Spike Lee, Tyler Burns, & Jemar Tisby: What is the Right Thing?
Week Ten: Theology, Philosophy, and Film
Hi, all!
I am super excited to write about and discuss the explosive 1989 masterpiece from director Spike Lee, Do the Right Thing. Lee’s film is arguably the best film ever made about the hard questions surrounding race relations in the United States, and it is one of my very favorite all time films. Every time I rewatch it, I am challenged anew and learn more.
Film rating: This film earned a hard R rating in the US, primarily because of the use of profanity, which is quite extreme. There is also nudity in the film.
Where to watch: There is no free streaming of this film, but it should be readily available at most libraries. You can rent it via Apple, Google, Youtube, Prime, etc.
New York Times bestselling author and historian, Dr. Jemar Tisby, and president of The Witness: A Black Christian Collective and lead pastor of Rise City Church, Rev. Tyler Burns, will be joining our live discussion this Saturday, May 25th, at 2 pm ET. HERE is the Zoom link.
Do the Right Thing has two major historical figures looming large in the background of the stories contained in its Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, community. When watching, keep your eye on the appearance of the following photo of Malcolm X and MLK.
The film ends (no spoilers!) with these two quotes running before the credits:
“Violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and immoral. It is impractical because it is a descending spiral ending in destruction for all. The old law of an eye for an eye leaves everybody blind. It is immoral because it seeks to humiliate the opponent rather than win his understanding; it seeks to annihilate rather than to convert. Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love. It destroys a community and makes brotherhood impossible. It leaves society in monologue rather than dialogue. Violence ends by defeating itself. It creates bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers.”
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
“I think there are plenty of good people in America, but there are also plenty of bad people in America and the bad ones are the ones who seem to have all the power and be in these positions to block things that you and I need. Because this is the situation, you and I have to preserve the right to do what is necessary to bring an end to that situation, and it doesn't mean that I advocate violence, but at the same time I am not against using violence in self-defense. I don't even call it violence when it's self-defense, I call it intelligence.”
- Malcolm X
On the most basic level, Do the Right Thing is asking which approach–MLK’s “soul force,” love for enemies, and pacifism or Malcolm X’s “any many necessary”–is the “right thing.” Both of these approaches have often been grossly oversimplified, lacking nuance and context, in the popular conversation.
Here are a few readings from MLK and Malcolm X that I recommend to provide more nuance and context. Of course, it is not necessary to read these for the film discussion–but if you want a deeper dive into the complex differences and similarities in these approaches, these are some great starting points:
“My Pilgrimage to Nonviolence”-A more academic piece from MLK, explaining the theological and philosophical underpinnings of his position
“The Ballot or the Bullet”-Malcolm X
Malcolm X’s Speech at the Founding Rally of the Organization of Afro-American Unity.
I also find the poem “Harlem” by Langston Hughes a helpful lens through which to think about the film. Frustration, anger, and disappointment over the "“deferred dreams” of representation, equality, and justice for the Black community in Do The Right Thing manifest themselves in multiple ways. When watching the film, think of which characters might enact these different approaches:
I love the cinematic qualities of this film, including Spike Lee’s cinematographic choices of vibrant, varied colors enhancing the film’s sense of life, joy, caution, and drama. The music is also working almost as a character itself. The first few notes of music we hear are the opening notes of James Weldon Johnson’s beautiful hymn, “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” also known as the Black National anthem. It then quickly transitions into Public Enemy’s hard hitting, hip hop protest anthem, “Fight the Power,” written specifically for this film. Throughout the film, the sounds of rich, sad cinematic jazz (created by Bill Lee, Spike Lee’s composer, musician father) intercut the recurrent play of “Fight the Power.”
The film opens with the lyrical voice of Mister Señor Love Daddy, aDJ played by Samuel L. Jackson, who presides over the community, narrating day-to-day activities and sounding a warning in anticipation of the forthcoming societal collapse. In a narrative sense, Mister Señor Love Daddy fulfills the role of a prophetic Greek chorus, reading the literal and figurative temperature of his community during a sweltering set of summer days: “The color for today is black. That’s right, black, so you can absorb some of these rays.”Just consider the metaphorical foreshadowing in these words.
Lee’s film expertly captures the vibrant life of his hometown community. The characters Da Mayor and Mother Sister also provide a sense of the community’s history and family ties. The film’s protagonist, Mookie–played by the director himself–knows everyone on the block and works at the local Italian owned pizza spot, Sal’s Pizzeria.
Do the Right Thing takes place during the hottest week one Brooklyn summer in Bed-Stuy, a diverse community with growing racial tensions. Sal’s pizzeria–a family run Italian eatery-is the site of an initial conflict between Sal, his two sons, and Buggin Out (played by a very young Giancarlo Esposito of Breaking Bad fame). Buggin Out is outraged that a pizzeria kept in business almost completely by money from the Black community only has images of Italian Americans on its “Wall of Fame.” The lack of representation is also key theme in Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power )the cultural significance of this song cannot be overstated):
“Elvis was a hero to most
Elvis was a hero to most
Elvis was a hero to most
But he never meant s*** to me you see”
The question of Black representation–both inside and outside the Black community– is a large theme in much of Spike Lee’s work, particularly Bamboozled (2000), a brutal satire in which two Black filmmakers put on a modern day minstrel show, funded by a large white-owned corporation. Although the show starts out as satirical commentary, it begins to make lots of money and a new “blackface” trend is born.
