Hottoceame
The Age of Commercialism
SnoReptilePlenty
Memorable, crazy movie
Lela
The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.
hannahgrahambell
I watched Do the Right Thing in my high school film studies class, and it was my first Spike Lee film. (I hope to watch more). Although the film seemed to be structured more like a play than a traditional movie, it nevertheless managed to balance many characters and make several points about race without seeming preachy. The best part of about Do the Right Thing is that it manages to point out the problems about racism without making the issue seem simplistic.
One of the best choices Spike Lee made was to give Do the Right Thing comedic elements, a style subsequently used by a more recent film about racial tensions in America, Dear White People. The comedic scenes are born out of serious societal discussions, and they both bring the issues to attention while at the same time highlighting how ridiculous racial divisions really are.
Characters form the backbone of Do the Right Thing. There are many of them in the space of a single block (hence the "play-like" feel), and they each get enough screen time to make the vibe of the neighborhood believable. Some are more memorable than others, and they all are connected in one way or another to the main character Mookie (Spike Lee) and his boss, Sal (Danny Aiello). Although the other performances are strong, it is these two characters who elevate the movie. Mookie and Sal are written and played so that they are completely believable as human beings. Too many movies promoting discussion on race, sexism, and/or homophobia tend to present their characters as either the "oppressed" or "oppressor," or they are halfhearted in their attempt to create grey area. Spike Lee does neither of these things, instead showing how ordinary people are affected by racism in this country through small incidents in the movie.
The main thing the film accomplishes is that it explains how major incidents over race are rarely as spontaneous as the may seem, and that they are often the culmination of thousands of little tensions that reach a boiling point. Given the current political climate, Do the Right Thing is just as relevant today as it was in 1989.
emmanuelmstudent
Do the Right Thing by Spike Lee is a movie set in the neighborhood of Bed-stuy. This is about a conflict between a set of customers and the pizza shop where the main character Mookie works at. At Sal's famous Pizza there is a wall of fame where there are a bunch of famous white and Italian people the customer ,buggin out, sees this and doesn't think it's right and demands there be some black people on the wall. This is the main conflict but there are other small conflicts throughout the movie. This movie has a lot to learn from in diverse spaces and cooperation between different types of individuals.
dariusbstudent
this movie is about a boy who is working and has a kid and is trying to take care of his sister and his baby mother and his daughter in this hot summer of 1989. i think that this would have been a good story if they would have let us know more about what the boy did after he collected his money from his job.
Red_Identity
To say that I hadn't seen this film until now is a huge embarrassment. I had never seen a Spike Lee film but it's not hard to know why a film like this raised his profile. Not only is the film a strong political statement (and in that respect, it's an emotionally grueling, uncomfortable, and disturbing experience), but it's also incredibly well written. A film like this has to flesh out its characters and its situations before the storm. It does such a great job of that. The film can be funny until it becomes a real challenging piece of work, and to have both sides of the film only makes it hit that much harder.
