Do the Right Thing Movie Analysis Essay Sample

The movie, Do the Right Thing, was released in 1989, which was a year that experienced a spike in crime in NYC that coincided with an increased racial strife between whites and blacks.  The racial climate was volatile and inflamed by the rape of the Central Park jogger who was white and her presumed attackers were Black and Hispanic. Hatred between whites and blacks was further deepened when a group of black youths were attacked in a predominately white town and beaten with bats killing one of the black youths in what became known as the Bensonhurst Murder. The movie takes place in Bedford-Stuyvesant which is not far from where the Bensonhust murder occurred.  The tone is set when Buggin Out says “Hey, Sal, how come ain’t no brothers here?”. He wants to know why there are no African American actors' photos on the wall of the pizzeria, only Italian Americans. Buggin Out believes because most of the pizzeria customers are black that the pizzeria should have some representation on the wall. The owner, Sal, replies “you want brothers on the wall, get your own place”. Clearly he is not sympathetic. An old man in the neighborhood known as The Mayor tells Mookie to “Do the Right Thing.” The Mayor is trying to share the wisdom of living right with Mookie.

Mookie shows he does the right thing by intervening between Buggin Out and Sal when the initial question turns into a verbal fight, and diffuses the situation. Throughout the movie Mookie does try to do the right thing. Mookie tries to get Sal’s son Pino to understand that he actually likes black people because his favorite athlete and singer are black, he is trying to build acceptance and understanding. The peaceful coexistence and even friendships of the Italians and the Black community where their pizzeria is located changes in a tragic moment. The two radicalized men in the neighborhood, Buggin Out and Radio, enter the pizzeria blasting their boombox disrespectfully on purpose and likely out of disappointment that their boycott of the pizzeria did not materialize. A verbal fight turns physical when the white pizzeria owners are attacked. The police arrive at what now is a mob and the situation explodes when the police choke Radio to death. Frustrated with the death of another black youth at the hands of white police officer, Mookie throws a metal garbage can through the window of the pizzeria, sparking the destruction that culminates in it burning down. When Mookie threw the metal garbage can through the window, he did not do the right thing. He betrayed the owner who moments before told him he was like a son to him. Mookie did not do the right thing at the most important time and when it mattered most. He could have de-escalated the situation as he did in the past but he chose to use destruction in the struggle for racial justice. Just as the quote at the end of the movie by MLK said, we cannot achieve racial justice through violence because it creates bitterness from which we cannot effectively build a just society for all.