Analysis of Do the Right Thing: Themes and Cinematic Techniques

This paper analyzes the themes presented in the movie Do the Right Thing and the use of cinematic techniques in passing the messages effectively. The film highlights racial problems in New York and incorporates Marxist views. The impact of racism on police brutality is also depicted in the movie. The director uses cinematic skills of lighting, camera, music, and storytelling to show the escalating tensions until the eruption of the violence.

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Introduction
Do the right thing is a great film that highlights racial problems that were in New York,
Brooklynn at the time the film was produced (1989). “The on-location depiction of the life that
the people experienced in the multiracial neighborhood effectively show the effects of negative
racism in the film.”1 The film also incorporates Marxist views in which the classes in the society;
merchants such as Italian Americans and Korean Americans and the African Americans whose
role is to pay for the goods and services. The impact of racism on police brutality is also depicted
in the movie. The moral decisions that the people make are highly influenced by race and the
film shows the impact of negative perception of other people, based on their race. The characters
in the movie are presented stereotypically to stress on the theme of racism more. The use of
cinematic attributes such as camera, lighting, music, and storytelling further help the director to
pass the thematic messages to the audience. This paper analyses the themes presented in the
movie and the use of cinematic techniques in passing the messages effectively. The film is
aligned with the doctrines of the French Wave of depicting societies as they are in order not to
lose the originality and to pass the message as intended.
Meaning and cultural significance
The movie use iconography to highlight the segmentation of the society in Brooklynn
along racial lines. “The American Italians in the movie such as Sal and Pino wear crosses and
tank top shirts. Radio Raheem wears a medallion and plays loud rap music on his stereo, all
which are stereotypical attributes of African Americans.”2 There is also a group of youth with
Puerto Rican descent who listen to salsa music all the time as they share beers. The youth also
speak Spanish despite the fact they are in a neighborhood that uses English as the main language

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The film is dominated by insults in which the characters bring out the sentiments that they hold
against each other. The beliefs in racial supremacy are also brought out in cases such as when
Buggin’ to stay black implying the animosity that he and some other African Americans have
against other races in the neighborhood. The struggle for power in the society is also aligned to
the racial groupings. Negative racism is, in fact, the cause of the power struggle in the
neighborhood. Activism in the film such as by Buggin’ is also racially biased and it leads to
animosity instead of help the people to live in harmony.
“The social interactions of the characters in the movie show their belief in Marxism.”3
Buggin’, for instance, harasses a white man for running over his shoes (Jordans) and asks him
what he is doing in Buggin’s neighborhood. The fact that the man is a legal property owner in
the neighborhood implies that the poor African Americans connect their economic inferiority to
their psychological problems. Buggin does not take it as an accident but views as an exploitation
by a wealthy man. The negative sentiments by some characters against Sal is also a projection of
the power struggle caused by racism. The divisions among the African Americans and the
Korean and the Italian merchants is can be attributed to the differences in their financial status.
The police are also hard on the poor African families, as compared to the other races in the
neighborhood. The arrest of Buggin after the fight in Sal’s pizzeria, totally ignoring the fact that
Sal and his sons too were involved in the fight brings out the brutality that the poor people in
Brooklynn went through in police hands.
The director, Lee, uses Korean and Italian business owners to show that the conflict
between African Americans and the white Americans is more than with members of other race
such as Koreans. “Sal experiences more problems with African Americans than the Korean
merchant who in the whole film only argues with Raheem Radio.”5 The interracial liking or

