Anastasia Kaidanov: Response to Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing

(I want to provide a larger forum for some of the better responses by students in my Introduction to Film courses--please feel free to comment on the film or their responses. The first one is from Anastasia who discusses the theatrical techniques, the "sense" of heat, and the struggle over what is the "right thing" in Spike Lee's film.)
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It is difficult to talk about Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing (1989) without wandering into a philosophical discussion about ethics, morality and the nature of human kind in general. Although, there is much to be said about the film aside from the issues that the author was trying to communicate from an intellectual standpoint.

One could devote an entire essay on his use of color alone. It is the hottest day of the summer (about 100 degrees), and Lee chooses to convey the heat in an interesting way. You never actually see any shots of the sun, and none of the characters seem to be shown sweating, or complaining that much about the temperature, yet one still feels, watching the film, how hot it really is, from the way Lee uses color and light. There are many shades of red, yellow and orange. Several shots, including the opening shot of a street in the neighborhood, where there is an actual yellow tint on the lens which gives everything a muggy, yellowish color, and the bright red brick wall that serves as the background for the three black men discussing the neighborhood throughout the film, gives the scene a scorching look. Another effective shot is when you see Jade brushing Mother Sister’s hair on the steps of her house. Together, with a faint “ooph…,” they turn their heads
and squint at the sky. All you see is the light and expression on their faces and the shadows behind them, yet these elements alone are just as effective at making one feel the heat as a scene with a shot of the white sun engulfed in heat waves, and a character sweating profusely.

The minimal fashion in which Lee chooses to illustrate the heat, amongst many other things in the film is very characteristic of theatre. In fact, the theatrical style in which it was filmed, is one of the most important aspects of the picture. A whole block in Brooklyn was blocked off and used as the set for the entire duration of the film. This allows the viewer to become familiar with the characters and the setting very quickly.

A lot of the characters, you will see walking the streets in the backgrounds of many shots even when they aren’t a direct part of the scene, and some characters remain stationary in a particular spot throughout most of the film, which is very typical of the way plays are frequently set up. Mother Sister, for example, is always seen either sitting on her window ledge, against the black background of her apartment, or on the front steps right next to the window, until, of course the riot at the end. In the same way, the three black men (Sweet Dick Willie, ML, and Coconut Sid) never leave their spot against the scorching wall until the end of the movie, and,
what’s most interesting about these three characters is that they come across as having assumed the role of the choir in Greek tragedies, and especially can be viewed as the type of narrators characteristic of Shakespearean plays.

Another aspect that was crucial in making the film look theatrical, is Lee’s use of long shots and the way he chose to position the characters. Instead of repeatedly using a series of over-the-shoulder shots every time there is a dialogue between two or more characters, he frequently places them all in one frame and has them positioned in a way that they are facing the camera, allowing the audience to see every reaction from all of the characters at once. Several shots taken on steps are excellent examples. For instance, the scene where Jade is brushing Mother Sister’s hair as they sit in the front steps of the house, they both face straight toward the camera, Jade positioned a step or two higher, behind Mother Sister. Or the shot that show four teenagers hanging out on the front steps of a friend’s house;
again, every character is positioned in a way that you can clearly see them all in the frame.

Lee’s use of long shots was also very effective in giving the movie the look of a play. One of the most striking examples of this is in the scene where Sal and Pino are having a conversation in the pizzeria and Pino is talking about how much he hates the neighborhood. The shot places them on opposite sides of a table in front of a window that looks out onto the street (across which you can see the Koreans’ store). In the middle of the conversation they are interrupted by Smiley, who comes up to the window trying to show them the pictures he is selling. Angry, Pino disappears from the shot, and you see him reappear on the other side of the window,
confronting Smiley, and periodically turning to say something to his father, who is still sitting at the table. The fact that Pino is speaking to his father through the glass is also very interesting because it possibly symbolizes how Pino’s opinions of the people in the neighborhood alienate him from his father.

Although there is much more to say about all the interesting ways in which Do the Right Thing was shot, I will find it impossible to conclude this essay without addressing what I believe is the most interesting aspect of Lee’s film. What exactly does Lee believe is “doing the right thing”?

Who, in his opinion, is in the right in this story? Many have argued that Lee makes Mookie out to be the hero, and Radio Raheem a martyr. The fact that Mookie seems to be the main character makes it easy to interpret his act of throwing a trashcan through the window of Sal’s pizzeria as having meant to be an act of righteous heroism. However, if one views this picture slowly, without attempting to choose sides, it becomes apparent that Lee doesn’t believe that anyone here is in the right. He is simply stating the obvious, showing human nature at its worst. He’s not saying that anyone here is a bed person for the things that they say and they way that they think, and he certainly doesn’t propose any kind of solution to the problem. On the contrary, he shows us how complicated he believes this subject to be. It seems to me that one of his main goals was simply to pose questions for viewers, to challenge us to think about these issues from different perspectives.

“I’m gonna kill somebody today,” says Sal in one of the opening scenes of the movie. Throughout the entire film, one can feel the tension. It’s a hot day, and everyone becomes easily irritated. Almost every character finds someone to argue or fight with. Sal’s family all yell and bicker at each other, Pino constantly gets on Mookie’s case for not working hard enough, Tina fights with her mother, even Mother Sister and the four teenage friends find a reason to insult Da Mayor. There were several scenes that seemed to almost have the sole purpose of illustrating the aggression in the neighborhood. Radio Raheem has a boom box stand off with the group of Hispanic friends, and when a white guy gets some dirt on Buggin’ Out’s sneaker, a dozen kids surround Buggin’, egging him on to start a fight with the guy. “Kick hi ass! He was talkin’ about yo momma!” The whole day the characters jumped at every opportunity to insult someone that they had a problem with. This illustrates the fact that this movie isn’t just about racism and prejudice. It’s about people not seeing eye to eye, unable to see things from somebody else’s perspective.

A lot of the characters are demonstrated to be hypocritical in many ways. Sal is perplexed by his son’s anger, yet he quickly loses his temper on several occasions, including the scene when Buggin’ Out questions the pictures on this wall, and then again when he comes back after closing with Radio Raheem and Smiley. Tina, Mookies girlfriend is constantly complaining about Mookie being a bad father, but constantly curses and screams with her toddler son in her arms. Not to mention the obvious fact that when asked to boycott Sal’s pizzeria, most of the characters refused because “Sal never did anything to them, and they grew up on his pizza,” yet they all still participated in the destruction of his restaurant.

Finally, the fact that the heat is emphasized throughout the movie poses some intriguing questions. Is Lee suggesting that there is some sort of major outside influence that affects peoples aggression on an almost subconscious level? Is it human nature for people to feel like they need someone to blame for their problems, and if so, does society emphasize racism, thus making it easier for people to find targets? In the years preceding this film, there had been a lot of race riots, and assassinations of several civil rights activists, including the legendary Malcolm X. These events, without a doubt helped fuel people’s anger and frustration towards
different races and ethnicities. Or could it just be that people are that blind by nature? Would the situation in the movie have escalated to the level that it did, had it been a beautiful day outside? Something to think about.