For our retrospective series on Body as Text, Embodied Ideologies, we revisit Spike Lee's incendiary masterpiece that forever altered the landscape of American filmmaking.
Title: Do the Right Thing
Countries: US
Year: 1989
Directed by Spike Lee
Starring: Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Richard Edson, Giancarlo Esposito, Spike Lee, Bill Nunn, John Turturro, John Savage
Costume design by Ruth E. Carter
The film takes place during the hottest day of summer in Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood. It follows Mookie, a young Black man who works as a pizza delivery person at Sal's Famous Pizzeria, an Italian-American owned establishment that's been in the neighborhood for 25 years. Through the course of the day, racial tensions gradually build between the predominantly Black community and the Italian-American business owners, centered around seemingly small issues that reflect deeper societal problems. The tensions ultimately culminate in a tragic confrontation that raises complex questions about racism, justice, and community relations.
Review
"Do The Right Thing" isn't merely a snapshot of a hot day in Brooklyn; it's a meticulously choreographed dance of rage, power, and resistance that continues to reverberate through the concrete arteries of our cities.
The questions this film raises still echo through our streets: Who gets to claim ownership of community spaces? When is violence justified? What does it mean to "do the right thing" in a world that's fundamentally wrong?
The film's costume design, often overlooked in political analysis, speaks volumes through its careful color coordination and street-wear authenticity. Mookie's Dodgers jersey isn't just clothing – it's armor, a uniform for navigating between worlds. Similarly, Buggin' Out's scuffed Air Jordans become a totem of commodified rebellion, a detail that feels almost prophetic in our hypebeast era.
Perhaps most radical is the film's economic critique. Sal's Pizzeria isn't just a restaurant; it's a symbol of economic exploitation in Black neighborhood. The Korean grocery store, the Italian pizzeria – Lee maps out how capital flows through, but rarely stays within, these communities. When Buggin' Out asks why there are no Brothers on the Wall, he's really asking who gets to profit from Black dollars.
This film remains particularly significant because it doesn't offer simple solutions to complex problems, but rather encourages viewers to think deeply about their own positions and prejudices. Its impact continues to resonate in contemporary discussions about race, justice, and community relations in America. It demonstrates how cinema can be both revolutionary and commercially viable, politically charged and artistically brilliant.
References
McLane, Daisann. "Movies: Spike Lee." Vogue, Jul/1989: 76-77, 80 (accessed with Polimoda account)
Locatelli, Luigi. "America in Bianco e Nero." Vogue Italia, 9/1989: 214 (accessed with Polimoda account)
Mitchell, W.J.T. "The violence of public art: Do the Right Thing". Mitchell, W.J.T. Picture theory. Essay on verbal and visual representation. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 1995: 371-396
Do the Right Thing original soundtrack. New York: Motown Records, 1989 https://open.spotify.com/intl-it/album/39gQ1HiUS295YJs1NgRxkc (accessed 29/10/2024)
Spike Lee
Da 5 Bloods, 2020
Pass Over, 2018
BlacKkKlansman, 2018
Chi-Raq, 2015
Da Sweet Blood of Jesus, 2014
Oldboy, 2013
Red Hook Summer, 2012
Miracle at St. Anna, 2008
Inside Man, 2006
She Hate Me, 2004
25th Hour, 2002
Bamboozled, 2000
Summer of Sam, 1999
He Got Game, 1998
Get on the Bus, 1996
Girl 6, 1996
Clockers, 1995
Crooklyn, 1994
Malcolm X, 1992
Jungle Fever, 1991
Mo' Better Blues, 1990
Do the Right Thing, 1989
She's Gotta Have It, 1986
School Daze, 1986
Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. Spike Lee Director’s Inspiration. Los Angeles and New York: Academy Museum of Motion Pictures ; DelMonico Books, D.A.P., 2022 (Catalogue of the exhibition, Los Angeles, Academy Museum of Motion Picures, 30 September 2021-25 September 2022)
The Face, 37/1991
The Face, 85/1995
i-D, 72/1989
Ruth E. Carter
Lewis, Gena D. "Ruth E. Carter". Bloomsbury Dress and Costume Library. London: Bloomsbury, 2023 https://www.bloomsburyfashioncentral.com/film-and-television-costume-ruth-e-carter (accessed 29/10/2024)
Carter, Ruth E. The Art of Ruth E. Carter. Costuming Black History and the Afro-Future, from Do the Right Thing to Black Panther. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2023
Black history
Ellington, Tameka N. and Joseph L. Underwood (curated by). Textures. The History and Art of Black Hair. Kent: The KSU Museum and Munich: Hirmer, 2020. (Catalogue of the exhibition, Kent, Kent State University Museum, 20 September 2021-14 August 2022)
Coore Vernon, Vanessa and Morgan Ashley, Wendy Pruitt (curated by). Brown Bohemians. Honoring the Light and Magic of Our Creative Community. Brooklyn: Powerhouse Books, 2020.
