In the film Do The Right Thing Spike Lee exams the life in the Bedford district of Brooklyn on the hottest day of the summer. The struggle for supremacy between both race black and white in Lee's film is a battle from beginning to end. Sal mentions how long he has had his business up and running in the neighborhood. The Italian run restaurant caters to all who reside in the area. Battles of ethnic power at Sal's transpire as they do in a boxing ring, literally. Throughout the course I've ask myself the famous question 'what it means to be an American?' and after thinking about this for a while, I truly believe it means opportunity. In America people have the opportunity to do whatever they want, and in the film Do The Right Thing Spike Lee shows what it means to be an American, but he also shows why opportunity changed his view on oppression in the city of Brooklyn, New York. I also believe Spike Lee throws in a little side notes on how Americans need to be aware of the things that are going around in the world at this time .
One thing I have noticed in Spike Lee films, he opens a lot of his scenes with a character shouting out the words "Wake up". These words symbolizing that Americans need to wake up and see how black people are being treated in their own neighborhood. The character Lee plays throughout the film, Mookie, is called lazy so much throughout the story. The only thing I don't understand is that these same people calling him lazy were people with no jobs, and this goes back to the opportunity notion. Mookie was able to get a job, so why weren't these other people working? Maybe these people were use to this life, or maybe since there wasn't an opportunity for black people to own business in the area these people weren't able to work and make their own money. .
In this film Lee shows a glimpse of what its like for a black male to prioritize. Mookie goes to work everyday and he works the hardest while walking up six flights of New York apartment stairs.