Do The Right Thing  Spike Lee

The Film Do The Right Thing is a film solely based around race and racism in America. But more specifically in the streets of Brooklyn New York. During the whole film there are conflicts between people of different ethnic groups. There are mostly blacks portrayed throughout the film, but there are also Koreans, Italian, Caucasians. Though the only caucasians in this film are the workers of Sal's Pizzeria, besides Mookie. (Spike Lee) And the cops that patrol the area. If you notice the white's are the people of higher power that sort of look down on everyone else. They are also very cruel to the other ethnic groups when they come in counter of one another. Most likely because they think that they are better because of the their higher power. 

I think that all of the racism and different types of people involved in it, is a symbol that shows how everyone is a victim of it no matter how hard they try to stay away. The reason they are depicted like this in the first place is because of society itself and the "higher powers" not knowing exactly how they are and judging them off stereotypes. This shows how these higher powers, (the whites in the film) try to control them and they start treating them unfairly becasue of these stereotypes.

Spike Lee uses the song Fight The Power by Public Enemy immensely through the film. First it is used in the openining scene and he plays the whole song through so that we can hear and listen to the lyrics. The song itself symbolizes how the people being oppressed by these higher powers must fight the power and show that they arent like these stereotypes, and to show that they won't be held down by them. It is also played throughout the film by Radio Raheem with his boombox. Which is a huge symbol since Radio Raheem ends up literally fighting the power, (Sal) in this huge racist confrontation at the end of the movie. And he ends up dead because of it but the Sal does pay by having his beloved shop burnt to the ground by the angry black people of the neighborhood. 

Spike Lee also used his own character, (Mookie) to show some of the racism that the higher powers have and how he himself even tried to make peace with them since he's working in Sals Pizzeria himself. One of the workers, Vito, is one of the most racist characters in the film. He discriminates against Mookie constantly trying to get him fired, and he also discriminates against customers that come into his store. Spike Lee's character at the end of the film sort of fights the power himself by throwing a trash can through the window of Sals Pizzeria. This starts the whole riot which ends in the place itself being burned down. 

In Rogert Eberts Article about the film he says "There are really no heroes or villains in this film" I disagree with this statement because I feel like the cops in the film were villains, ironically, and I also see Sal as a villain. Just because they had that higher power and because of that they thought they were better people. A character in the film named Da Mayor I think would actually be a hero in the film. Only because when the fight broke out betweeen Sal and Radio Raheem he was the only one that actually tried getting in the middle of it not to fight Sal but to actually break it apart. While everyone else was rushing in to help fight.