Do the Right Thing

Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing is a film about the racial tensions that exist in a community. The film starts out as what would seem like a light and comedic storyline but as it gets to the end of the film the mood dramatically changes from light and comical to dark and serious. Do the Right Thing doesn’t really present us with a main character but it does present us with the details of how each character in the film acts around their own groups and other racial groups.
The strongest scene from this film was definitely when Radio Raheem was suffocated to death by the cops. This intense scene was what showed us the strong prejudice the cops had on racial groups. You could tell that the cops were violently suffocating Radio Raheem not solely because he was on the verge of killing Sal but because of their own anger and hate on his race.
In the end, the film shows us the point of view from two civil rights leaders: Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. I think that two of the characters from this film, Da Mayor and Buggin Out, each portray the ideas of one of the Civil Rights leader. Da Mayor, a man who advocates peace in the community shows us the values of nonviolence from Dr. King and Buggin Out who would often resort to violent conversations or actions shows us the ideas of Malcolm X. All in all Do the Right Thing presents itself with many controversial ideas but it does make us think about certain things in the end.