Do the Right Thing is a film which deals with different topics related to the life in a community which is culturally diverse. Brooklyn is a place where mostly black people live, but there are also white people, Italian Americans, Latin Americans and Koreans and all of these groups have prejudice against one another. The conflict arises from people who lack tolerance and the main issues are great misunderstanding, feeling of powerlessness, wish for belonging and the feelings of love and hate which are interchangeable.
The lack of tolerance leads to great misunderstanding in any community where people from different cultural backgrounds live. When it comes to the life in an urban area there is a question of safety. “Some of the safest sidewalks in New York City, for example, at any time of day and night, are those along which poor people or minority groups live. And some of the most dangerous are in the streets occupied by the same kinds of people” (Jacobs 31). This is a very accurate description of the Brooklyn depicted in the film Do the Right Thing where minority groups engage in constant fights. Peace is both possible and impossible in such a place although it is a certainty that there would be a disaster happening at a certain point in time. Such a place is a melting pot of cultural diversity and poor people have many worries which trouble them all the time. Therefore, it is impossible for them to be at peace with themselves. This is especially true for the African-Americans who feel oppressed and who fight for their rights all the time. They can be aggressive at times, which can be seen in the example of Buggin’ Out who starts the incident that ends tragically by asking Sal, the owner of the pizzeria, to put photos of some notable black people on the wall of fame in the restaurant. It is possible for a minor accident to escalate and lead to the war-like state that corrupts people in any possible way. People are in need of vengeance because it is their innate feeling and the progress of civilization is supposed to prevent such destructive behavior from happening. There are people who care about the benefit of the whole community and such people are mature people who have suffered a lot in their lives. One of those people is Da Mayor, an elderly African-American who is determined to maintain peace in his community, although most people mock him. “The first thing to understand is that the public peace – the sidewalk and street peace – of cities is not kept primarily by the police, necessary as police are”(Jacobs 32). People need to have their own sense of order so that they could live in peace which is the only possible way that is beneficial for the community as a whole.
There is a feeling of powerlessness that is related to years of oppression and it makes people defensive even when there is no need for them to behave like that. Sometimes, they even become aggressive in their attempt to defend their rights although nobody is violating them. Such examples in the film are: Buggin’ Out, Mother Sister, Radio Raheem and the mother of the young boy who almost gets killed by a car, but is saved by Da Mayor. People who feel helpless in life are those who are most aggressive because they feel that they need to protect what is most important to them and to save their integrity. Most of them are doing it in the right way, but it does not take much to start a great incident. Even a slight offense can have disastrous outcomes which can be seen in this film. “Whether it is possible for a city, be it planned or not, to escape some sort of definition or at least local coloring by neighborhoods is problematic” (Mumford 58). This is exactly the case in the film Do the Right Thing because the neighborhood where the story takes place is defined by its inhabitants who are diverse and where even members of the same racial background fight with one another.
People have a great wish of belonging geographically, historically and locally and they want to be accepted for who they are. Moreover, people who feel oppressed in the society have the greatest need to prove their own worth and they never give up on anything no matter how irrelevant that might be. “To share the same place is perhaps the most primitive of social bonds, and to be within view of one’s neighbors is the simplest form of association” (Mumford 59). People who live in Brooklyn do not even share this kind of a primitive social bond because they are constantly competing with one another in order to diminish the influence of the other side and all of this happens during one of the hottest days in history. While people who are neighbors ought to help each other out, people who feel threatened in any way lack sympathy for the people around them. That is why there is so much misunderstanding and hatred in the place where people should get along well. The only positive character is Da Mayor because he understands the dangers of vengeance and hatred and he tries to give advice to all the people he cares about, but they are not listening. People are wrong in their wish to belong to only one group which shares the same racial, ethnical, social and cultural background because there is a sense of belonging related to the same way of thinking and to the same objectives in life. “The fact is that no social organization, from the family to the state, is wholly self-contained or self-enclosed” (Mumford 70). This is also applicable to the neighborhood as a unit within a city which is why people need to stick together. The sense of belonging stems from having the same interests and defending them because that is what living in civilization is all about.
There are feelings of love and hate and they are constantly alternating because people who feel helplessness are often confused and they need help before it is too late and hatred takes over. Nothing good ever came from vengeance which is what people have to learn from the teachings of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X both of whom were tragically murdered although their legacy to the world is priceless. It tells a lot about humanity when people who are peacemakers get killed in a savage way. Some people in the film are trying to mind their own business and to joke about the whole situation which happens when Sweet Dick Willie says to Buggin’ Out: “You wanna boycott someone? You ought to start with the goddamn barber that fucked up your head” (Lee, Do the Right Thing). Not even joking helps when people are stubborn and determined to make a point no matter how irrelevant it might be. Living in a community should be about compromise because it is the only way of achieving peace: “maintaining unity in diversity and continuity in change, is essential for controlling excessive quantities, whether of population or physical power” (Mumford 157). Therefore, it is obvious that people need to live in a community where love and unity should prevail in order for the prosperity to take place. Moreover, “the nation provides the economic and political framework within which films are produced” (Mennel 10). In the case of America, it is a multicultural society, but all of the people who are citizens belong to the American nation. It does not matter which race they belong to because there is much diversity in the U.S. and it is pointless to create unnecessary divisions among people. “A strong urban image makes acquisition of knowledge relatively easy and sets people ate ease emotionally” (Macionis and Parillo 172). This means that people need to be emotionally at peace in order to feel comfortable in their communities. That is why love is better than hat because love creates progress while hate only leads to destruction.
People need to learn how to live together without having prejudice or being judgmental. This is difficult when people are traumatized because of bad living conditions throughout history or if their financial situation makes it difficult for them to survive. All of this can lead to chaos, but it is important for the members of the same community to stick together and share peace and joy instead of hatred. Progress is possible only at times of peace and when people work for the same cause. Every member of a community is valuable and can make a great difference and a positive or a negative impact on the community as a whole.
Works Cited
Lee, Spike, dir. Do the Right Thing. Universal Pictures, 1989. Film.
Jacobs, Jane. The Death and Life of Great American Cities. New York: Vintage Books, 1961. Print.
Mumford, Lewis. The Urban Prospect. New York: Harvest/HBJ Book, 1968. Print.
Mennel, Barbara. Cities and Cinema. New York: Routledge, 2008. Print.
Macionis, John J., and Vincent N. Parillo. Cities and Urban Life. 3rd ed. London: Prentice Hall, 2003. Print.
