Do the Right Thing: Jordan Mojzer-Brown

I did not know what to expect from Do the Right Thing (1989) so for the first twenty minutes I was trying to grasp what the story line was about. As the movie progressed, I started to understand it. As Jim Emerson said in his review of the film, “…it’s a deliberately unsettling and provocative film,” and it certainly is.  I can understand why some people might not like this film, especially those viewing it back in 1989. There was a pizzeria owned by Italians and a small market owned by Koreans, yet the African Americans did not have a store but they were the patrons of the businesses.   I believe that African Americans don’t want to see other African Americans not doing something to better themselves, so I understand how that can upset some viewers.

 I noticed the continuous use of the oblique angle as the movie went on. At the beginning it is used to inform the audience that things are not okay in this neighborhood. When the three men come into the pizzeria it is used again but this time as a foreshadowing that something bad is going to happen. In this scene the low angle is used to show the men’s dominance they portray in the pizzeria.

The one scene that stands out in my mind is when Mookie and Jane are sitting on the curb towards the ending of the riot.  The Koreans and their shop, which has not been disturbed, frame them. There is nothing on that side of the street that says there has been a riot. In a slower motion, as the camera movies in on Mookie while two young African American men are getting carried away in handcuffs. As this happens the camera is focusing in on Mookie and his expression and the look of disbelief in his eyes. At this point everything else in the background is out of focus and we start to hear the screaming of Mother Sister and soft jazz playing in the background.

At the end of the film I had to decide what I thought about the riot situation because Spike Lee didn’t tell me what to think. As said in the Washington Post Review, “…it keeps things open to wide interpretation”.  I had to ask myself , did I think that Mookie did the right thing by throwing the trashcan into the window? He seemed to have started the second round of the riot. He had to choose which side he wanted to be on; either his employer’s or his neighborhood’s, and at that moment he chose his neighborhood’s. Do I agree with it?  I’m not sure. He could have kept the peace but then again one of his friends was just killed by a police officer so he was emotional and he let his emotions take over.   

As I let the movie sink in, I realized in the heat of the moment things can happen and doing the right thing is not an option.  If someone I knew well was killed I would want to take some action like Mookie did. It’s a natural, human response to violence.