The Chosen People
Out of context: Reply #6
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Lines Of Communication
Reviewed by Ian WhitneyI don’t think I need to tell you that Do The Right Thing is a good movie. You probably knew that. If you didn’t, you know it now. The Critic has spoken. With that out of the way, I think it’s time to start drawing some comparisons and making some sweeping generalizations about the Lee movies I’ve seen so far. One constant theme is the failure of communication and the divisions it creates among groups that should be united. In She’s Gotta Have It, Nora is never able to explain to her three boyfriends why she is dating them all simultaneously. And the men’s attempts to talk to Nora or to each other only make things worse. In School Daze, the groups chastise outsiders and pass tests of fealty but never stop to notice that the people they ostracize are themselves. Do the Right Thing continues these themes with a complexity and confidence missing from his earlier films.
Within the neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant there are a lot of stories in that make up Do The Right Thing, a complete summary would be far too long and uninteresting. At the highest level, the film is about an exceptionally hot day. Driven by heat, the usually invisible tensions between the residents, business owners and police become strained to the point of breaking. The main tension is between Buggin’ Out (Giancarlo Esposito) and the Italian-American owners of Sal’s Famous Pizzeria. Buggin’ Out takes issue with Sal’s “Wall of Fame”, a collection of pictures of Italian-American entertainers that doesn’t reflect the population of the almost all-black neighborhood.
This conflict is the backbone of the story, but far from the focus. Throughout the day, residents from all parts of the neighborhood conflict, pulling at tensions that the heat has made taut. None of these conflicts are resolved; the people involved talk or yell but never actually communicate. Almost every exchange ends in “fuck you” as the characters depart in disgust. The residents are unable to communicate honestly but, as in She’s Gotta Have It, they are honest once they are alone. In one scene, Lee shows all the characaters’ unspoken thoughts by having them spew racial slurs at the camera. In dialog, these unspoken thoughts create misunderstandings and divisions among groups that should be united as members of the neighborhood. The unresolved conflicts pile on each other and fester, building the tension until the neighborhood explodes.
Lee leaves open the question of what people should do with all these unspoken thoughts. Bringing them out into the open could be cathartic, but also divisive. Lee is clear that keeping divisions hidden only leads to greater conflict, the tension remains under the surface only to explode during times of stress. As an alternative, Lee uses a picture of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King smiling and shaking hands as a symbol of disparate groups uniting for a single cause. After the film’s conclusion, Lee uses quotes from the two men as post-scripts. The quotes show the great difference between the two men, but the photo shows that they could unify. Neighborhood resident Smiley, who has an undefined mental illness (Lee says in his book on the making of Malcom X that Smiley was a deaf-mute, but he does speak and hear in the movie so who knows?), hovers in the background of much of the film trying to sell copies of the photo to passers by. But Smiley and his pictures are ignored throughout the film. Lee gives his characters the answer to their conflicts if only they’d ever stop to look at it.By ignoring the possible solution, the film’s conflicts remain open after the closing credits. That suits Lee’s purpose well, he’s not looking to give solutions, but to create discussion. Like he did in School Daze, Lee opens many cans of worms without intending to close any of them. Unlike School Daze, where the conflicts were simply dropped in its sudden and fantastical ending, Lee uses the conflicts to serve a purpose, creating a tension in the film that is vital for the climax. All of the neighborhood’s tensions come to rest on the shoulders of Mookie (Spike Lee).
By giving the film’s central role and pivotal choice to Mookie—and, by extension, to Lee himself—Lee shows the trap that even the nicest, most conscious person can be caught in. Mookie is a goof, but a loveable goof. He’s one of the few who tries to bridge the barriers between Sal’s and the neighborhood. He works at Sal’s, is friends with Vito and attempts to soothe Pino’s racial anger. Mookie also makes some of the films most questionable decisions that are far from doing “the right thing.”
If Mookie, the film’s most sympathetic character, can’t do the right thing, is Lee suggesting that it’s an impossible goal? I don’t think so. Rather, I think he’s trying to be realistic about its difficulty. In its final scene, Do The Right Thing starts to explore how friendships can emerge from anger. It’s an open invitation to the audience to pick up where the characters leave off, starting a painful but rewarding dialog.1