Lee speaks a lot about the ways in which he sees Black actors portrayed in television and film, often protraying demeaning caricatures, even sometimes created by Black filmmakers. This is the heart of his very public beef with Tyler Perry. Public Enemy tackles these questions in another one of their popular songs, “Burn Hollywood Burn:”
“As I walk the streets of Hollywood Boulevard
Thinking how hard it was to those that starred
In the movies portraying the roles
Of butlers and maids, slaves and hoes
Many intelligent Black men seemed
To look uncivilized when on the screen…
And Black women in this profession
As for playing a lawyer, out of the question
For what they play Aunt Jemima is the perfect term
Even if now she got a perm
So let's make our own movies like Spike Lee
'Cause the roles being offered don't strike me
As nothing that the black man could use to earn
Burn Hollywood, burn.”
The conflict between Black and white is not the only racial tension in Do the Right Thing. In the middle of the film, there is a profane litany of racial slurs from various ethnic groups, one to and about another. In a conversation with Roger Ebert from 1991, Lee explains that “Although anybody can be prejudice, only white people can be racist. Racism is an institution. For someone to be racist, they have to have power behind them…Anybody can be prejudiced.” In the film, we see the reality that “anybody can be prejudiced” as Koreans, Jews, African Americans and others face off in a war of words. As you watch, note how realistically Lee portrays all forms of prejudice, with no one ethnic group or individual seeming to be wholly heroic or wholly evil (the hilarious scene with the tennis shoes is a great example).
SPOLERS BELOW:
In the film, the weight of systemic oppression is the heaviest and most volatile for members of the long-suffering African American community. This is most clearly and tragically illustrated by the unjust, tragic death of Radio Raheem. Interestingly, Radio Raheem is not seen as a “good guy” heroic figure, yet this takes nothing away from the cruel injustice of his death. He intentionally breaks the rules and requests of Sal’s Pizzeria. Although not a villain, he is not portrayed as a warm, easily likable character. Yet he carries the booming voice of the truth of the Black Brooklyn streets on his shoulders. The scene of Raheem’s death is incredibly traumatic, perhaps even more so after the more recent death of Eric Garner who fought for his life, crying out “I can’t breath” while being suffocated by police officers. I will not link to it here, but you can find a video Spike Lee put out after Garners death in which he intercut scenes of Radio Raheem’s death scene with real footage of Garner’s murder at the hands of police. The similarities are harrowing and haunting.
Just as Radio Raheem carries the voices of the streets on his shoulder, he also carries the film’s central question on his knuckles. How does one respond to the impact of centuries old systemic dehumanization and violence? Does love work better than hate? Can one of these options change anything?
The film’s ending is shocking. If you have not seen it before, you might be surprised by who initiates and who ends up applauding the destruction that occurs.
Maybe it just sags like a heavy load/ OR DOES IT EXPLODE?
Here are some questions/ ideas to consider when watching the film:
Consider the different forms of racism that we see in the characters of Sal and his son, Pino.
Although Spike Lee often speaks about the problematic nature of racialized caricatures, he has been accused by some critics of relying on them himself. A. O. Scott argues that: “There are also some cringey moments of ethnic caricature involving Perez’s character and her mother, and the Korean couple who own the grocery store across the street from Sal’s Famous Pizzeria.” Do you agree or disagree with Scott’s take? If this is true, does it alter the central questions or message of the film?
How do Sal and Mookie’s characters change in the film? Is this a circumstantial change or are we to believe that these beliefs/ tendencies were there and latent all along?
Consider Lee’s powerful uses of the camera: moments of slow motion, long shots, etc. Which parts were particularly impactful and why?
What does the film have to say about gentrification?
How does the music work to enhance the film’s central questions? Why does Lee quickly move from “Lift Every Voice and Sing” to “Fight the Power”?
Consider the role of Smiley in the film? How is he treated by others and what does that tell us about their character, as well as his? Why does he have the photo of MLK and Malcolm X?
Analyze Sister Mother’s sometimes surprising responses in the film’s climactic, tragic scenes. How has her role in the community shifted?
How do you feel about the characters of both Mookie and Sal in the final scene? Who is right? Who is wrong? What is the “right thing”? Is there a “right thing”?
How do the quotes shared at the end of the film relate to the film’s central narrative?
Before I sign off, I want to point out that Spike Lee’s long, illustrious, and deeply significant career as an artist has very often been snubbed by the Academy. In fact, he only finally won an Oscar in 2019 for “Best Adapted Screenplay” for the film Black KkKlansman–thirty years after Do the Right Thing. In an article looking back on the significance of Do the Right Thing, New York Times’ Manohla Dargis says, “I mean, to restate the obvious, the only reason it took an unconscionably long time for Lee to receive his artistic due is because he’s black and speaks his mind.”
Just as Chuck D of Public Enemy proclaimed in “Burn, Hollywood, Burn,” movies with Black actors have often gained little success if the actors are not playing subservient characters (caricatures). A leading, powerful, justice minded Black character is still a threat. This was almost certainly the case when Denzel Washington gave a career best performance as the central figure in Spike Lee’s brilliant biopic Malcolm X and failed to receive the Oscar. The epic film received no Academy awards.
Although representation in Hollywood and recognition in the Academy is getting better (we can see the attention given to great Black filmmakers such as Jordan Peele, Ava Duvarney, Barry Jenkins, and Cord Jefferson), we can still see a discomfort with the portrayal of powerful Black leader figures. David Oyelowo, the Black British actor who portrayed MLK in DuVernay’s Selma, has spoken extensively about this since he was completely overlooked by the Academy. Meanwhile, “feelgood” films about racial oppression like The Help have garnered a great deal of positive attention…
I could go on and on about this brilliant film and all of the very significant issues it raises, but I will stop there.
I hope to see you during our discussion this Saturday!
This was actually my first time watching the entire film (surprisingly enough). It really takes on a life of its own. If anyone can watch this without struggling with some of the core issues presented in the film, then they weren't really watching. Looking forward to the discussion!