Friend / supporter / #BoycottTheOscarsPHL Advisory Team Member, John Morrison weighs in on the importance of Spike Lee’s 1989 masterpiece DO THE RIGHT THING –>
**MINOR SPOILER ALERT** Author reveals info on characters + some plot information
“Nearly three decades after it’s initial release, Spike Lee’s 1989 masterwork DO THE RIGHT THING has held it’s position as a classic piece of Black cinematic history. Much has been written about Lee’s first major studio film and the brutal, heartbreaking realities of racial tension and violence that it highlighted. Despite the film’s limitations, it doesn’t lack in political insight, tenderness and comedic value, DTRT is heady examination of Black American life squeezed into one hot summer day on a bustling city block in Brooklyn NYC.
Although the film is set firmly in the year of it’s release (“1989!!!” are the first words spoken onscreen from Public Enemy’s classic “Fight The Power”) DRT is a film that wrestles with the promises of the past while foreshadowing issues to come. The natural sequence of events that play out on the block (with emotions agitated by the oppressive summer heat) quickly erupt in violence, rioting and the police murder of young Black Man (Radio Raheem). As the main character Mookie and his boss Sal stand amongst the burn-out debris of Sal’s pizza shop, it is easy for audiences to wonder exactly what happened and how the peaceful facade of this multi-ethnic american neighborhood went to hell so quickly.
Throughout DTRT there is an unspoken spirit that runs right below the surface of the film and that is the state of the Black community in the wake of the unfulfilled promise of 60s & 70s Civil Rights and Black Power era. Political and social movements of the 60s and 70s saw Black folks an unprecedented level of political consciousness that resulted in mass mobilizations against the nation’s many forces of institutionalized racism.
During this time, there was so much optimism and energy behind those movements. Following the assassinations of MLK, Malcolm X, and the FBI’s COINTELPRO (counterintelligence program) that resulted in the jailing and murder of many revolutionary Black organizations (most notably the Black Panther Party) - much of that energy was dispersed and/or outright repressed. Instead of creating the kind of justice and harmony that Black Americans sought in the 60s, our communities, were beset with unemployment, draconian drug laws and inner city collapse. By the time, we get to 1989 where the film is set, we are witness to a Black community that is heavy under the weight of unfulfilled promise and the social malaise that comes along with it.
This malaise is almost exclusively expressed in the misguided efforts and general aimlessness of many of the films Black Male characters:
1. MOOKIE: Although, the DRT story is told through the dynamic interplay of its colorful ensemble of characters, Spike Lee’s character Mookie is at the center of the action. Well meaning but slightly irresponsible young father. Mookie is seemingly content with working a dead end job as Sal’s pizza delivery man as the young Women in his life chastise and urge him to take control of his life. Mookie’s character represents the particular ways in which the Hip Hop generation was failed in the wake of the Civil Rights and Black Power eras. Mookie is “down” but mostly apolitical. When Bugging Out, Smiley and Radio Raheem confront Sal in the Pizza shop, Mookie finds himself caught in up between both sides of the conflict. When Radio is killed by the police, Mookie throws a trash can through the window of Sal’s Famous Pizzeria, exciting the crowd to riot and burn down his employer’s shop. With all of these competing circumstances pulling him in so many directions, Mookie represents a living contradiction. He is the product of a generation that is angry but aimless, “down” and rooted in the community, but still at the mercy of systemic forces that are greater than any individual.
2. SMILEY: Smiley literally carries momentoes of the Civil Rights era around his neck (pictures of Malcolm and Martin smiling and shaking hands). The memory (and promise) of these two Men and their life work is carried around with him at all times. Smiley is also physically handicapped. As the character most closely associated with the broken promise of the Civil Rights era, I believe that this is intentional. Smiley is physically broken, because the movement that he represents was broken. As Sal’s Pizzeria burns down, Smiley carefully places his photos of Malcolm and Martin on the wall, inches away from the flames.
3. DA MAYOR, SWEET DICK WILLIE + CREW: I see these three Men as an extension of the promise that went unfulfilled in the Civil Rights movie. In the first scene in which they speak, SDW and his homies are sitting on the corner lamenting the fact that a Korean family across the street were able to buy a store and opening a thriving business in their neighborhood. Economic justice and advancement was a big part of the MLK and Malcolm’s ideologies, with those men and the movements that they served no longer in place, America’s racialized economic exploitation of Black neighborhoods go along (relatively) unchecked and Men like SDW, Da Mayor and crew end up spending their days sitting on the block, drinking and wondering what could have been.
4.BUGGING OUT: Bugging Out is a knucklehead, but he has a ton of energy and a strong desire for self-determination and justice, with no existing revolutionary movement for him to pour his energy into, he winds up being the guy in the pizza shop, yelling about pictures on the wall. If this were to take place in 1969, a brotha like Bugging Out would have been able to join an organization like the Panthers. His fire and passion would have been adorned with political education and discipline. In the end, Bugging Out’s misdirected, individualized method of rebellion gets Radio Raheem killed and does little to change the conditions in his community. DRT does not just address the reality of racism in america, that is a given, the message of DTRT centers around how we respond to oppression and what methods we use to fight back.
Upon it’s release in, DTRT was met with both commercial success and near-universal critical acclaim. And Spike had solidified himself as a major voice in mainstream american cinema. Unsurprisingly, the film’s reception from the Academy was not exactly overwhelming. On the eve of the Academy’s announcement of its nominations many critics predicted that DTRT would receive a Best Picture nod. Danny Aiello was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, Lee himself received a nomination for Best Original Screenplay.
When it was all said and done, DTRT lost in both categories and none of the film’s Black actors or actresses were recognized for their performances. Adding insult to injury, the Academy awarded Bruce Beresford’s Driving Miss Daisy with Best Picture. Resting on the opposite end of the political spectrum, DMD is the story of a Black driver (played by Morgan Freeman) and his Jewish employer (Jessica Tandy) and their friendship in the Deep South during the 60s. By the end of the night, the message was clear: The Academy preferred the softer liberal approach of DMD over DRT’s aggressive take on the country’s racial politics. It would seem that on that night, Reformism had won over rebellion.
In July of 2017, many of the same dynamics are still at play in our neighborhoods. Gentrification is still displacing long time residents, the police are still murdering Black people with impunity and Black youth are still desperately searching for avenues where they can channel their love and rage into revolutionary social change.
It is in the midst of this climate that cineSPEAK : alternative cinema relaunches this #BoycottTheOscarsPHL series. On July 21st, the series kicks off with a Double Feature Screening of DTRT and Spike Lee’s CROOKLYN, a loving, intimate portrait of Black family life in 1970s Brooklyn. Despite its age, DRT is still a relevant, ambitious, work of art. Its messages will continue to challenge audiences to connect with the film’s fire and rebellious spirit.”
John Morrison is a Philadelphia based Writer, DJ and Producer. As a solo artist, Morrison has recently released his debut Instrumental Hip Hop album, SWP: Southwest Psychedelphia, a cosmic, psychedelic trip through a day in the life in his Southwest Philadelphia neighborhood available now on Deadverse Recordings. Twitter & Instagram @John_Liberator
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TO RSVP + FOR MORE INFO + TICKETS, visit:
Double Feature : Spike Lee’s Crooklyn + Do The Right Thing
www.boycotttheoscarsphilly.bpt.me
www.cineSPEAK.org
