One of the greatest movies of all time. It is still regrettably relevant to modern day life issues. One of the most interesting pieces of trivia about the movie is that the actor who played Sal didn't see his character as a racist while the writer/director Spike Lee did. It is fascinating to view the actors performance when taking into account that both of the artists have different interpretations of the character.
Sorry I dont see what the point of the movie is. Through out the movie I thought the message was that we should all get along and we are all bigots in some way and then at the end of the movie a bunch of guys go in to provoke a wh|te dude so they can burn his shop down and Mookie who initiates this action is left without a job. What is that supposed to teach us? Burn your place of work down for political reasons and be left on the street without a job? The movie could have had a positive message but it didnt and Spike has the screen presence of a glass of water. I'm African, but I found ALL (yes ALL) the characters unlikable at best... Mother Sister? Are you serious??
@Yo I think the point was to illustrate how complex people can be and how repressed anger can lead to tragedy. All the characters have various degrees of good and bad qualities. Pino is filled with hate towards African Americans because his "friends make fun of him for working in an all black neighborhood" but Mookie points out that Pino enjoys black culture and that kind of shows if he embraced that more and ignored what others thought he might be a less miserable person. Or you can look at The Mayor who despite being a drunk is always trying to be nice and keep the peace in hostile situations. Some people have even speculated that the reason Mookie throws the trashcan through Sals window is because he didnt want the crowd to attack and kill Sal and his sons rather turn the crowds pent up aggression towards the building.
Yo Screen Prism did an analysis on this that I think hits home. It’s not whether or not Mookie did the right thing. He was passive throughout the entire film up until he saw one of his friends, a black man, get killed by police. By then he couldn’t sit idle. You ever notice how when he throws the trash can he yells out “hate”, which is referencing Radio Raheem’s speech about the struggle between love and hate. Mookie threw the trash can at Sal’s window and incited the riot. He reacted after seeing his friend get killed by the police. And here’s the thing. The point is not if Mookie’s one act of protest was the right thing or not. Instead, we should be asking who did the wrong thing. Even though all the characters in the film aren’t painted as completely morally in the right, the answer to who did the wrong thing is, objectively, the police who killed Radio Raheem, a black man. Director Spike Lee has said the film is about human life and how black lives are devalued in America. Police brutality against African-Americans perpetuates this notion. In Spike Lee’s own words “[The police] continue to do the wrong thing and nothing ever happens.” In the end, Sal is gonna collect the insurance money to rebuild his place and he’ll be fine and Mookie is out of the job again, square one, and will continue to hopelessly struggle because the black people in his neighborhood have no power to change things. Radio Raheem should not have died. Yet, he did, and despite Mookie’s one act of protest, nothing has changed and the struggle for black Americans continues.
When I first saw Mookie grab the trash can, I thought he was going to slam it on the ground to silence everyone and then start monologuing about how this pointless conflict took the life of his friend.
Comic book issues of Marvel's Black Panther were actually shown in the film in the scene where some of the neighborhood black youth says, "If Black Panther eats pizza, we eat Pizza"
@@cabrondemente1 - The fact that you feel that a "black film" is trying to stick black culture "down your throat", says more about you and your racial preconceptions, than the movie itself. I've never watched a movie featuring all Italians, or Greeks, or American whites, and thought that the film was trying to "shove white culture down my throat". I chose to watch the movie. So how can something be shoved at me, if I choose to watch it?
The bit that really got me this time is how they just carried off Radios body in the cruiser, imagine your buddy dying an unjust violent death and being denied even the most basic right and dignity to say goodbye to, bury and mourn them properly, i certainly can't. That bit got me hardest for some reason.
Ahhhh, one of my favourites. When I first saw it, I'm not sure I got it, but then I saw Spike Lee say that a white man came up to him and asked him why Mookie did what he did at the end of the film, and Spike said no black person had ever asked him that before, and insight poured down from the heavens and into my skull.
I never asked why Mookie started the riot. The part that's weird for me is when he goes back the next morning and demands pay. I didn't get that then, and I still don't get it.
@@lynxminx4 To show that life still goes on after this. He's still gotta make a living and face his community. It's funny bc Mookie asking for the money is basically telling Sal to pay him for saving his life by diverting attention towards the actual pizzeria instead of harming the family.
@@Mo-lf1qv He was an employee who deliberately smashed the storefront window, which then led to the loss of the entire restaurant. His back wages were a drop in the bucket of the cost of repairing the damage he caused.
I walk by Spike Lee's production studio in Brooklyn fairly often--about a mile from where the movie is suppose to take place. There's a big statue of Radio right inside that you can see through the windows. Interesting place.
Love this film... I also recommend Spike's "When the Levees broke: A requiem in 4 acts" on the horror of Hurricane Katrina and its impact in poor black and white citizens.... Brilliant
i hate this because im suppose to write an essay on this movie and this video is 100% exactly what my essay needs to be in every aspect and now i cant unhear it to write my own
One of the finest films Ive ever seen(and Ive seen many). I think the message here is that, even though people may try to get along and often even do, there is a human tendency to dislike anyone who is different and, if pushed hard enough, like in this case by the intense discomfort of the broiling heat, which amplified all frustrations and antagonisms, it can bring people to crack up and allow their dislikes to explode into violence, as happened here.
Just a small side note, no one in fact breaks the fourth wall in this film, although it would appear that is does because the characters are looking directly at the camera. However they are not speaking to the audience. Instead the shot is taken from a first person POV which gives it that sense of breaking the 4th wall.
