Racism In Do The Right Thing
A Spike Lee highly inflammable film, “Do The Right Thing”, is an example of a relatively cheap work of art which, however, is capable of conveying million-dollars-worth ideas. This movie is not just about the life in an African American neighborhood of New York, it is rather a complex analysis of false assumptions and wrong perception of the African Americans as a social group and as a source of problems only. The first important fact which the film is focused on is, logically, difficulty of life in a Black neighborhood: “…in “Do The Right Thing”, African-Americans and their experience are the major focus”. (Reid, 1997, 17). Life has never been simple in such places, and the presence of the Whites often adds insult to injury. William Grant
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The scene with the Sal’s pizzeria destruction demands a careful consideration of the film viewer rather than just a traditional demand to condemn the guilty. (Lee, 1989). This issue is closely related to the mentioned racism issue and this is the thing that complicates it. On one hand, the African Americans had no right to destroy anyone’s property, moreover on the basis that some person was white and lived in a black neighborhood. On the other hand, the white policemen killed a Black man for which, obviously, they had neither the right nor reasonability. In this regard, the movie’s advantage is citing Malcolm X’s and Martin Luther King’s speeches about violence. Martin Luther King stressed that “…violence… is a descending spiral…” which leads only to increase of violence which destroys itself, which the Blacks received by means of the police enforcement arrival. (Ladenburg, 2007, 4). On the contrary, Malcolm X’s words can serve as a justification of Mookie’s glass breaking as a means of self-defense, even though he was not in danger, rather, his Black group was, as it ultimately revealed, in danger of the police brutality. “Since self-preservation is the first law of nature, we assert the Afro-American’s right of self-defense.” (Ladenburg, 2007, 4). The film, however, demonstrates that this right should not be used excessively, on the contrary, it should be exercised with the proper
The scene with the Sal’s pizzeria destruction demands a careful consideration of the film viewer rather than just a traditional demand to condemn the guilty. (Lee, 1989). This issue is closely related to the mentioned racism issue and this is the thing that complicates it. On one hand, the African Americans had no right to destroy anyone’s property, moreover on the basis that some person was white and lived in a black neighborhood. On the other hand, the white policemen killed a Black man for which, obviously, they had neither the right nor reasonability. In this regard, the movie’s advantage is citing Malcolm X’s and Martin Luther King’s speeches about violence. Martin Luther King stressed that “…violence… is a descending spiral…” which leads only to increase of violence which destroys itself, which the Blacks received by means of the police enforcement arrival. (Ladenburg, 2007, 4). On the contrary, Malcolm X’s words can serve as a justification of Mookie’s glass breaking as a means of self-defense, even though he was not in danger, rather, his Black group was, as it ultimately revealed, in danger of the police brutality. “Since self-preservation is the first law of nature, we assert the Afro-American’s right of self-defense.” (Ladenburg, 2007, 4). The film, however, demonstrates that this right should not be used excessively, on the contrary, it should be exercised with the proper