The film Do the Right Thing directed by Spike Lee in 1989 depicts issues of racism and police brutality. The film is set in New York in the heat of summer and follows Mookie, a young black man living with his sister, who works at Sal’s Famous Pizzeria. The Pizzeria is owned by Sal, and his two sons work there with him. While the Italian family has no immediate issues with blacks, and has been serving pizza in their neighborhood for years, a tense conflict begins between them when a black customer questions Sal about not having any African Americans pictured on his Wall of Fame. At the end of the film, this conflict comes to fruition when the young man and a couple friends storm in yelling. A fight breaks out and an angry crowd gathers in the street. The young man with the radio was handled too harshly by the police and was choked to death with the police baton. This angers the crowd and the mob destroys the pizzeria; setting it ablaze.
The film uses cinematographic techniques to communicate an uncomfortable aura around the illustration of racism and brutality. This feeling motivates the audience to feel upset with the injustice it displays, and, as the title states, do the right thing. For example, the film begins with discontinuity editing when the young girl begins dancing. This is jaring, and demands the audience’s attention. The song playing is ‘Fight the Power’ and its satirical nature prepares the audience to view the film from the perspective of the minorities, and sympathize with them. The film also uses many dutch angle shots, low angle shots, close-ups, and the camera work is sometimes shaky. There are many cuts and shot reverse shots. These all factor into making the audience uncomfortable and very aware of the unnatural nature of the camera work. This translates into making the audience feel how unnatural it is to treat people unjustly, and allow anger and racism to fuel violence.
I enjoyed the film however, I found it very difficult to watch at some scenes, and was shocked with how relevant the messages of the film are today; 31 years later.
Intro to Film Studies 
Ava,
This post is nicely focused on themes of racism and violence in Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing. The racial and ethnic tensions we see in the film arise out of several overlapping issues. Some of it has to do with economic disparity, some of it has to do with ignorance, and some of it has to do with deep-seated and ingrained racism. Regarding the final point, I would qualify your point about how Sal and his family have no issues with the African-American community in which they work. Pino is overtly racist, as Lee takes pains to show, and, as we see in the confrontation between Sal and Radio Raheem, Sal’s own racism lies just below the surface of his otherwise calm and even sentimental demeanor. I also like that you consider the ways in which Lee deliberately deploys techniques to unsettle the viewer. You nicely point out that a lot of this has to do with cinematographic choices–where the camera is placed, framing, etc. There’s also the uncomfortable moment where he breaks the fourth wall and has the characters deliver racial and ethnic slurs right at us, the viewers. By using these uncomfortable and even confrontational tactics, Lee challenges the viewer to think about their own positions and also to contemplate the imperative of the title: how do we “do the right thing”?
Solid post,
MT
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