I disagree that Sal is a 'harmful character'. The montage you celebrate shows that all the characters have the potential for harm. He only does three 'wrong' things- he refuses to put non-Italians on his wall, which was his prerogative; he flirts with Mookie's sister, which Lee suggests is inappropriate for reasons he explores more completely in Jungle Fever; and he smashes the boombox, and as much as I love Public Enemy I also wanted to smash it at that moment. Raheem was attacking Sal with the noise....then he literally attacks Sal, and to say Sal should have reasonably predicted that his action would result in Raheem's death is applying a fairytale filter counter to Lee's intention. In the heat of the moment, all Sal was trying to do was stop the noise. If Raheem had been another Italian demanding free extra cheese, the boombox would still have been doomed.
lynxminx4 yeah, it’s crazy racist to say that Sal should be the “white Adult” that handles all the black demands and attacks and eccentricities. Sal should just automatically be philosopher-Superman because he is white? And the thing where he can’t hang his own hero pics, that is insane. Literally the definition of racism to tell Sal that he has to change decorations in his own nest because of race. Based only on race
But that is not the point. The point is that as much as he claims he "loves that everyone was raised with his pizza" and how "he doesn't mind them" (them being the black people) he still holds a lot of racial prejudice on the neighborhood people. He always called them "your people" instead of their names to mookie, he called their music "jungle music" which was a very racist remark, and was visually seen always holding a bat to tell the audience how he was always ready to fight anybody even though everybody else never displayed actual violence towards him. Yes, the radio was annoying but it was never actually harmful. We have to look at the big picture, when Raheem died, the only thing sal cared about was his business. Thats it. He didn't care about the unjust death of Raheem and three others who he claimed he "loved" (yes three others died and it was meant that no one noticed to illustrate real life events of those who also go missing). By the end of the day he only cared about profiting from low income poc's and that was it. Spike Lee did say he wanted to make it seem like he isn't a villain because that is just how racism is seen in actual life. We like people, even when certain racist remarks are said but we don't notice or refuse to see because we "like them" as a person. That is why he is a harmful character.
I agree with the critic stating it's incoherent: Buggin' Out spends half the film trying and failing to boycott the pizzería, the characters refuse and outright laugh at the idea of doing anything against Sal, and Sal himself establishes that he has "never had any trouble with these people." Yet when the time comes, they take it on Sal for something everyone saw the cops did.
Watafu does that not reflect life though? if you take a recent riot over cops shooting unarmed black people, there is often and unfortunately people who also destroy businesses and cars, even though they are protesting the polices actions. this movie smartly portrays that common action and asks us to think of the question “is that the right thing?”, while also juxtapositions has it with past examples (ie MLK and Malcom x)
Very nice breakdown of the movie. I saw this movie when I was a kid in a theatre in the ghetto. I didn't really understand it back then, but I found the racial tension fairly playful at first and then the ending very uneasy.
I remember watching it for the first time in my High School English class, and I remember myself hating it, I didn't get the point of a movie "telling the story of hypocritical people being extremely confrontational and violent toward each other". But what I remember the most was that our English teacher didn't say anything or leave assignment based on the movie, he simply wanted us to watch and feel and absorb and think. Although hating it, and not knowing what to make of it, the movie always remained on the back of my mind, a "mystery" yet to be cracked. It took me many years and a lot of maturing up to come to terms with this movie and appreciation that neither Spike Lee nor my English teacher tried to feed us an answer but to force us to think on our own.
This video is completely unfair to Sal and the movie as a whole, and leaves out much of the context of the final scene. First, Sal is not a racist because he puts pictures of famous Italians on his wall. It's his business and he has the right to decorate it however he pleases. If he was racist against black people, why would he open up a shop in a black neighborhood? He is constantly challenging Pino's racism throughout the film, including in his very first scene. There is a scene toward the end where Pino is trying to convince Sal to leave the neighborhood, because he's ashamed of working in a black community and Sal shuts him down. Sal outright tells Pino that anyone who would make fun of him for that isn't really his friend, that his real friends are the black community that support their business. Sal tells him that he's "proud of as hell" to be part of a black community, and he shows affection and friendship toward black characters at several points. (Da Mayor, Mookie's sister) Buggin' Out is a compulsive race baiter who uses very real, very legitimate causes to start petty fights that don't have anything to do with the larger struggle. He's insecure and materialistic (The initial fight with Sal was because Sal charged him extra for cheese, and then again when the white guy on the bike accidentally steps on his shoe, which the guy immediately apologizes for) and uses race as an excuse to lash out. The ending scene involved him and Radio Raheem barging into Sal's shouting and making threats after the business is closed. What owner wouldn't refuse service? If you barge into a business blasting extremely loud music and being rude and combative after the business is closed, you're going to get kicked out no matter what race you are. I don't agree with Sal destroying the boombox, and I don't agree with his use of The N Word, but if you're going to claim Sal is an unsympathetic racist for that reason alone, then you have to say the same thing about nearly every character in the movie. And that, ultimately, is the entire point of the movie, that racism is a deeply toxic thing that is embedded in all sides of the community. Don't forget that one of the Jamaican characters goes on a rant about how much he resents successful Korean immigrants, despite being an immigrant himself. That same Korean immigrants then go on a rant against Jewish people, right before a rant by a white police officer against Puerto Ricans. Nearly every character in this movie engages in some degree of stereotyping and slur words, every character is racist to some extent, and the film demonizes all of it. Race is portrayed as something that allows people to act on anger that ultimately comes from other sources. Buggin' Out thinks Sal is cheap and feels slighted, (Despite the fact that Buggin' Out himself was extremely rude in asking for more cheese) and then uses race as a justification for his anger. Notice that his "boycott" is completely unsuccessful and practically everybody tells him that Sal's is a hallmark of the community. The only person who joins him is Radio Raheem, who is himself extremely rude and entitled, both to Sal and the Korean storeowners. Crash Course completely missed the point of this movie. It's not a simple tale of white racism and black victim-hood, it's a multifaceted story where all people of all races are simultaneously victim and victimizer. It shows us that racism exists everywhere, and that is often an excuse for people to be petty and rude to another, to dehumanize them and accuse them of the worst crimes when their motivations are much more mundane (Is Sal really a hateful bigot because he tells Radio Raheem to shut off his music, or does he just want a quiet atmosphere in his restaurant so his customers can enjoy themselves and talk?) The real tragedy of racism is that it blows misunderstandings and grievances between individuals out of proportion, leading to horrible consequences that wouldn't have happened if it werent for this underlying distrust of each other. Sal didn't deserve to lose his pizzeria, but more importantly, Radio Raheem didn't deserve to lose his life. Nobody comes out of this story perfectly innocent or perfectly guilty, and that was Spike Lee's intention. The genius of this movie is that does not offer us easy answers that make us feel good about ourselves, it shows us the difficult, painful, and complicated truth beyond race relations. You can't boil a brilliant film like this down to "Sal is initially sympathetic but he was really the Big Bad all along!" Poor show, Crash Course.
