Episode #005
Do The Right Thing
(1989)
Fight the Power! Film School smokes its first Spike Lee Joint, and it’s jazzy, wacky, funny, and edgy AF. A very young Mr. Lee makes a statement with his masterpiece both behind the camera, and in front…and in the process, is cooler than we could ever hope to be. And that’s the double truth, Ruth.
Listen
I wanted to rewatch the movie before I commented.
Something to consider when saying “it’s just property.”
It isn’t.
Radio Raheem (RR from sow on) chokes Sal, intending to kill him. Why? Because Sal destroyed his radio. But it’s just property isn’t it? No, it’s part of his identity, Hell it’s part of his name. Same with Sal’s Pizzeria. It’s got his name, it’s 25 years of his life, it’s part of him.
But note the difference — as RR is choking Sal, clearly intending to kill him, the neighborhood people are egging him on, sharing the desire for Sal to die. The only reason that RR doesn’t murder him is that the cops show up.
On the other hand, when the cop chokes RR, he doesn’t intend to kill him — he thinks he’s faking when he goes limp — and the other cops are telling him to stop.
Spike obviously intended this: both the parallels and the contrast. In the first instance, the property destruction (RR’s radio) provokes the choking and attempted murder; in the second , the choking (I would argue it’s manslaughter — the intent to kill wasn’t there) provokes the property damage. The reactions of the perpetrator’s peeps is diametrically opposed.
There are more levels to this scene than first meets the eye.
A lot can be inferred in how the scene goes down, absolutely; Spike crafts plenty of blame. But in the end, RR pays for it with his life, and Sal pays for it with the loss of his pizzeria. That’s a dichotomy right there that we’re still confronting as a country.