buggin’ to stay away from Sal’s for a week. Mookie goes back inside and Buggin’ tells him to stay Black. 

Later, Sal reprimands Mookie for letting Buggin’ disturb his business. He wants Mookie to make Buggin’ shut up. He sends Mookie to deliver a pizza.

Da Mayor stops Mookie to tell him to “Always do the right thing.” 

Mookie runs into Smiley who wants him to buy a picture of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King. Mookie is in too much of a hurry and promises to buy a picture later.

Jade is sitting on steps of apartment combing Mother Sister’s hair. Da Mayor stops to pay Mother Sister a compliment but she calls him a drunk fool and sends him away; He reminds her too much of her ex husband. 

Montage: 

• Heatwave headlines on various newspapers
• Tina dunks her head in a sink full of water and ice cubes
• Jade takes a cold shower
• A group of young Mexican men crack beers open
• Black kids play in front of a fire hydrant

Radio Raheem walks by and they hold up the water to let him pass by. A White man in a Cadillac convertible warns them not to get his car wet. They hold the water for him to go by but release it when he does ruining his car. The Police pull up and the kids who wet up the Cadillac disappear. The White man orders the Police to arrest somebody. They ask him for names and he tells them “Moe and Joe Black.” They ask Da Mayor if he knows the young men but he says, “Those that’ll tell don’t know, and those that know won’t tell.” 

Sal gives Mookie some food to take to Love Daddy at the radio station. Vito goes with Mookie to make sure that he doesn’t goof off and take all day like he usually does. 

Mookie tells Vito to kick Pino’s ass. Mookie asks Love Daddy to play a song for Tina. 

A group of young Mexican men are hanging out in front of an apartment laughing and drinking beer. Radio Raheem walks up with his radio which drowns out their radio. They turn their music up louder but Raheem turns his up even louder. They concede to him and he walks away the winner.

Mookie and Vito debate over who’s the better baseball player between Dwight Gooden or Roger Clemens.

A White guy walks by and inadvertently steps on Buggin’ Out’s tennis shoe which happens to be Air Jordans. Buggin’ Out sees the smudge on his shoe and loses his mind. The White guy apologizes but Buggin’ won’t let it go because a group of Black teens are encouraging him to fight the White man. 

Sal’s

Mookie tells Vito to smack Pino; Pino reminds Vito that they are on the same team. Pino threatens Mookie but Mookie isn’t afraid of him. 

Sweet Dick Willie, ML, and Coconut are outside sitting at their usual spot. A police car drives by them very slowly. One of the cops stare at ML—the oldest and raggediest of the 3 men—and says, “What a waste!” 

ML tells his friends to look at the Korean market across the street. “Are they geniuses or are we dumb?” he says. “I’ll be happy when we open a business in our own neighborhood.” 

Sweet Dick goes over to the Korean business to buy him a beer.

Da Mayor pays fifty cents to a boy named Eddie to buy him a beer. A group of teens see Da Mayor doing this and call him names, including a drunk zero. Da Mayor tells them that he drinks to deal with the pain of not being able to feed his children. They tell him to get a job. One of the young men has to be held back from beating up Da Mayor. 

Sal’s

Mookie is on telephone talking with Tina and tying up the line for Sal’s customers.

Sal and Pino order Mookie to get off the phone and he takes his time doing so. Pino calls him a nigger. Mookie takes Pino to the side to talk privately, asking Pino who his favorite basketball player is; who his favorite actor is; and who his favorite musician is—all of them are Black! Pino tries to justify his answers; he likes them ‘cause they’re not really black. They say fuck you to each other and end the discussion. 

Montage: 

A member of every race in the neighborhood insult each other with racial slurs and stereotypes. Love Daddy tells everybody to chill. 

Mookie asks Sal to pay him in advance but Sal says no and sends him out with a pizza. A little Black girl is sitting on the tarmac drawing a happy family and Mookie rudely walks over it. He sees Radio Raheem who tells him the story of Love and Hate. Left hand wins at the beginning but Love prevails in the end.

With his big radio playing “Fight the Power,” Radio Raheem goes to Sal’s for 2 slices of pizza. Sal orders him to turn down his radio and refuses to serve him. Radio Raheem turns off his boombox. 

Mookie buys a picture from Smiley. Then, he goes home to take a shower break. Jade gets on him about doing this and jeopardizing his job and she tells him to take care of his responsibilities. 

Love Daddy calls off a long list of Black music artists over montage showing people dealing with the heat.

Sal’s

Pino is sick of niggers and being around them. He asks his father to sell the business and open a new one in their own neighborhood. His friends tease him about going to “feed the niggers” but Sal is proud that the people in this neighborhood grew up on his food and won’t part with his business. 

While they are talking, Smiley taps on the window to get their attention, holding up a picture of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King. Pino goes outside to run Smiley away. Someone across the street sees this and warns Pino to leave Smiley alone. Pino and the man argue back and forth. 

Buggin’ out beats the pavement trying to organize people to boycott Sal’s Pizzeria. Everyone tells him to get lost. Buggin' tells Sal that the neighborhood’s boycotting him. 

Mookie tells Buggin’ Out to just drop it and Jade tells him to redirect his energy to something constructive in the community.

Sal’s 

Sal tells Mookie not to push it unless he wants to be in the street with his homeboys and then Jade walks in and Sal’s attitude changes. He starts flirting with Jade and bending over backwards to give her extra service.

The batteries in Radio Raheem’s boombox die and he has to go to the Korean market to buy new ones. The Koreans have a hard time understanding what he wants and the transaction becomes hostile and disrespectful on both sides.