You contradict your first point in your own interpretation of the film. You can't claim to not be racist as proof of not being racist, racism is a label applied to someone based on their actions. As you later go on to demonstrate, Sal does racist things, thus he's racist. Even if his excuse for having Italians on his wall is that it's his restaurant, the larger context suggests that his wall is full of famous white people because he is racist. Furthermore, opening a restaurant in an impoverished black neighborhood doesn't mean you're not racist, it could just as well mean you want to save money on real estate.
+Orphansmith "suggests" Would an Italian not hanging up famous Chinese or Indian actors that visited be racist from your point of view? Do people have to assume a gender / diversity quota for everything, even if it's a personalized wall that's showing reverence to your specific ancestry? Why can't the Italian celebrate his heritage? Would he always be targeted as a racist because he's white and aggressive when in reality he puts down Pino for misunderstanding his position? I'm Chinese and I've visited Chinatown restaurants where only portraits of famous Chinese or Chinese family members are hung on walls. Does that make the guys who run it racist? I think OP is pointing out that there are borders that determine passive or closed-doors racism if private people were exposed to a camera nonstop. Someone is going to be offended. Whether it's the Korean being offended by the Jamaican who hated successful Koreans or the Jews who are offended that the Koreans mocked the Jews in jealousy and spite. Your collection of photos is something personal to you. Having someone barge in and ask for people to "make it more diverse" when contextually, the memorabilia was never about that in the first place, is dismissive to people like Sal or the Chinese food place owner I discussed. I don't even think Spike Lee saw Sal's viewpoint given Sal came here when the neighborhood was Irish and he did this specifically because there were no other Italian joints around. He's the last immigrant out in the diversity competition where we declare who gets to be the new minority status.
This movie has been one of my favorites since I was young. I was curious to see how it would be summarized in this video. I actually enjoyed this. Very well said and explained. 👏👏 Im glad I came across this.
Most of Spike Lee's movies were viewed as polarizing back in the 90's even in African American communities. I'm not some huge SL fan, but I understood some of the messaging in his movies. I also think he was quirky and annoying at times. PS: MALCOLM X was his best film.
Finally I’ve been watching for years but finally I have the first comment!!!!!!! Now how to use this wonderful gift of being the very first......whoever you are whatever you are doing wherever you live know only that you are an amazing person keep being who you are and don’t let anyone ever change you ❤️💜🖤
Something I had realized in the point about Malcolm X and MLK’s advocation of two sides of the same coin, is that it can be traced to disagreements (largely needless) between their precursors in W.E.B DuBois and Booker T. Washington. Both had positives and negatives to their theories for black advancement that should have motivated them to find a common ground. And if they had, perhaps MLK and X (and their modern day version in Louis Farrakhan) would have done similar.
Spike Lee raised our level of consciousness years ago.Unfortunately, this issue of race seems to be driving itself in circles. If the USA is one of the greatest countries on earth, imagine how it would be without racism. Well enough of my wishful thinking so lets get back to bigotry and systematic racism.
Great essay here. Easily, Lee's best written and directed film of all time. IMO. Some will say X, Mo Better Blues or even Inside Man but no, this film is brilliant.
I get the theory behind what you're saying about Sal, but I don't ultimately buy it. I just have a problem with the concept of a man being told what to do in his own private business, so when I see the final conflict unfold, it's due to Radio Raheem forcefully trying to impose himself and black culture upon Sal and drown him out. It's just a bit of a headscratcher to me as to how we're supposed to view Sal as this bad person at the end of it when the same argument can be made for half the characters.
I'm baffled that a lot of people don't share this point of view. I've maintained that Sal really was not a bad person. He was a benevolent man and he loved serving the neighborhood. The fact that bugging put and Radio Raheem decided to impose their culture upon someone in his own private property is preposterous.
This is one of the few Spike Lee movies I've seen OldBoy Bamboozled and Get on The Bus being the others I remember, and maybe it's me but I can't say they grabbed me in any way. I remember seeing Do The Right Thing and thinking it's alright but it didn't feel all that ground breaking or anything.
I didn't think it was an incitement to violence but I did find it very confusing. Like I tried so hard to get it but I couldn't put together a single idea
Nice work Michael. I will have to make it a point to watch this movie. You are really very good at this btw. I don't really remember your background even though I have followed you and Hank for a half dozen years (don't get old , your memory goes to pot) but there is a spot for you in film reviewing. My compliments to the team as well.
As an outsider to this particular movie's world, and yet living in a similar racially charged universe, this movie would be more like a sutvival guide book for me. Letting us know the storm after the calm.
I really liked this movie, which I watched after seeing this video so thanks! Also anyone who liked this film should check out the film "sorry to bother you" while watching it it reminded me of what I felt watching this film, which is a good thing
Going to have to disagree about Sal here. H smashed the radio because they came into his business after it was closed and they were told to leave. Did Sal Do The Right Thing? No, he let his anger get the better of him and escalated the situation, though I do agree he holds some racist tendencies. And while Sal certainly has the right to hang whatever pictures he wants in his place of business, he could have compromised with Buggin' Out since he did make a valid point. Radio Raheem is also not blameless in all of this. Yes his death was a tragedy but before that he was trying to kill Sal for breaking his radio, a major point you left out. To me, Do The Right Thing is about viewing a complex situation from all points of view and watching how seemingly innocuous occurrences can manifest into all out chaos. Still, the fact that we are stil debating the overall meaning of the film so many years later is a testament to its power.
This is an excellent movie, Im amazed I hadnt even heard of it before this series. That said, I dont fully agree with your analysis, you seem to be putting all the blame on Sal for the final altercation, and while he has part of the blame and obviously could have tried to deescalate the situation the same could be said of Bugging Out and Radio Raheem, you omit their flaws and only talk about Sal's.
