Review Of Do The Right Thing By Spike Lee

In Spike Lee’s movie Do The Right Thing, the ideas of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X are presented throughout the movie. The constant presence of the character Smiley with a photo of the leaders portrays the importance that these two figures’ ideas have in the movie. The “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” by Martin Luther King, Jr., and the speech “The Ballot or the Bullet,” by Malcolm X, help us elucidate the events that happen during a hot day in the neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. The scene of Mookie throwing the trashcan enacting the destruction of Sal’s Famous Pizzeria applies to both King and X’s ideas. Malcolm X is characterized as being violent. X argues that he does not promote violence, but he does recognize

X writes: “It’s the white man who grins at you the most, and pats you on the back, and is supposed to be your friend. He might be friendly, but he is not your friend.” Similarly, Mookie sees Sal’s previous contributions and acts as friendly, but Mookie does not consider Sal a friend after the neighborhood and he accused Sal of Radio Raheem’s death. To Mookie, the friendly actions of Sal were just a fantasy that he realized too late. Mookie breaks that fantasy as he breaks the window taking everyone else’s blindfold away. Everyone realizes that Sal is not their friend; he is their enemy. By destroying Sal’s place, they destroy every tie that once linked them to

The actions of only one individual can bring a cloud of devastation that will set upon everyone who comes close to it. King explains: “Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” The destruction of Sal’s Famous Pizzeria affects Sal directly because that is the business that supports him. Sal has been in the neighborhood for twenty-five years and has been feeding the people in the neighborhood and watching them grow up since then. His pizzeria is part of the neighborhood as he describes. Sal will struggle to find a new place to settle his pizzeria because competition is a major problem. The affection that Sal demonstrates toward the neighborhood is not reciprocal because the neighborhood thinks that it is all a fraud, so they destroyed his pizzeria. The destruction of Sal’s pizzeria affects indirectly the neighborhood. The neighborhood loves Sal’s pizza, and now they will need to find a new place to eat that might be far away, which will cost money to get there. Sal’s pizza and even his presence in the neighborhood have become part of the people. This action will specially affect Mookie indirectly because he will no longer have a job. Mookie loves money as we can see throughout the movie. In the first scene that we see Mookie, he is counting money and he often asks Sal for his paycheck. Now Mookie needs to get a job. Mookie