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disliking of particular characters such as Sal and the Korean business owner is based on the fact
that they own a business.”4 Some of the African Americans such as Mookie are happy to have a
job that helps them to cater for their needs while others like Buggin view the business owners as
foreign pests whose main aim is to exploit the poor and impoverish them even further as they
make profits.
Lighting
In the film, most of the scenes are shot outdoors with high key lighting. The transition of
the lighting from low to the high key is in line with the escalating racial tensions and social class
struggles. The dancing by Tina to the song “Fight the Power” in the first scene, for instance, is
done in dark lighting and the lightings that happen as she dances are clear to the audience. The
director effectively uses the light in that scene to show the danger of escalating racism. Low
lighting is also used when Mookie has an intimate moment with his girlfriend. The light in this
scene adds the effect of intimacy to the scene. The bright light in the film also reminds the
audience that it is summertime. The bright light all through the film indicates the heat in that
society which the director uses to symbolize the racial tension that causes all the conflicts in the
movie. The bright light also brings out all the actions as they happen thereby making it more
realistic as opposed to cases where artificial light is used.
Camera
“Cinematically the film brings out the heightening racial tension and power struggle in
the neighborhood.”9 “The camera, in the last scene, pans over black people and finally focuses on
the Sal and his sons. This shows the inferiority of the Italians in the fight since they are clearly

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outnumbered, this being the only situation that Sal’s financial superiority does not count. The
African Americans in the crowd are sweating and this shows that they have taken the heat for too
long and they are willing to take extreme measures to take control of the society in which they
have previously been exposed to a lot of brutalities and economic oppression.”10 The smashing of
Raheem’s radio by Sal is played in slow motion and this brings out the fact that Sal was boiling
with anger and hate as he was doing it. The yelling of the crowd and the capture of the haphazard
fight depicts it as a societal problem in which everyone felt that something ought to be done.
“During the fight, the camera captures the African Americans and only noises of Sal and his sons
are heard from below the crowd. The camera zooms into Raheem’s face and then Sal showing
the brutality that Raheem had in bringing Sal down. Sal, on the other hand, is depicted as very
helpless as his only two sons are taken on by other people in the crowd leaving him with no
option but to suffer the pain that African Americans led by Raheem inflicted in him.”11 As the
fight started, Sla had a club in his hand and nobody confronted him physically until he smashed
Raheem’s radio. The camera zooms in to him as he smashes the radio and slow motion is applied
to show that he actually gets tired after that strenuous smashing. Raheem and
his fellow African Americans only attack him after he has grown tired. Pino is zoomed into all
this time and the expression on his face indicates that he is afraid of what may happen
eventually.
Mise en scene
“The use of slow motion as Sal shouts “No!” as his pizzeria is destroyed indicates his
helplessness.”12 The director uses this to show that the people had failed to tame negative racial
sentiments and time had come when all they could do was suffer the consequences. The look on
his face indicates that the end of his economic power had come. The arrest of Buggin’ is also

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played in slow motion and he is seen protesting the whole time as he is handcuffed and walked to
the police car. He is seen looking around and nobody is taken with him. The worried look on his
face indicates that he does not trust the police and he is desperately seeking help from the crowd.
Raheem also gasps for breath for a long time as the police choke him and the director uses slow
motion to show how helpless he was in the hands of the police who even killed him on the spot
and took him away in the back of their car. Echo is used to show that Raheem is dead as one of
the police officers tries to make him talk by kicking him. “The kicking by the police officer is
captured by the camera from below putting Raheem’s face at the forefront and the kicks by the
officer from above. This indicates the inconsiderate nature of the police and the helplessness of
the African Americans in their hands.”13
In conclusion, the film Do the Right Thing indicates the danger of not addressing racial
and social disparities adequately. The films clearly show that people in the society have to
identify the problems that affect their daily interactions and solve them or they will all suffer in
the long last. “The director embraced a stereotypic approach in order to show the significance of
minor societal differences in terms of the damage that they can cause.”14 The movie depicts the
effects of income inequality in the society and its impact on institutions such as the police force
who tend to be biased in their service to the people. The director uses cinematic skills of lighting,
camera, music, and storytelling to show the escalating tensions until the eruption of the violence.
The film is in line with the doctrines of the New French Wave due to its massive use of
iconography and in location depiction of scenarios despite the fears about the reactions that the
movie would evoke.

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