I think Mookie's decision to throw the trashcan through the pizza store window was meant to divert the anger of the people (that had just witnessed the police kill Radio Raheem) from Sal to his restaurant. Thus, saving Sal's life.
Funny... The first time I saw the movie I tought the exact same thing. But I guess it's not. It's more about a simbol of the community what unites them all. Sal pizzaria was what join the all community
Given what you have been shown of the Mookie character, do you really think that he is that smart? Someone had to get things started so why not the director/writer/starring actor of the film?
I thought so, too, at first. But judging from Mookie's later behavior towards Sal and Spike Lee's own answers to the matter, I think Mookie just lashed out at that moment.
Spike Lee himself has already stated in interviews, explicitly, that this was NOT the reason. He also said much later in a different interview that only white people ask him about why Mookie threw the trash can through the window. (lol)
The genius of the movie and of Lee himself is not interest in present villains but people with good thing and bad no one in the movie is the saint you can understand the point of view from all of them even when are in contradiction i understand why they want pictures of african americans in the wall and i understand why Sal only want pictures of italians, is his pizzeria and his culture and i see nothing wrong with Sal point of view (i know a barbershop from italians owners with a wall cover with pictures of italians celebrity never cross my mind go there and forced them to put pictures from venezuelan celebritys) and at the same time understand Giancarlo Esposito character argument very good movei dont give you anwsers but forced you to see how complex human interaction are mostly when exist a traditional separation
Finally you tried to do a little bit of technical analysis and not the always sociological thing. I mean, it's sad to do a Course about Film Criticism and only talk about one key of analysis out of so many
I didn't see Sal as antagonistic in the film at all. Perhaps the film tried to paint him that way but I don't see it like that at all. If he built his pizzeria in a mainly irish neighborhood and decided to have italians up on his wall, I don't think complaints would be validated by anyone around, just as Buggin Out's complaints aren't really validated by the other black people in this film. Sal's act of physical destruction of the radio was certainly not called for, but I'd argue it wasn't the "inciting incident" of the chaos that followed. The whole film builds up to the chaotic climax, and to point at one moment and one individual and claim all of the responsibility lies with them is kind of messed up IMO. To me, this is a movie about how one person throughout could have just stopped to reconsider and the whole crisis would have been averted. This is a much more powerful message IMO than "for shame more black folk getting put down by the man."
I'm embarrassed to admit that I zoned out while watching this movie. Not that I didn't like it, I was just bitter about not getting to watch what I wanted to watch. But I want to watch it again and actually pay attention this time.
I watched this film as a kid and, though being black, felt very badly for Sal. Then I got older and experienced racism and saw racism from police. Then my view changed and the film became a lot more interesting to me. Characters who I didn't understand suddenly made a lot more sense, and I got the resentment against Sal and the anger a lot more.
I like how everything in the background (like the license plate) is slightly crooked. You’re also inside wearing a puffy vest and a long sleeve shirt. Hilarious. Super modern and artistic lol. “Do the right thing”. Man, your channel has gone down the tubes. Nice job.
1) I decorated the set. 2) It's freakin' cold in the studios for the first couple episodes we shoot. Michael was cold. And I'm hurt that you didn't even make a reference to him wearing a "life preserver" inside. 3) I can't comment on the channel going down the tubes as I work (as does everyone else) extremely hard on it and, therefore, wouldn't be the best judge. - Nick J.
Buggin out left Brooklyn for New Mexico and started his own chicken restaurant.
Los Pollos Hermanos 🤣
One of the greatest movies of all time. It is still regrettably relevant to modern day life issues. One of the most interesting pieces of trivia about the movie is that the actor who played Sal didn't see his character as a racist while the writer/director Spike Lee did. It is fascinating to view the actors performance when taking into account that both of the artists have different interpretations of the character.
Sorry I dont see what the point of the movie is. Through out the movie I thought the message was that we should all get along and we are all bigots in some way and then at the end of the movie a bunch of guys go in to provoke a wh|te dude so they can burn his shop down and Mookie who initiates this action is left without a job. What is that supposed to teach us? Burn your place of work down for political reasons and be left on the street without a job?
The movie could have had a positive message but it didnt and Spike has the screen presence of a glass of water.
I'm African, but I found ALL (yes ALL) the characters unlikable at best... Mother Sister? Are you serious??
@Yo I think the point was to illustrate how complex people can be and how repressed anger can lead to tragedy. All the characters have various degrees of good and bad qualities. Pino is filled with hate towards African Americans because his "friends make fun of him for working in an all black neighborhood" but Mookie points out that Pino enjoys black culture and that kind of shows if he embraced that more and ignored what others thought he might be a less miserable person. Or you can look at The Mayor who despite being a drunk is always trying to be nice and keep the peace in hostile situations. Some people have even speculated that the reason Mookie throws the trashcan through Sals window is because he didnt want the crowd to attack and kill Sal and his sons rather turn the crowds pent up aggression towards the building.
@@jahimjauh-hey5653 Spike Lee refuted the saving Sal theory.
@@dony2852 yeah I never really bought into it myself but I think it's a fascinating read on the moment.
Yo Screen Prism did an analysis on this that I think hits home. It’s not whether or not Mookie did the right thing. He was passive throughout the entire film up until he saw one of his friends, a black man, get killed by police. By then he couldn’t sit idle. You ever notice how when he throws the trash can he yells out “hate”, which is referencing Radio Raheem’s speech about the struggle between love and hate. Mookie threw the trash can at Sal’s window and incited the riot. He reacted after seeing his friend get killed by the police. And here’s the thing. The point is not if Mookie’s one act of protest was the right thing or not. Instead, we should be asking who did the wrong thing. Even though all the characters in the film aren’t painted as completely morally in the right, the answer to who did the wrong thing is, objectively, the police who killed Radio Raheem, a black man. Director Spike Lee has said the film is about human life and how black lives are devalued in America. Police brutality against African-Americans perpetuates this notion. In Spike Lee’s own words “[The police] continue to do the wrong thing and nothing ever happens.” In the end, Sal is gonna collect the insurance money to rebuild his place and he’ll be fine and Mookie is out of the job again, square one, and will continue to hopelessly struggle because the black people in his neighborhood have no power to change things. Radio Raheem should not have died. Yet, he did, and despite Mookie’s one act of protest, nothing has changed and the struggle for black Americans continues.
