Do The Right Thing is an American comedy-drama that was produced, written and directed by Spike Lee in 1989. Spike Lee also plays as the protagonist, Mookie, of his own film. Some notable stars featured in the film include Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Richard Edson, Giancarlo Esposito, Bill Nunn, John Turtorro, and Samuel L. Jackson. Do The Right Thing is also credited as the breakthrough movie that debuted Martin Lawrence and Rosie Perez and propelled them to fame.

The plot of the movie tells the story of Mookie (Spike Lee) and an incident that occurs in his neighborhood in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn during the summer. Mookie is a pizza delivery man for the local pizzeria owned by Italian-American Sal who has been in the neighborhood for twenty-five years. The start of the conflict begins when Mookie’s friend Buggin’ Out questions Sal about the restaurant’s “Wall of Fame”. The “Wall of Fame” in the restaurant features famous Italian-Americans and Buggin’ Out makes the statement that because Sal’s pizzeria is in a black neighborhood, he should start placing pictures of black celebrities on the wall. Sal argues that because that is his restaurant, he can feature anyone he pleases and that happens to be only Italian-Americans. The day continues and so does the heat and tension. That same night, Buggin’ Out, Radio Raheem, and Smiley return to Sal’s pizzeria and demand that they make the changes on the Wall of Fame that they mentioned earlier in the day. Radio Raheem’s radio is blasting all while Buggin’ Out argues about the wall. Sal then explodes on them and says he will “tear his nigger ass” and then goes on to destroy Raheem’s radio with a baseball bat. Raheem attacks Sal and the fight moves into the street. Raheem proceeds to choke Sal until police arrive and break up the fight. They arrest Buggin’ Out and Radio Raheem. However, one officer puts Raheem into a chokehold and continues to hold the chokehold even after his colleagues urge him to release the chokehold. The officer refuses and continues to choke Raheem until he dies. After the officers that pulled up to the scene realize that they have killed Raheem, they drag his body into their car and they drive off. The neighborhood becomes enraged with Raheem’s death and blames Sal and his sons for causing it. Mookie then grabs a trash can and throws it into the window of Sal’s pizzeria. This sparks a riot as many of onlookers rush into the restaurant and destroy it while Smiley starts are fire inside. Police arrive and firefighters arrive to put out the fire. After putting out the fire, the firefighters then aim their hoses at the crowd in hopes of dispersing the riot. More fighting occurs and more arrests are made. Smiley then heads into what remains of the restaurant and places a picture of himself on the remains of Sal’s Wall of Fame. Mookie returns to Sal the next day and demands his weekly pay. This leads to an argument, after all Sal feels that Mookie has betrayed him. They reconcile and Sal pays Mookie. The movie ends with a song dedication to Raheem by the local DJ and a photograph of Martin Luther King shaking hands with Malcolm X.

Spike Lee’s movie has gained a widespread success and has received many accolades and awards. It is often ranked among the greatest movies of all time. Perhaps one aspect of the movie that made the movie such a success was Spike Lee’s use of symbolism to portray his message of the conflict between races. Symbolism can be seen as early as the first scene when Rosie Perez is dancing to the Public Enemy song, “Fight the Power”.  Rosie is seen dancing in a colorful outfit and then in a white and black boxing robe and red box gloves. The black and white robe is can be seen as a symbol for the black and white races that clash later on in the movie. The red gloves can be seen as the bad blood between the white and black races. In a way, this foreshadows what the rest of the movie will depict as the whole story line portrays the rising tension between the white residence and black residence in the neighborhood.

Another use of symbolism that Spike Lee uses in the movie is the white Cadillac. Sal and his sons pull are seen pulling up to the restaurant in a white Cadillac. Cadillacs at the time were seen as symbols of wealth and power. Just like the color of Sal’s skin, the car also happens to white as well. The car can be seen as a symbol for Sal in that Sal is a white man that is wealthy because of his successful business. At the same time, the car adds to the image Sal has as a wealthy white man.

As silly as it seems, the colors of the shirts that Sal’s sons where can be seen as strategically chosen for the movie. Pino is depicted as very racist towards black people and doesn’t get along with them in the movie. So respectively, he wears a white shirt to symbolize his stance as a racist white person in the neighborhood. His brother Vito, on the other hand is seen wearing a black shirt. Unlike his brother Pino, Vito gets along with Mookie and is nowhere near as hateful as Pino towards black people.

Something that was really left a lasting impression was the climax of the movie when Raheem is killed by a chokehold. Although this movie has been made nearly thirty years ago, the same messages resonates just as strongly as it does today. The resurgence of the clash between races seems to have risen in prominence. Just like Raheem was killed by an unreleased chokehold by a white police officer, a real world occurrence recently occurred as well. With the relatively recent death of Eric Gardner, the story behind Do The Right Thing has been especially moving for me since the story is no longer just fiction, but a reality as well.