Thoughts on 'Do the Right Thing'

#1
The color I was assigned was orange. I saw this color quite a bit in the film. There was lighting that used the color, or at least lighting that was used that created this color against the walls in the homes and outside on the buildings. This particular lighting also caused Tina’s skin color to appear sort of orange in a few scenes. When I noticed this it was in the beginning when she was dancing and also in the scene with Mookie and her on the bed with the ice cubes. There were also a few women who were wearing this color in their clothes; mainly tank tops but there was one girl wearing a whole outfit colored orange. One girl was wearing orange bracelets. There were also signs in the window of the Pizzeria that were orange and some of food trays were too.

This color seemed to be used in the places where it was hot, which was everywhere in the movie. They kept talking about how hot it was this day in New York, and the use of this color really seemed to intensify this point. I was sitting next to an open window while watching the film and I was hot. The use of this color and all the talk about how hot it was, actually affected me physically. I think this was really effective.

#2
I was really disappointed in Mookie’s actions towards the end of the film. I was definitely shocked and surprised when he threw the garbage can through Sal’s window. I definitely couldn’t believe that he expected to get paid the next day after what he did. I felt like he turned on the two people (Sal and Vido) who really liked him and wanted to help him. I felt like he stooped to the level of a lot of the others in the neighborhood and gave up on being peaceful with everyone.

#3
After watching the video essay, my feelings about Do the Right Thing, did not change. I never really thought of the film as being political. The word political never came to mind while watching it, anyway. I guess the issues that it touches on are considered political, but I just thought of it as people being sensitive to change. I felt that a lot of the individuals were stuck in the past and could not get over the fact that times were changing. It’s sad to think that color and race were such issues, and still are in a lot of places. It was sad to hear people talk about how they wanted to be treated, but then they would just turn around and treat his neighbor who was different from him exactly how he hated being treated. It’s a vicious cycle, that I think the movie was trying to convey, that needed to be broken.