DO THE RIGHT THING: Spike Lee’s subverted coming-of-age tale
UNIVERSALOut of all the hard-hitting and controversial pictures in Spike Lee’s filmography, Do the Right Thing is undeniably the most influential of them all. Having sparked controversy at the time of its release due to the media’s fear of it causing violence, the film has always been discussed. Spike Lee himself has criticised audiences and critics alike that, in the midst of his Magnum opus, the heavy emphasis on the riot at the end of the film is prioritised, rather than the act of police brutality displayed on-screen, or the brooding climate that leads up to said destruction. Many different theories have been devised since Lee’s feature entered the zeitgeist, such as the idea that Spike Lee’s character, Mookie, ignited the riot to save his Italian-American friends, Sal, Vito and Pino. However, the arc of Mookie (played by Lee) has often gone unnoticed regarding the characters’ power, voice and poignant/compelling path to his actions.
Mookie is a young Black man growing up in Bed-Stuy. Although he is already an adult and has responsibilities to uphold, he struggles to maintain them. According to his girlfriend, Tina, he isn’t present in her, or his young child’s life. According to his sister, Jade, the pizzeria he works at is the first job he’s been able to hold onto, and according to the owner of the pizzeria, Sal, he never is working during his hours. At this point in his life, Mookie lives a wonderful naivety with the belief that everything around him will always remain the same. Because of this, his values are set on the people in his community rather than his own responsibilities. In most classic coming-of-age tales, something disrupts the lead character’s life. This disruption causes the character to grow and develop into a more mature person. In Mookie’s case, he hasn’t reached that point in his life yet and is living peacefully with his personal idyllic lifestyle.
While he’s delivering a pizza, Mookie encounters Da Mayor for a brief moment. He offers Mookie very simple advice, telling him to always do the right thing. Since Da Mayor doesn’t tell Mookie anything else, this encounter has left many audiences with different interpretations. The ‘right thing’ is never a definitive answer. There are never two roads, and nothing is ever in black and white. What Da Mayor is really telling Mookie is to follow his own intuition and do what he personally feels is right. Other people might tell him that it’s wrong, his own logic might tell him it is wrong, but his heart is what dictates what the right thing is. In this scene, Lee makes it evident that Da Mayor has witnessed things such as police brutality first-hand during his long life. He is advising Mookie to not make the same mistakes he may have made and, instead, stand up in the face of danger rather than succumbing to the power. The theme of doing what one’s heart desires is common in many coming-of-age films. For example, in the classic coming-of-age tale, Little Women, the character Jo decides to continue pursuing writing despite the constant criticism of publishers in a male-dominated industry.
Later in the film, what Lee foreshadows with Da Mayor’s advice has come true. Mookie’s best friend, Radio Raheem, has been murdered in an act of police brutality. Mookie lives for the people in his community, and now that one of those people has been stolen from him, he is forced to mature and make a decision. Mookie’s shield from adulthood has been stripped away from him and the horrifying reality has struck[k2] . The very people who were meant to watch and protect him and his community ended up stealing Radio Raheem from them by abusing the power they were granted as police officers. Mookie knows he needs to take action, but he doesn’t want to grow either. Da Mayor’s advice comes into play and Mookie does what he feels is right: he chooses to start a riot, causing the whole town to erupt into chaos. After witnessing someone that the community had known for their whole lives be taken from them, they revolt against the system.
To this day, Black Americans still face police brutality. Spike Lee hasn’t been one to shy away from the matter, which is evident in his films, especially Do the Right Thing. Last June, he released the short film Three Brothers, honouring the lives of Eric Garner and George Floyd and connecting them with the character of Radio Raheem. While discussing the short on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, he mentions that Radio Raheem was based on Michael Stewart’s murder in 1983 and how, time and time again, these issues have persisted. Mookie started the riot, not because he wanted to, but because he knew he had to. The community was fed up with the injustice, and Mookie was the one who grew up and took a stand.
