"Do The Right Thing": A controversial film

One of Spike Lee's most controversial films, Do the Right Thing takes place on a scolding summer day in Bed-Stuy, a predominantly black and Latino neighborhood in Brooklyn. The movie begins with the national black anthem, Lift Your Voice and Sing playing in the background, setting the stage for the ongoing issues of prejudices that arise in the Bed-Stuy neighborhood between the Italians, the blacks, the Caucasians, the Koreans, the young and the old. It reads like a case-study of Mookie, the main young black boy, and others from the Bed-Stuy neighborhood. Mookie is only one of his friends who has a job and works at Sal's pizzeria as the only African American delivery boy. Issues begin to arise when a friend of Mookies, Buggin' Out, decides to boycott Sal's pizzeria when Sal refuses to add pictures of famous African Americans to his shrine of Italians. This issue begins a pattern of multiple prejudice instances and like most small arguments it snowballs into something much bigger. Be aware though, this movie is hard to watch because of its dense and somewhat offensive content, but it brings up a lot of questions that I think are necessary to address. That being said, this was not my favorite movie because I felt like the acting was mediocre and at times corny, but I would encourage you to watch and see for yourself.