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Do The Right Thing By Spike Lee

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Do The Right Thing (1989): Extra Credit Assignment
Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing is a 1989 film about the disagreements in an African American community in Brooklyn, New York. The film shows a tragic day in which the weather is unbearably hot. There is extreme racial tension in the film between the African American, Puerto Rican, and White members of the community. There is a fight at the famous Sal’s Pizzeria between a character named Radio Raheem and the owner, Sal. The police come to break up the fight, and end up choking Raheem to death in front of all the crowd. They try to cover up the death by taking the body away, but everyone blames his death on Sal and burn down his business. Do the Right Thing should be included in the next COM …show more content…

Jackie Robinson was the first African American to play in Major League baseball. He was also the one who ended segregation in professional baseball. Mookie is somewhat of a mediator between Sal and the African American community. The use of costuming allows the audience to see that there is a deeper meaning to the film. The Robinson jersey shows that race is still an issue in America. People are constantly being discriminated against. The use of props in the movie also allow us to portray the characters in certain ways. Raheem’s boom box is like his identity. When Sal smashed the boom box, Raheem lost a part of himself; and when the pizzeria was burned down, Sal lost a part of himself. Students can relate to this use of props. A student watching the film can feel the true emotions of the characters because they, themselves, may have faced discrimination or loss in their lives. The characters in the film, no matter their race, are all victims of discrimination. Sal, a white Italian, is betrayed in a black community. While Raheem is killed by police officers. The setting of the film is in an urban part of Brooklyn, New York. It is realistic and shows the struggles of real people. African American are discriminated against by the police officers, who feel that they are causing violence in the city. Sal is a hard-working, honest man who is seen as a threat to the African Americans because he would not post pictures of

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