Controversial Film: Do The Right Thing By Spike Lee

Do the Right Thing Paper “Always do the right thing”, is what Spike Lee’s character Da Mayor tells main character Mookie in Lee’s 1989 movie Do the Right Thing. The movie takes place in racially diverse Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn on a hot day. As temperatures rise so do the neighborhoods African American, Mexican, Korean, and Italian residences’ tempers. Director Spike Lee has created many well know films that touch a number of subjects. His movie Do the Right Thing is considered one of the most controversial films because of it’s direct and confrontational nature on the topic of racism in the United States. This very topic is still prevalent to this day, and we are still trying to find the answers to the problems that Lee

He was born in Atlanta, Georgia as Shelton Jackson Lee on March 20, 1957. At three-years-old, Lee and his family moved to Brooklyn, New York where he continued to be raised. Lee was presented with the arts by his father, who was a Jazz musician. He attended school in the South, where he created his first film, Last Hustle in Brooklyn. After he graduated he continued his education at New York’s film school where he raised money to create the indie, romantic comedy, She’s Gotta Have It with Dickerson. The film got seven million dollars at the U.S. box offices, won an Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature, and a directing award at Cannes. Lee likes working controversial and current issues into his films, and just two years after his work She’s Gotta Have It, Lee wanted to create a film that would put a light on racism, immigration, gentrification, and police brutality. This film would turn out to the well known, what “some critics would consider one of the most controversial films of all time “ (Do the Right Thing Article #1), Do the Right Thing. He would propose many different problems but never give any answers. Rather, he left it up for audience members to interpret ,and figure out what they believe is the right thing to