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Utilitarianism In The Movie 'Do The Right Thing'

297 Words2 Pages
In the movie “Do the Right Thing” it seems to me that utilitarianism is not a standard practice. Throughout the movie viewers follow Mookie, a pizza delivery boy with many connections and a family just trying to make ends meet. He is faced with several dilemmas of trying to make his boss happy or the people in his neighborhood happy, which in the end he seems to succeed neither. Utilitarianism is the ethical conduct of maximizing happiness, in “Do the Right Thing” it seems that there is no group with maximum happiness. In the title sequence, a rap about “fighting the power” plays, which I tied to being like most historical event with a larger group being oppressed by a few with power until they are overthrown by the people. Which in
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Spike Lee’s films never fail to spark controversy in the filmgoing world due to constantly dealing with the delicate topic of race and by clearly portraying his pro-black view of the topic. His films point out the corruption of our world and realize the separation of our society, especially in the black culture. In his classic film, Do the Right Thing, he reveals the struggles of an interracial community that doesn 't get along with each other. The climax of the film is undoubtedly when Sal’s famous Pizzeria is vandalized and burned by the community after the police kill Radio Raham because of an aggressive confrontation in his shop.

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In order to place the emphasis on the groups characters belong to and not the characters themselves, Lee’s characters in the film all fit into common character roles for narrative films. In the introductory montage, diagetic sound and mise-en-scene is used to clearly attach roles to each of the characters. For example, in the shot showing Da Major, beer bottles can be found littered all over his bedside dresser, which establishes him as the neighborhood drunk. Likewise, in an ensuing shot, Mookie is observed talking about and counting money, leading the audience to assume he is a hustler, or a character which fits the Midas persona. While in this respect, Do The Right Thing’s characters are typical of narrative films, what differentiates them from those in mainstream narrative cinema is lack of depth given to each character.

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Known for it’s provocative message, Spike Lee’s film Do the Right Thing (1989) direct’s the audiences attention toward police racism and violence. Spike Lee adds a dramatic flare to the movie through intense, colorful lighting and dialog. Characters in the movie fight for and against racial justice. The biggest argument of the movie is when a patron of a local pizza shop, Buggin Out (Giancarlo Esposito), believes that the pizza shop should have photos of African Americans along with the Italian Americans on the wall. The owner of the shop, Sal (Danny Aiello), disagrees.

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918 Words | 4 Pages

The movie Do the Right Thing, composed, coordinated and created by Spike Lee, concentrates on a solitary day of the lives of racially differing individuals who live and work in a lower-class neighborhood in Brooklyn New York. Notwithstanding, this common day happens on one of the most sizzling days of summer. The movie fixates on how social class, race and the ethical choices that the characters make directly affect the way individuals communicate with each other. Furthermore, in this essay I will analyses Spike Lee’s use of mise-en-scene, cinematography, editing, and sound. Mise-en-scene is utilized as a part of a couple of scenes of Do The Right Thing to feature their significance to the plot.

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994 Words | 4 Pages

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.

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941 Words | 4 Pages

Do the Right Thing is a brilliant cinematic depiction of what life is like in Brooklyn, New York in a neighborhood flooded with pluralism. As tensions and temperatures rise we see an unraveling of events which spiral into a tragedy. This film has without a doubt withstood the test of time; hence, remaining significant and relevant to our culture today. The movie opens with Mookie, a young African American, who works at Sal’s Famous Pizzeria. Sal’s pizzeria is owned by Sal and his two sons Vito and Pino.

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Throughout the movie, different type of music genres are played with certain scenes and certain characters. The song that had the greatest impact in the movie was the song, “Fight the Power”, by Public Enemy. Public Enemy was a hip hop group that was asked by Spike Lee to compose a song directly for the movie, “Do the Right Thing”. The song, “Fight the Power”, was played throughout the movie, and it was played every-time the character, Radio Raheem would walk around with his boom box playing the song at high volumes.

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922 Words | 4 Pages

Do the Right Thing brings about many questions, while also leaving it up to the diverse audience to decide what they feel the right thing is. The movie also brings about the animosity that is forced between different ethnicities and races because of the way the culture in America has been

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Selecting a sole script out of thousands of remarkable writings, is quite a task for me. But, I suppose that in terms of tackling "the tone" and "language," the script for the film Do The Right Thing serves as a perfect example. The 1989 film Do The Right Thing was a controversial film depicting life in a Brooklyn neighborhood, and the racial tensions that flare on a hot summer day. The attitudes portrayed in the film are those of dozens of angry neighborhood locals. The attitudes of the locals grow more and more angry throughout the script, as they grow tired of the oppressive system.

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484 Words | 2 Pages

It all starts with Sal and his sons in their family owned pizzeria. Sal’s son doesn’t like Mookie because he is African American. Furthermore, Mookie’s friends come into Sal’s pizzeria and Radio Raheem questions why there are no African Americans on his “Wall of Fame.” Sal tells Radio Raheem that it is his shop and he can do as he pleases. Radio Raheem gets upset and brings his boom box into the shop blaring “Fight the Power.”

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1217 Words | 5 Pages

Utilitarianism is the moral theory that the action that people should take it the one that provides the greatest utility. In this paper I intend to argue that utilitarianism is generally untenable because act and rule utilitarianism both have objections that prove they cannot fully provide the sure answer on how to make moral decisions and what will be the ultimate outcome. I intend to do this by defining the argument for act and rule utilitarianism, giving an example, presenting the objections to act and rule utilitarianism and proving that utilitarianism is untenable. Both act and rule utilitarianism attempt to argue that what is right or wrong can be proven by what morally increases the well being of people. Act utilitarianism argues that

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1355 Words | 6 Pages

The film Do the Right Thing, composed, coordinated and delivered by Spike Lee, concentrates on a solitary day of the lives of racially different individuals who live and work in a lower class neighborhood in Brooklyn New York. Be that as it may, this conventional day happens on one of the most sweltering days of the mid year. The film focuses on how social class, race and the ethical choices that the characters make directly affect the way individuals interface with each other. It begins with the film's characters awakening to begin their day and peaks with an area revolt after cops too much limit and kill a youthful dark man named Radio Raheem for battling a more seasoned Italian American eatery proprietor named Sal in his pizzeria, and afterward

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1016 Words | 5 Pages

The most memorable, however, is the “Fight the Power” song which regularly inspires the battle against oppression, racism, and prejudices. The pattern viewers hear when listening to the song throughout the film is that it is played whenever there is a major event, such as the beginning, the burning of Sal’s, and the end to name a few. The use of patterns and repetition help the viewer understand the complexity of the struggles as a result of systemic

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1218 Words | 5 Pages

The main principle of utilitarianism is happiness. People who follow this theory strive to fulfill the “ultimate good”. The “ultimate good” is defined as ultimate pleasure with out any pain. It is said that the pleasure can be of any quantity and any quality, but pleasures that are weighted more important are put at a higher level than others that are below it. This ethical theory also states that if society would fully embrace utilitarianism then people would naturally realize their moral standing in the

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1711 Words | 7 Pages

Suppose a conductor is driving his train and the breaks are defect. The rails lead directly into a cluster of five people who would all die if the train will go this direction. However, the conductor can change onto another track where only one person is standing hence only one person would die. How should the conductor react (Hare, 1964)? Is it possible to condense the problem to a rather simple maximization problem in example that the action is taken, which would kill the least people?

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