Do The Right Thing Analysis

Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing observes inner city race relations in a Brooklyn neighborhood. The entire film takes place over the course of one day, as it also happens to be the hottest day of the year; not only is the weather hot, but racial tension is heated as well. The film follows a variety of characters representing different races, genders, and social classes. The movie centers upon the struggles and conflicts of race in the city as it focuses in on members of the community and whom they choose to align with.

The plot seems to jump all over the place from scene to scene, but the main location would have to be Sal’s pizzeria. A white middleclass man named Sal owns the store along with his sons, and even though he is white the store operates in a primarily black neighborhood serving almost only black customers. The movie presents

Sal as the blue collared hero, who rather than being subjugated for his working class male status is admired and accepted as a member of the community who represents the civic definition of what it means to be an American.
In the essay “Who is an American” by Eric Foner, the author explores in his own view, what it truly means to be an American. Foner uses historical events, such as laws and legislature passed signifying the progressing notion of American
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Identity. Throughout the essay the ideas of ethnic and civic nationalism are introduced and analyzed. Civic nationality represents nationality based upon where a person lives or the politics they agree with, while on the contrary ethnic nationality is forged upon the idea that a person’s race, culture, and ethnicity determine who they will identify with. The author says early on “For most of our history, American citizenship has been defined by blood as well as political allegiance.” (142), showing that both civic and ethnic nationalism play a large role, but the author later goes on to quote president Roosevelt saying “As the ethnic understanding of Americanism was discredited, President Roosevelt explicitly committed the nation to the civic definition. To be an American, he insisted, had always been a “matter of mind and heart" and "never was a matter of race or ancestry" (149). This excerpt, along with other arguments lean toward the impression that nationality is based more upon civic rather than ethnic nationality.
Sal is not of the same race as his customers, but it doesn’t seem to matter to any of them. Towards the middle of the movie a scene occurs in which a young black man named Buggin’ Out declares he is going to boycott Sal’s Pizza because there are no black men on the wall of fame. In order to boycott he hits the streets to try and get support from other residents of varying ages who live in the neighborhood. He aggressively attempts to recruit help from Da Mayor, elderly men, and teenagers in the neighborhood. Each time he tries to persuade a new person to join forces with him; the camera will first zoom in on them to create a sense of intimacy as if to show Buggin’ Out has a connection with them, but then once he is rejected the camera
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proceeds to pan across the scene creating separation between Buggin‘ Out and the rest of the members of the neighborhood. After achieving no encouragement or backing Buggin’ Out confronts Sal at his restaurant, and the camera is then placed at a higher position looking down upon Buggn’ Out making him appear much smaller along with suggesting that he is weak and powerless. After a short argument the camera pans to follow Buggin‘Out as he backs away from the counter creating distance between the two men followed by the camera switching to a lower perspective looking up at Sal making him appear large and powerful while establishing his dominance.
Buggin’ Out’s boycott recruitment ultimately failed as the members of the neighborhood sided with Sal since they were civically united with him. The entire conflict in this scene was initiated by the ethnic problem of there being no black people on the wall of fame inside Sal’s. Buggin’ Out angered by this decided to seek help for his boycott from black members of the community as he assumed they would be on his side due to a shared skin color and ethnic background. Much to his surprise though nobody would support him even thought they were black they still supported the white Sal. After Buggin’ Out requested a boycott he was answered with comments such as “Sal ain’t never done nothing to you before or me either” and “I was born and raised on Sal’s pizza”. They looked past the color of Sal’s skin and chose to support him because they share the city of Brooklyn together and even though they are not of the same race they still identify together civically. Therefore
rather than being looked down upon as an outsider Sal is instead seen as a valued
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member of the community. This scene was able to support Foner’s idea of civic nationalism having a much stronger influence than that of ethnic nationalism.
Civic nationalism provides a robust sense of unity, but Sal’s blue-collar middle class status is able to help establish him even more as a celebrated member of the community. This idea is brought to life in the essay “Never Trust a Snake: WWF Wrestling as Masculine Melodrama”, as it introduces the concept that blue-collar men can avoid subjugation by using an emotional outlet. Henry Jenkins cracks the shell and explores deep below the tip of professional wrestling’s iceberg revealing that is much more than meets the eye. While the common viewer may simply view wrestling as a barbaric fight or be quick to judge the sport due to the fiction that it intertwines with, but Jenkins looks beyond that seeing the emotional melodrama. In wrestling every fighter represents something else on a much grander stage portraying them each with individual biographies of their own that the working class can typically relate to. This fuels the fire of wrestling fans creating a passionate experience. Jenkins says “Melodramatic wrestling allows working-class men to confront their own feelings of vulnerability, their own frustrations at a world which promises them patriarchal authority but which is experienced through relations of economic subordination” (299). In reality most of the working class don’t have flashy lives, jacked bodies, or the ability to conquer the upper
class, so watching professional wrestling allows them to feel important rather than becoming subjugated.
As a blue-collar man himself Sal is faced with many financial and emotional struggles. Towards the end of the film a scene occurs in which Sal sits down to have a
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serious talk with his son Pino about the future of the restaurant.

The color of the scene changes to a sepia shade (commonly seen in old photographs) to imply the historical significance of the restaurant, followed by slow music playing creating a depressing mood. The camera then begins to zoom in and create a feeling of intimacy and closeness between father and son as they discuss the restaurant’s future. Pino then suggests that they should move out of the neighborhood, as it’s not fit for them, but Sal replies saying “They grew up on my food and I’m very proud of that, you may think it’s funny but I’m very proud of that” establishing the pizzeria as his outlet of emotion followed by saying “Sal’s pizzeria is here to stay”. A member of neighborhood named Smiley then interrupts their conversation by banging on the window. Sal is friendly towards him, but the camera moves to follow Pino as he exits the pizzeria to yell at Smiley. This moving of the camera creates a distance between Sal and his son, which demonstrates that they don’t see eye to eye as Pino isn’t able to comprehend the significance the restaurant holds to his

father.
Sal doesn’t have professional wrestling to turn to for his emotions, so instead he still follows Jenkin’s ideas by turning his pizza restaurant into an emotional outlet. This outlet is much more tangible as it is a physical part of Sal’s everyday life. He doesn’t come from a lot of money and works very hard for what little he has; yet he still appreciates the life he’s been given. Jenkin’s focuses in on how professional wrestling is able to give significance in the lives of middle class men just as in how Sal’s restaurant
gives meaning to his life knowing that he is responsible for feeding the community. Pino on the other hand represents the common viewer watching professional wrestling for the first time, he only sees its faults and doesn’t realize the meaning behind the restaurant.
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While in reality Sal isn’t a super-hero conquering evil he is still a hero in his own sense as he helps the community through serving them pizza. Rather then becoming subjugated by the fact that he is poor Sal is able to look above and beyond this knowing that he has something to live for. Even though he doesn’t’ receive loads of money he still receives the acceptance in the community around him which is priceless.
It’s almost shocking as to how Spike Lee was able to use one of the most common characters (white male) and expand on his small-scale life so much that in a grander scheme he represents what it means to be an American. The idea of ethnic nationalism isn’t a strong glue to hold the country together, as America was a land founded by immigrants. People come from all different backgrounds and social classes, and rather than subjugating groups the country applauds them as they stand together as one bounded by the idea of civic nationalism. Former president of The United States, John F. Kennedy put it best when he said “This nation was founded by many men of many nations and backgrounds. It was founded on the principle that all men are created equal, and that the rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened”.