When I first saw Mookie grab the trash can, I thought he was going to slam it on the ground to silence everyone and then start monologuing about how this pointless conflict took the life of his friend.
Comic book issues of Marvel's Black Panther were actually shown in the film in the scene where some of the neighborhood black youth says, "If Black Panther eats pizza, we eat Pizza"
This is my problem with black films, they try so hard to stick black culture down the audience's throat.
@@cabrondemente1 - The fact that you feel that a "black film" is trying to stick black culture "down your throat", says more about you and your racial preconceptions, than the movie itself. I've never watched a movie featuring all Italians, or Greeks, or American whites, and thought that the film was trying to "shove white culture down my throat". I chose to watch the movie. So how can something be shoved at me, if I choose to watch it?
The bit that really got me this time is how they just carried off Radios body in the cruiser, imagine your buddy dying an unjust violent death and being denied even the most basic right and dignity to say goodbye to, bury and mourn them properly, i certainly can't. That bit got me hardest for some reason.
Ahhhh, one of my favourites. When I first saw it, I'm not sure I got it, but then I saw Spike Lee say that a white man came up to him and asked him why Mookie did what he did at the end of the film, and Spike said no black person had ever asked him that before, and insight poured down from the heavens and into my skull.
I never asked why Mookie started the riot. The part that's weird for me is when he goes back the next morning and demands pay. I didn't get that then, and I still don't get it.
@@lynxminx4 To show that life still goes on after this. He's still gotta make a living and face his community. It's funny bc Mookie asking for the money is basically telling Sal to pay him for saving his life by diverting attention towards the actual pizzeria instead of harming the family.
lynxminx4 He already did the work for the week; therefore he should get paid for his work. He was an employee, not a slave.
@@Mo-lf1qv He was an employee who deliberately smashed the storefront window, which then led to the loss of the entire restaurant. His back wages were a drop in the bucket of the cost of repairing the damage he caused.
lynxminx4 As Mookie said, insurance will pay for the pizzeria. Sal will probably get all his money back and more.
I walk by Spike Lee's production studio in Brooklyn fairly often--about a mile from where the movie is suppose to take place. There's a big statue of Radio right inside that you can see through the windows. Interesting place.
One of the very best of the 1980s.
Agreed!
- Nick J.
with this movie i keep thinking back to the LA riots.
One of the few genuinely seminal American films of the last 30 years.
Love this film... I also recommend Spike's "When the Levees broke: A requiem in 4 acts" on the horror of Hurricane Katrina and its impact in poor black and white citizens.... Brilliant
i hate this because im suppose to write an essay on this movie and this video is 100% exactly what my essay needs to be in every aspect and now i cant unhear it to write my own
Now I wanna see this again
One of the finest films Ive ever seen(and Ive seen many). I think the message here is that, even though people may try to get along and often even do, there is a human tendency to dislike anyone who is different and, if pushed hard enough, like in this case by the intense discomfort of the broiling heat, which amplified all frustrations and antagonisms, it can bring people to crack up and allow their dislikes to explode into violence, as happened here.
Just a small side note, no one in fact breaks the fourth wall in this film, although it would appear that is does because the characters are looking directly at the camera. However they are not speaking to the audience. Instead the shot is taken from a first person POV which gives it that sense of breaking the 4th wall.
Boy howdy is this film more relevant now.
You’ve done it again, algorithm.......
Imo no movie has handled racism as good as do the right thing
It’s wild how smart this movie is. I wish it was more respected in film bro communities
I disagree that Sal is a 'harmful character'. The montage you celebrate shows that all the characters have the potential for harm. He only does three 'wrong' things- he refuses to put non-Italians on his wall, which was his prerogative; he flirts with Mookie's sister, which Lee suggests is inappropriate for reasons he explores more completely in Jungle Fever; and he smashes the boombox, and as much as I love Public Enemy I also wanted to smash it at that moment. Raheem was attacking Sal with the noise....then he literally attacks Sal, and to say Sal should have reasonably predicted that his action would result in Raheem's death is applying a fairytale filter counter to Lee's intention. In the heat of the moment, all Sal was trying to do was stop the noise. If Raheem had been another Italian demanding free extra cheese, the boombox would still have been doomed.
lynxminx4 yeah, it’s crazy racist to say that Sal should be the “white Adult” that handles all the black demands and attacks and eccentricities. Sal should just automatically be philosopher-Superman because he is white? And the thing where he can’t hang his own hero pics, that is insane. Literally the definition of racism to tell Sal that he has to change decorations in his own nest because of race. Based only on race
But that is not the point. The point is that as much as he claims he "loves that everyone was raised with his pizza" and how "he doesn't mind them" (them being the black people) he still holds a lot of racial prejudice on the neighborhood people. He always called them "your people" instead of their names to mookie, he called their music "jungle music" which was a very racist remark, and was visually seen always holding a bat to tell the audience how he was always ready to fight anybody even though everybody else never displayed actual violence towards him. Yes, the radio was annoying but it was never actually harmful. We have to look at the big picture, when Raheem died, the only thing sal cared about was his business. Thats it. He didn't care about the unjust death of Raheem and three others who he claimed he "loved" (yes three others died and it was meant that no one noticed to illustrate real life events of those who also go missing). By the end of the day he only cared about profiting from low income poc's and that was it. Spike Lee did say he wanted to make it seem like he isn't a villain because that is just how racism is seen in actual life. We like people, even when certain racist remarks are said but we don't notice or refuse to see because we "like them" as a person. That is why he is a harmful character.
@@Lis_Creates perfect analysis
Smiley was my favorite character in this movie, he was such a sweet spirit. Second favorite was probably Rosie or Mookie’s sister
I know this channel is usually a professional, educational setting but BEDSTUY IN DA HOUSSSSEEEEE!!!
GirlYouAlreadyKnow looks like the white hipster chick feels like she has some sort of cred
Where is professional or educational? lol
lol
Excellent synopsis. Well done. This movie was ahead of its time.