Da Mayor buys a bouquet of roses for Mother Sister and leaves them on her windowsill. Her stern expression softens into a smile as he walks away tipping his hat. 

ML asks Sweet Dick how he got his name and why “You niggers always brag on your dicks.” 

Children buy snow cones from Icee man who serves them exactly what they want, “Your color, your flavor,” he says. Kids chase the ice cream truck down the street. Da Mayor knocks down a boy and saves him from getting hit by a car. The boy’s mother whups him on the spot. When Da Mayor asks her not to be too hard on her son, the woman puts Da Mayor in his place, letting him know that not even the boy’s father can tell her how to raise her child. 

Sal’s

Sal and Jade are at a table and he is like a dog in heat. Mookie takes her outside and tells her to stay away. Jade tells him that Sal’s attention is innocent. Fed up, she tells Mookie that she’s tired of supporting him and wants him out of her place as soon as possible. 

Mookie tells Sal to leave Jade alone but Sal takes exception to the insinuation and sends Mookie out to deliver a pizza. 

Mookie steps on a kid’s chalk drawing of the American Dream. Mother Sister commends Da Mayor for saving the boy’s life earlier. Da Mayor is so overwhelmed by her approval that he tells her about the time he played baseball back in 1939 when he went home on a bunt single and scored the winning run. It was in Snow Hill Alabama. He comes to his senses and stumbles off tipping his hat. Mother Sister smiles to herself.

Mookie drops a pizza off at his baby’s momma. Tina is happy to see him and they kiss. He can’t stay long because he’s on the hot seat with Sal for taking too long on his deliveries. He asks her for a “quickie.” She curses him out for not coming by to see her in a week. He asks her not to drop so many F-bombs in front of their son. When she calms down, he tells her to take off her clothes. He gets some ice cubes from the freezer and rubs them all over her body. Afterwards, he leaves promising to return tonight after he gets off work.

Cops stop by Sal’s to pick up some food. Sal’s is the only White business left in the all-Black neighborhood and they ask him, jokingly, how long he plans on staying behind. Mookie walks in complaining to cover up for all the time he spent with Tina. 

Pino roughs up Vito in the back of the place. He warns Vito that Mookie is Black and can’t be trusted.

The sun is down and Buggin’ Out and Raheem are hanging out complaining about Sal’s. Raheem is still sore about Sal making him turn down his radio. 

Buggin’ wants to boycott Sal and Raheem and Smiley join him.

Sal’s 

It’s payday and it’s been a great day for business. Sal feels so good that he wants to rename the place ‘Sal’s and Son’s Famous Pizzeria.” He even promises Mookie that there’ll be a place for him there, too. 

Outside, a bunch of kids have their faces pressed on the glass pleading with Sal to let them in and he does. Radio, Buggin’, and Smiley come last and Buggin’ orders Sal to get some Black pictures on the Wall of Fame. 

Mookie pleads with Buggin’ to leave. Sal orders Raheem to turn down his radio but Buggin’ won’t leave until Sal hangs some Black pictures on the wall.

Sal calls Buggin’ a nigger and everybody goes nuts. Sal finds his baseball bat and smashes up the radio.

Out of breath, he says to Raheem: “I just killed your fucking radio!” 

And Raheem grabs Sal and throws him on the floor. Everyone goes wild! Bodies spill out onto the sidewalk. Everyone within earshot rushes to Sal’s. A squad car arrives and a huge cop lifts Raheem off the ground with a chokehold. Raheem dies and Buggin’ Out is cuffed and thrown into a squad car. Raheem’s lifeless body falls to the ground like a sack of potatoes and the cops kick him unable to believe they actually killed him. Finally, they pick him up, throw his body in the back of a squad car, and leave. 

Everyone calls out the names of Blacks murdered by the police. 

Mookie joins the angry crowd. Da Mayor pleads for calm. Mookie throws a trash can through the window of Sal’s restaurant. Everybody pour into it and trash it. Da Mayor pushes Sal and his sons to a safe distance and they watch the pizzeria catch fire. Everybody chants Radio, Radio, Radio!

Sweet Dick leads the crowd to the Korean market. The owner pleads with them and they spare his business. 

Police and fire trucks hit the scene and everyone chants Howard Beach! A cop on a bullhorn orders everyone to go home. Then firemen train hoses on them. Mother Sister is hysterical. Da Mayor holds her tightly. 

Smiley enters the burnt out pizzeria and hangs a picture of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King on the wall.

The next morning the street is trashed from the night before. Love Daddy asks,“Are we gonna live together?”

The weather forecast is hot!

Mookie wakes up with Tina. He’s got to go get his money from Sal and she fusses at him because she won’t see him for another week. She directs foul language at him in the presence of their son. 

Da Mayor wakes up in Mother Sister’s apartment. 

Sal sits on the stoop of his restaurant looking sad. Mookie walks up and asks for his money and Sal explodes; he’d lost his restaurant! But Radio Raheem lost his life! Sal blames Buggin’ Out for Raheem’s death.

He pulls out a bankroll and peels off the money he owes Mookie, balling the money up and throwing it at him. Mookie picks up the money Sal owes him and throws the rest right back at him. Sal becomes somber and asks Mookie what he’s going to do. Get paid, Mookie says, picking up the money he threw at Sal and walking away. The streets and sidewalks are busy with their normal activity as people in the neighborhood go about their business like the previous night never happened. Love Daddy dedicates a song to Radio Raheem. The end.