It’s the hottest day of the year in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn and the people are feeling it. The vibrant reds and yellows painted on the brick buildings of the neighborhood mixed with the carefully crafted cinematography let the audience experience both the heat and the rising tension between the local pizzeria owner and the dominantly black community. In ”Do The Right Thing”, written, directed, and produced by Spike Lee, we are shown the undermining consequences of Racism and how it affects everyone of all skin colors. We are shown this through our protagonist Mookie, played by Spike Lee. Spike was in his thirties when he played the twenty-five-year-old pizza delivery man. Although he is the protagonist, he is not the story's hero. In fact, there seem to be no heroes at all. Everyone has some sort of flaw, which adds to the realism of the film. Whether it be the short temper of Radio Raheem or a scuff on Buggin-Out’s new Jordans, nobody in the neighborhood is perfect. 

At the beginning of the story, we are introduced to the local DJ, Mr. Senor Love Daddy, who watches the events of the film unfold behind the big glass window in his studio. After the ring of an alarm bell and a close-up of Mr. Love Daddy, we dolly out and pan to the left. Our first shot of the neighborhood is filled with those vibrant reds and yellows as Senor Love Daddy reads off today’s forecast: “Hot” (with a sizzle at the end) We are also introduced to the “color of the day” which ironically happens to be black. This is the first time the motif of heat and the symbolism of the color black is introduced to us. We then meet the local drunk, Da Mayor, and our protagonist, Mookie as well as his sister, who he is currently living with until he gets enough money to move out on his own. In each of the scenes, we are able to see and “feel” the heat through the warm colors and the bright orange morning light seeping through the windows. It only gets hotter from here. 

The main conflict, and when the central question of the film begins to formulate, is when Buggin-Out, an eccentric and politically outspoken friend of Mookie, sits down in Sal’s Pizzeria. About to take a bite of his slice, he notices that the wall of fame in the restaurant is filled only with Italian Americans. Mookie asks Sal why he doesn’t have any “brothers” on the wall. Buggin defends himself by saying there aren’t ever any white Italians coming in to get pizza, It’s mainly just blacks and Hispanics. Things get heated as Buggin’ Out and Sal continue to argue. Mookie, not wanting to be a part of it must intervene before it gets too out of control. This first part of the film gives us, the audience, a feeling for what this film is: a ticking time bomb waiting to go off.

Lee sets the mood by emphasizing especially on the heat. With the help of his cinematographer, Ernest Dickerson, he Interweaves and mixes different types of stylistic filmmaking, mirroring the way the neighborhood mixes cultural identities. Changing styles gives us a feeling of uncertainty for what will happen next. He uses techniques that contrast with each other. Smooth, tracking sequences, having a character move from one side of the block to the other, feel natural as minor characters walk past giving us a sense of realism. While other times Lee and Dickerson will tilt the camera to give the scene an unnatural feeling, reminding us of that uncertainty of the ticking time bomb. To emphasize on the heat specifically, Lee and Dickerson have many wide-angle close-up shots letting off a feeling of claustrophobia, making us tenser than we already were.

Interwoven throughout the film’s heat is Smiley, a mentally challenged man selling a photograph of MLK and Malcolm X. The photograph symbolizes the gap between Love and Hate. MLK told to love your enemy and showed his message by encouraging people to protest peacefully and without violence while Malcolm X was much different. He believed that peace was not enough and that violence would be necessary. This motif of love and hate shows up many times throughout the film but is most prominent in one specific scene. In this scene, a collection of racial slurs coming from all colors of the rainbow prepare us for the final showdown. It shows that no matter how harmonious the community seems it is deeply fractured. Leaving us with a question: How can you do the right thing in a community fractured by racial tension?

The Answer is unclear, In fact, the questions still reside with most Americans today. It is an important part of American Culture that we look at this film because it embodies what we are as a culture: broken. We see love and hate every day but don’t know what is right. We want to love everybody, but as seen in the film, this is impossible. Sal is already annoyed at the local black community for being irresponsible and ignorant. This annoyance, escalated by high temperatures, finally sets the fuse for the bomb we have been waiting for. Sal, like most Americans,  has had enough. Buggin’ Out and Radio Raheem’s delinquencies only add to the conflict. Sal can no longer hold his temper and decides to take action by smashing Radio Raheem’s iconic boombox with his equally iconic baseball bat. And for a sliver of time, there is a calm before the storm. Like the tragedies we see too often in America there is always a calm before the next one. A time when everyone is quiet. But the calm is interrupted. A riot forms resulting in the destruction of Sal’s pizzeria and the death of Radio Raheem by the law enforcement. Lee criticizes the violence against the black community by using real-life examples of the same type of violence.

The film itself has evoked many criticisms throughout the years, with some film critics calling Lee’s work of art “incoherent” and “Irresponsible”. These come from the idea and fear that the film will incite riots and more violence. In disagreement, Roger Ebert has said, “Thoughtless people have accused Lee over the years of being an angry filmmaker. He has much to be angry about, but I don't find it in his work. The wonder of ‘Do the Right Thing’ is that he is so fair. Those who found this film an incitement to violence are saying much about themselves, and nothing useful about the movie.” Instead of inciting violence from the black community or even against it, the film contrasts two different versions of black activism. A more peaceful path of action more commonly associated with King versus the more militant action associated with Malcolm X. Lee gives us viewpoints from all sides of the spectrum. It’s not that Lee is inciting violence to the American people,  but instead inciting action. Whether peaceful or not is up to us to decide. Lee doesn’t want to shove his viewpoints in our faces but instead wants America to learn how to act for love and to reject the hate that is so prevalent in American culture.