I agree with the critic stating it's incoherent: Buggin' Out spends half the film trying and failing to boycott the pizzería, the characters refuse and outright laugh at the idea of doing anything against Sal, and Sal himself establishes that he has "never had any trouble with these people." Yet when the time comes, they take it on Sal for something everyone saw the cops did.
Watafu does that not reflect life though? if you take a recent riot over cops shooting unarmed black people, there is often and unfortunately people who also destroy businesses and cars, even though they are protesting the polices actions. this movie smartly portrays that common action and asks us to think of the question “is that the right thing?”, while also juxtapositions has it with past examples (ie MLK and Malcom x)
Very nice breakdown of the movie. I saw this movie when I was a kid in a theatre in the ghetto. I didn't really understand it back then, but I found the racial tension fairly playful at first and then the ending very uneasy.
I remember watching it for the first time in my High School English class, and I remember myself hating it, I didn't get the point of a movie "telling the story of hypocritical people being extremely confrontational and violent toward each other". But what I remember the most was that our English teacher didn't say anything or leave assignment based on the movie, he simply wanted us to watch and feel and absorb and think. Although hating it, and not knowing what to make of it, the movie always remained on the back of my mind, a "mystery" yet to be cracked. It took me many years and a lot of maturing up to come to terms with this movie and appreciation that neither Spike Lee nor my English teacher tried to feed us an answer but to force us to think on our own.
tbh this isn't a film criticism, it's just a summary
you got a nice voice dude and gave a solid analysis of the movie
this movie is rich with potential criticism and you spend most of the time stating facts and not arguing for an interpretation
Outstanding review of a great film, Michael. Do the Right Thing still causes seismic waves. Looking forward to Lost in Translation.
This video is completely unfair to Sal and the movie as a whole, and leaves out much of the context of the final scene. First, Sal is not a racist because he puts pictures of famous Italians on his wall. It's his business and he has the right to decorate it however he pleases. If he was racist against black people, why would he open up a shop in a black neighborhood? He is constantly challenging Pino's racism throughout the film, including in his very first scene. There is a scene toward the end where Pino is trying to convince Sal to leave the neighborhood, because he's ashamed of working in a black community and Sal shuts him down. Sal outright tells Pino that anyone who would make fun of him for that isn't really his friend, that his real friends are the black community that support their business. Sal tells him that he's "proud of as hell" to be part of a black community, and he shows affection and friendship toward black characters at several points. (Da Mayor, Mookie's sister)
Buggin' Out is a compulsive race baiter who uses very real, very legitimate causes to start petty fights that don't have anything to do with the larger struggle. He's insecure and materialistic (The initial fight with Sal was because Sal charged him extra for cheese, and then again when the white guy on the bike accidentally steps on his shoe, which the guy immediately apologizes for) and uses race as an excuse to lash out. The ending scene involved him and Radio Raheem barging into Sal's shouting and making threats after the business is closed. What owner wouldn't refuse service? If you barge into a business blasting extremely loud music and being rude and combative after the business is closed, you're going to get kicked out no matter what race you are. I don't agree with Sal destroying the boombox, and I don't agree with his use of The N Word, but if you're going to claim Sal is an unsympathetic racist for that reason alone, then you have to say the same thing about nearly every character in the movie.
And that, ultimately, is the entire point of the movie, that racism is a deeply toxic thing that is embedded in all sides of the community. Don't forget that one of the Jamaican characters goes on a rant about how much he resents successful Korean immigrants, despite being an immigrant himself. That same Korean immigrants then go on a rant against Jewish people, right before a rant by a white police officer against Puerto Ricans. Nearly every character in this movie engages in some degree of stereotyping and slur words, every character is racist to some extent, and the film demonizes all of it. Race is portrayed as something that allows people to act on anger that ultimately comes from other sources. Buggin' Out thinks Sal is cheap and feels slighted, (Despite the fact that Buggin' Out himself was extremely rude in asking for more cheese) and then uses race as a justification for his anger. Notice that his "boycott" is completely unsuccessful and practically everybody tells him that Sal's is a hallmark of the community. The only person who joins him is Radio Raheem, who is himself extremely rude and entitled, both to Sal and the Korean storeowners.
Crash Course completely missed the point of this movie. It's not a simple tale of white racism and black victim-hood, it's a multifaceted story where all people of all races are simultaneously victim and victimizer. It shows us that racism exists everywhere, and that is often an excuse for people to be petty and rude to another, to dehumanize them and accuse them of the worst crimes when their motivations are much more mundane (Is Sal really a hateful bigot because he tells Radio Raheem to shut off his music, or does he just want a quiet atmosphere in his restaurant so his customers can enjoy themselves and talk?) The real tragedy of racism is that it blows misunderstandings and grievances between individuals out of proportion, leading to horrible consequences that wouldn't have happened if it werent for this underlying distrust of each other. Sal didn't deserve to lose his pizzeria, but more importantly, Radio Raheem didn't deserve to lose his life. Nobody comes out of this story perfectly innocent or perfectly guilty, and that was Spike Lee's intention. The genius of this movie is that does not offer us easy answers that make us feel good about ourselves, it shows us the difficult, painful, and complicated truth beyond race relations. You can't boil a brilliant film like this down to "Sal is initially sympathetic but he was really the Big Bad all along!" Poor show, Crash Course.
Slurp, you got the basis of a paper here. I need to watch the film again.
You contradict your first point in your own interpretation of the film. You can't claim to not be racist as proof of not being racist, racism is a label applied to someone based on their actions. As you later go on to demonstrate, Sal does racist things, thus he's racist. Even if his excuse for having Italians on his wall is that it's his restaurant, the larger context suggests that his wall is full of famous white people because he is racist. Furthermore, opening a restaurant in an impoverished black neighborhood doesn't mean you're not racist, it could just as well mean you want to save money on real estate.
Thanks for saying it fam
Orphansmith he put Italian Americans on the wall, not white people.
