Do The Right Thing - Film analysis


'Do the Right Thing' (1989), written and directed by Spike Lee, is set in Brooklyn and mainly follows 'Mookie' but explores the hottest day of the year and what the average day in Brooklyn is like.

The film tends to deal with the themes of peace and conflict. The Film has many conflicts over certain issues like race and poverty. The opening credits shows a woman violently dancing to the song 'fight the power', this sets an intense and violent tone to the start of the film. This sequence is then followed by a radio DJ called ' mister señor love daddy' who hosts a radio station called 'Love FM'. Throughout the scene with him he seems to preach about love and acceptance. This contrasts the violent opening and this dynamic of calm and peace to the violent and aggressiveness. A good example of when I think Spike Lee is acknowledging this affect is through the costume of radio Raheem who has Love and Hate knuckle dusters. This little touch just shows the dynamics in the movie.

One thing I noticed in Do the Right Thing was the cyclic nature of the film. It starts of with people waking up and everyone hearing its the worlds hottest day, Mookie goes to work and Love FM starts the day. The end of the movie also finishes in the exact same way. This shows the cyclic nature of the poverty and racism. No matter what happens in the movie it can't break the cycle of poverty and racism. 

Comments

  1. Coulsdon A Level Film and Media11 November 2017 at 05:47

    Nice introduction to the film Ben with some key elements discussed. Going forward i think you would benefit from using the CCCEO paradigm. This piece would be enhanced by the use of contextually and comparison.

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