Brathwaite, Kwame, Tanisha C. Ford. Kwame Brathwaite. Black Is Beautiful. New York: Aperture, 2019. (Catalogue of the exhibition, Los Angeles, Skirball Cultural Center, 9 April - 1 September 2019)
Haygood, Wil. I Too Sing America. The Harlem Renaissance at 100. Columbus: Columbus Museum of Art and New York: Rizzoli Electa, 2018. (Catalogue of the exhibition, Columbus, Columbus Museum of Art, 19 October 2018 - 20 January 2019)
Lewis, Shantrelle P. Dandy Lion. The Black Dandy and Street Style. New York, N.Y.: Aperture, 2017.
Shames, Stephen, and Bobby Seale. Power to the People. The World of the Black Panters. New York: Abrams, 2016.
Miller, Monica L. Slaves to Fashion. Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2010.
Willis, Deborah. Posing Beauty. African American Images, from the 1890s to the Present. New York: W.W. Norton & Co, 2009.
White, Shane, and Graham J. White. Stylin’. African-American Expressive Culture from Its Beginnings to the Zoot Suit. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1999.
Horton, James Oliver, and Lois E. Horton. A History of the African American People. The History, Traditions and Culture of African Americans. London: Salamander Books, 1995.
Style and Culture
Boy.Brother.Friend. London, 2017-
Nataal: a magazine celebrating global African visual arts, fashion, music, culture. London: Nataal, 2018-
NIKE. Better Is Temporary. London: Phaidon, 2021.
White, Adama and Barney Ales. Motown. The Sound of Young America. London: Thames and Hudson, 2019.
Kawamura, Yuniya. "Sneakers as Fashion: Reclaiming Masculine Adornment." Kawamura, Yuniya. Sneakers: Fashion, Gender, and Subculture. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2018: 81–106. (Dress, Body, Culture.).
Polhemus, Ted. StreetStyle. From Sidewalk to Catwalk. New York: Thames and Hudson, 2014. (Catalogue of the exhibition, London, Victoria and Albert Museum, 16 November 1994 - 19 February 1995)
Garcia, Bobbito. Where’d You Get Those? New York’s Sneaker Culture 1960-1987. New York: Testify Books, 2003.
Afrofuturism
Strait, Kevin M. and Kinshasha Holman Conwill (eds.). Afrofuturism. A History of Black Futures. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Books, 2023. (Published on the occasion of the exhibition held in Washington, National Museum of African American History and Culture, 24 March 2023 - 18 August 2024)
Eshun, Ekow. In the Black Fantastic. London: Thames and Hudson, 2022. (Catalogue of the exibition, London, Hayward Gallery, 29 June - 18 September 2022)
Schmuckli, Claudia, Wangechi Mutu. Wangechi Mutu. I Am Speaking, Are You Listening? Interview by Isaac Julien. San Francisco and New York: Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco ; DelMonico Books ·D.A.P., 2021. (Catalogue of the exhibition, San Francisco, Legion of Honor, 7 May - 7 November 2021)
Smith, Ming, and Emmanuel Iduma. Ming Smith. New York: Aperture Foundation and Dallas: Documentary Arts, 2020.
Gaugele, Elke, and Monica Titton (eds). Fashion and Postcolonial Critique. Berlin: Sternberg Press, 2019.
[Published 24/10/2024]