+Orphansmith "suggests"
Would an Italian not hanging up famous Chinese or Indian actors that visited be racist from your point of view? Do people have to assume a gender / diversity quota for everything, even if it's a personalized wall that's showing reverence to your specific ancestry? Why can't the Italian celebrate his heritage? Would he always be targeted as a racist because he's white and aggressive when in reality he puts down Pino for misunderstanding his position?
I'm Chinese and I've visited Chinatown restaurants where only portraits of famous Chinese or Chinese family members are hung on walls. Does that make the guys who run it racist?
I think OP is pointing out that there are borders that determine passive or closed-doors racism if private people were exposed to a camera nonstop. Someone is going to be offended. Whether it's the Korean being offended by the Jamaican who hated successful Koreans or the Jews who are offended that the Koreans mocked the Jews in jealousy and spite.
Your collection of photos is something personal to you. Having someone barge in and ask for people to "make it more diverse" when contextually, the memorabilia was never about that in the first place, is dismissive to people like Sal or the Chinese food place owner I discussed. I don't even think Spike Lee saw Sal's viewpoint given Sal came here when the neighborhood was Irish and he did this specifically because there were no other Italian joints around. He's the last immigrant out in the diversity competition where we declare who gets to be the new minority status.
Spike Lee's heaviest joint. It's a trip that will resonate with me forever.
This movie has been one of my favorites since I was young.
I was curious to see how it would be summarized in this video. I actually enjoyed this. Very well said and explained. 👏👏 Im glad I came across this.
Most of Spike Lee's movies were viewed as polarizing back in the 90's even in African American communities. I'm not some huge SL fan, but I understood some of the messaging in his movies. I also think he was quirky and annoying at times. PS: MALCOLM X was his best film.
The dance in the beginning of the movie... 😂
Just saw the movie after watching the Crash Course video a few weeks ago. Such a brilliant, pertinent film, especially today.
Finally I’ve been watching for years but finally I have the first comment!!!!!!!
Now how to use this wonderful gift of being the very first......whoever you are whatever you are doing wherever you live know only that you are an amazing person keep being who you are and don’t let anyone ever change you ❤️💜🖤
lol this is hilarious
Sorry LouLou, blitz Turtle is the King
I love this movie. When I first saw it as a kid in the mid '90s I knew it was something special, and was probably my first art film.
I don't think this Channel can be topped. Easily the best stuff on youtube, hands down.
one of my favorite films that I watched in film class about to watch it again.
By far my favorite Spike Lee film.
This, Malcolm X, and 25th Hour are incredible films. He's got a great catalog.
I'm commenting for the UA-cam algorithm. Hey buddy, this is good content, push it to the top!
Love the star wars figurines in the background.
You're an excellent commentor with keen and eloquent insights.
This review is so disconnected from the movie like that winter jacket is from the weather the movie depicts lol
love the content pls never end the series
I've never seen DTRT, I need to see it!
Ca La Yes I did. A masterpiece.
Something I had realized in the point about Malcolm X and MLK’s advocation of two sides of the same coin, is that it can be traced to disagreements (largely needless) between their precursors in W.E.B DuBois and Booker T. Washington.
Both had positives and negatives to their theories for black advancement that should have motivated them to find a common ground. And if they had, perhaps MLK and X (and their modern day version in Louis Farrakhan) would have done similar.
I look forward to this every week!
THE BLAME IS ON BUGGY AND THE COP
Mike Roch I mean, Sal didn’t have to break the radio. But Buggin Out and the Cop didn’t help the situation either
Thx for this video, learn so much more .. want more film talks !
I literally watched this movie yesterday! Thank you so much
Just because or was it for a class?
- Nick J.
I grew up on them Bed-Sty streets, love seeing this video, it brought back memories! 👍🏼👍🏼
Spike Lee raised our level of consciousness years ago.Unfortunately, this issue of race seems to be driving itself in circles. If the USA is one of the greatest countries on earth, imagine how it would be without racism. Well enough of my wishful thinking so lets get back to bigotry and systematic racism.
Great essay here. Easily, Lee's best written and directed film of all time. IMO. Some will say X, Mo Better Blues or even Inside Man but no, this film is brilliant.
Just saw this movie a couple days ago
An easy classic
You look like Phillip DeFranco and Joey from Friends morphed in our creator's blender.
Great video. One of my favorite films.
man u aint even criticize it, u just summarized it fam
I get the theory behind what you're saying about Sal, but I don't ultimately buy it. I just have a problem with the concept of a man being told what to do in his own private business, so when I see the final conflict unfold, it's due to Radio Raheem forcefully trying to impose himself and black culture upon Sal and drown him out. It's just a bit of a headscratcher to me as to how we're supposed to view Sal as this bad person at the end of it when the same argument can be made for half the characters.
I'm baffled that a lot of people don't share this point of view. I've maintained that Sal really was not a bad person. He was a benevolent man and he loved serving the neighborhood. The fact that bugging put and Radio Raheem decided to impose their culture upon someone in his own private property is preposterous.
Thank you I am writing an exam on this film later today. I am not going to debate my opinion though saving it for the exam.
This is one of the few Spike Lee movies I've seen OldBoy Bamboozled and Get on The Bus being the others I remember, and maybe it's me but I can't say they grabbed me in any way. I remember seeing Do The Right Thing and thinking it's alright but it didn't feel all that ground breaking or anything.
I saw this last semester in my motion pictures class.
I didn't think it was an incitement to violence but I did find it very confusing. Like I tried so hard to get it but I couldn't put together a single idea
Nice work Michael. I will have to make it a point to watch this movie. You are really very good at this btw. I don't really remember your background even though I have followed you and Hank for a half dozen years (don't get old , your memory goes to pot) but there is a spot for you in film reviewing. My compliments to the team as well.
I live just a few blocks from where DO THE RIGHT THING was filmed in Bed-Stuy!
As an outsider to this particular movie's world, and yet living in a similar racially charged universe, this movie would be more like a sutvival guide book for me. Letting us know the storm after the calm.
you guys should do Nollywood (Nigerian cinema)
Please share your recommendations!
