Spike Lee’s movie Do the Right Thing raised the relevant issue of race clashes long before the mass trend to demonstrate the loyalty and democratic freedoms of different categories of citizens. The characteristic features of individual ethnic minorities, such as the excessive brutality of African Americans, are tools to show the distinctions between people (Peoples 109). In this regard, the following idea can be a powerful thesis: Understanding and recognizing the differences between races is a way to maintain social balance and maintain favorable interaction in society.
Reasons for Caring about Race
Disagreement with some aspects of the life of citizens belonging to other races can be a prerequisite for the development of disagreements. Excessive brutality and sometimes rudeness may not be a personal trait but the communication style of the entire community. Gibson states that negative tensions are the outcome of formed ideas but not personal conclusions (183). As one of the characters claims, “Trust you? The last time I trusted you, Mookie, I ended up with a son” (Do the Right Thing). People should be aware that cultural traditions and values are not sustainable, and to avoid significant communication barriers, accepting differences is a critical concession.
Film’s Role in Understanding Race
The film helps understand that race should be perceived as a collective but not an individual phenomenon. For instance, one of the characters expresses dissatisfaction: “Turn that jungle music off! We ain’t in Africa!” (Do the Right Thing). The problem does not concern one individual but represents a cumulative cultural layer. One of the characters offers a valuable but distorted truth: “Let me tell you a story about right and wrong” (Do the Right Thing). There is no right or wrong in accepting human differences, and for a normal coexistence, the acceptance of the characteristic socio-cultural features is indispensable.
Works Cited
Do the Right Thing. Directed by Spike Lee, Universal Pictures, 1989.
Gibson, Casarae L. ““Fight the Power”: Hip Hop and Civil Unrest in Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing.” Black Camera, vol. 8, no. 2, 2017, pp. 183-207.
Peoples, Gabriel A. “Play (Loudly): The Racialized Erotics of Blacksound in Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing.” Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies, vol. 42, no. 1, 2021, pp. 109-140.