Boiling Animosities In Do The Right Thing 

Boiling Animosities in Do the Right Thing Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing is a uniquely crafted film that emphasizes and focuses on a tight-knit, yet subtly expanding community. As the film spans mostly over the course of a single day, the audience experiences a day in the life of a mostly African American community in Brooklyn with other cultures woven in between. We, as the audience, are exposed to a unique, and often negative, dynamic between these different cultures of lower-class people. This film has strong messages of racism and animosity among people, depicting strong cultural tensions in New York. Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing intentionally embraces stereotypes to convey another message about how dangerous it can be to base one’s views on stereotypes. Spike Lee depicts a multi-cultural fractured New York community and the tension within it masterfully through cinematography, sound, and mise-en-scène, in a film that remains as relevant today as it was when it was released. Do the Right Thing was released in 1989, and over 30 years later, it still manages to maintain relevance in its social aspects and messages towards problems such as stereotyping and racial prejudice.

As Lee begins introducing characters into the film, the stereotypes of the colliding cultures become more and more apparent. In analyzing the characters’ appearances, we can see the use of the mise-en-scène playing into stereotyping not only through the costumes but props as well. It seems that Lee had done this intentionally. When introduced to the Italian-Americans, they are wearing tank tops and crosses and happened to be employed at a pizzeria, and another example being Radio Raheem with his boom box playing loud hip-hop and wearing the “love” and “hate” on his knuckles. As Radio Raheem walks the street blasting his music, another stereotype is presented when introduced to the Peurto Ricans. They sit on the stoop of the apartment listening to Spanish music, speaking Spanish, and drinking beer before Radio Raheem walks up playing music louder than theirs. There are also stereotypes shown through the white and Asian cultures portrayed in the film. Mookie himself could also be described as a stereotypical character. It seems he has a family he takes very little interest in and is also financially dependent on his sister. This raises the question of why did Spike Lee do this? It seems most likely, based on character development and dialogue, that he wanted to portray characters in a stereotypical appearance and have them break out of the boxes made for them to show a more humanized side to all of the main characters. Their stereotypes also seem to fuel the tension by occasionally exaggerating them. As the film progresses, we also see the characters judge others and also be judged based on their race, usually through racial slurs or phrases, once again adding a humanized element showing that many of the characters have their best and worst moments in the film. The stereotyping and racial epithets inevitably cause tension in the community to burst into the climax of the film. Cinematography is another film element that helps play into the intensity of the film’s tension.

The cinematography of Do the Right Thing helps to convey the overall tone of the film. The tension is emphasized through the fact that the whole film is taking place over the course of one blazing hot day. As the film progresses, it becomes more apparent that tensions could boil over. The entire film seems to have a bit of an interesting coloring or saturation to make the film seem to have an overall warmer look to it. The film uses a warmer color pallet throughout, and we also see heat waves on the screen in a few scenes, once again emphasizing heat, which in the case of the film is metaphorical and literal. One scene, in particular, stands out through the cinematography, that being the scene in which the fourth wall seems to be broken and a line up of characters look directly into the camera shouting absurd ethnic slurs. The use of the camera’s angle makes it feel more forceful and the breaking of the fourth wall seems like the characters are in the audience’s face. This is the most profane section of the film and possibly one of the most interesting and heated moments, despite no direct character interaction. This scene feels like preparation for the ending of the film when the community completely erupts.

Another prime example of significant cinematography in this film comes towards the end. The scene in which Radio Raheem, played by Bill Nunn, walks into Sal’s pizzeria with Buggin Out, played by Giancarlo Esposito. The scene has a quick back and forth shot-reverse shot with a seemingly first-person perspective and many shots using a dutch angle. The quicker pace of the shots intensifies the scene. The dutch angle shots make the viewer feel as if they were off-balance, this helps to visualize the dysfunctional and spiteful relationship between the characters present in the scene. The high and low angles from a first-person perspective also help the audience to feel more personally placed within the film world by allowing the viewer to see the height difference of Radio Raheem and Sal. The characters yell aggressively at each other, and at this moment tension is excessively high. Racially charged terms and phrases are thrown around in this scene as Buggin Out demands once again that people of color be put on the wall in the pizzeria. Sal then proceeds to yell racial slurs and destroys Radio Raheem’s boombox, thus completely igniting the heat and anger between characters and erupting the tension as the camera simultaneously reflects this.