I really liked this movie, which I watched after seeing this video so thanks! Also anyone who liked this film should check out the film "sorry to bother you" while watching it it reminded me of what I felt watching this film, which is a good thing
Going to have to disagree about Sal here. H smashed the radio because they came into his business after it was closed and they were told to leave. Did Sal Do The Right Thing? No, he let his anger get the better of him and escalated the situation, though I do agree he holds some racist tendencies. And while Sal certainly has the right to hang whatever pictures he wants in his place of business, he could have compromised with Buggin' Out since he did make a valid point. Radio Raheem is also not blameless in all of this. Yes his death was a tragedy but before that he was trying to kill Sal for breaking his radio, a major point you left out. To me, Do The Right Thing is about viewing a complex situation from all points of view and watching how seemingly innocuous occurrences can manifest into all out chaos. Still, the fact that we are stil debating the overall meaning of the film so many years later is a testament to its power.
Brilliant and brilliantly done. Knew nothing about this film (though love Lee's Inside Man), I now want to see this.
A great work with lessons still relevant to this day.
This is an excellent movie, Im amazed I hadnt even heard of it before this series. That said, I dont fully agree with your analysis, you seem to be putting all the blame on Sal for the final altercation, and while he has part of the blame and obviously could have tried to deescalate the situation the same could be said of Bugging Out and Radio Raheem, you omit
their flaws and only talk about Sal's.
The best analysis of the film. It was my first time watching it this evening- in full and 30 years on.
I think Mookie's decision to throw the trashcan through the pizza store window was meant to divert the anger of the people (that had just witnessed the police kill Radio Raheem) from Sal to his restaurant. Thus, saving Sal's life.
Funny... The first time I saw the movie I tought the exact same thing. But I guess it's not. It's more about a simbol of the community what unites them all. Sal pizzaria was what join the all community
Wow that was deep! Never thought of that before!
Given what you have been shown of the Mookie character, do you really think that he is that smart? Someone had to get things started so why not the director/writer/starring actor of the film?
I thought so, too, at first. But judging from Mookie's later behavior towards Sal and Spike Lee's own answers to the matter, I think Mookie just lashed out at that moment.
Spike Lee himself has already stated in interviews, explicitly, that this was NOT the reason. He also said much later in a different interview that only white people ask him about why Mookie threw the trash can through the window. (lol)
The genius of the movie and of Lee himself is not interest in present villains but people with good thing and bad no one in the movie is the saint you can understand the point of view from all of them even when are in contradiction i understand why they want pictures of african americans in the wall and i understand why Sal only want pictures of italians, is his pizzeria and his culture and i see nothing wrong with Sal point of view (i know a barbershop from italians owners with a wall cover with pictures of italians celebrity never cross my mind go there and forced them to put pictures from venezuelan celebritys) and at the same time understand Giancarlo Esposito character argument very good movei dont give you anwsers but forced you to see how complex human interaction are mostly when exist a traditional separation
I'm waiting for three colors : blue
Keep it up
Thank you, great analysis of this timeless movie.
...Did they forget to turn on the heater in the studio...?
Studios are in a renovated basement so... it gets cold down there.
judging by the title, i probably should watch this video
Giancarlo esposito the best😎
Finally you tried to do a little bit of technical analysis and not the always sociological thing.
I mean, it's sad to do a Course about Film Criticism and only talk about one key of analysis out of so many
I didn't see Sal as antagonistic in the film at all. Perhaps the film tried to paint him that way but I don't see it like that at all. If he built his pizzeria in a mainly irish neighborhood and decided to have italians up on his wall, I don't think complaints would be validated by anyone around, just as Buggin Out's complaints aren't really validated by the other black people in this film. Sal's act of physical destruction of the radio was certainly not called for, but I'd argue it wasn't the "inciting incident" of the chaos that followed. The whole film builds up to the chaotic climax, and to point at one moment and one individual and claim all of the responsibility lies with them is kind of messed up IMO. To me, this is a movie about how one person throughout could have just stopped to reconsider and the whole crisis would have been averted. This is a much more powerful message IMO than "for shame more black folk getting put down by the man."
Wilful ignorance ^
What would you like to add? All these comments add is the perception that you can't actually counter the previous statement.
Black Panther eat pizza, we eat pizza boiiiiii
Funny. You should do stand up.
u know its a line in the movie, right?
This is the best!
Never seen this film but I will totally know !!!
... you have a thick coat on inside of a building? Just something that jumped out at me during the video.
Loud Speaker as incoming of hip hop
Sal as sympathetic racist (confronts viewer to look at own racism)
this dude looks like a younger version of joey from friends
Kathryn Bigelows Detroit did something similar though it was more on the nose brilliant film though shame the Academy didnt think so
I'm embarrassed to admit that I zoned out while watching this movie. Not that I didn't like it, I was just bitter about not getting to watch what I wanted to watch. But I want to watch it again and actually pay attention this time.
Excellent.
I disagree with this interpretation of Sal's character.
Excellent!
I watched this film as a kid and, though being black, felt very badly for Sal. Then I got older and experienced racism and saw racism from police. Then my view changed and the film became a lot more interesting to me. Characters who I didn't understand suddenly made a lot more sense, and I got the resentment against Sal and the anger a lot more.
That movie taught me that you can do right by people for decades but you do one wrong thing then they will ruin you.
But Sal wasn't ruined. And Mookie probably saved his life
I like this guy in the video,, hes good for crash course,,
Goddamn, Ebert was always right on the money
I fell down a flight of stairs today
rappingskeleton Are you ok?
Max Jerome No.
Love this movie!
feel bad for sal,
Rest in power, George Floyd.
I like how everything in the background (like the license plate) is slightly crooked. You’re also inside wearing a puffy vest and a long sleeve shirt. Hilarious. Super modern and artistic lol. “Do the right thing”. Man, your channel has gone down the tubes. Nice job.
1) I decorated the set.
2) It's freakin' cold in the studios for the first couple episodes we shoot. Michael was cold. And I'm hurt that you didn't even make a reference to him wearing a "life preserver" inside.
3) I can't comment on the channel going down the tubes as I work (as does everyone else) extremely hard on it and, therefore, wouldn't be the best judge.
- Nick J.