Obviously, you're going to need to see the source material in order to participate, and I wish Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing? was available on Hulu or Netflix, but unfortunately you're going to have to rent, borrow, or steal it. If you haven't seen the film, there are a number of spoilers contained within, so don't venture past the break.
According to Wikipedia, the climactic scene leads to, in many critics' eyes, one of the central questions of the film: does Mookie "do the right thing"? To summarize: Radio Raheem is choked to death while resisting arrest after a brawl with Pizzeria-owner Sal, and the resulting crowd is angry at the injustice and nearly riotous. Mookie proceeds to throw a trash can through the window of the Pizzeria, setting off a riot that leads to the restaurant being burned to the ground, and a riot against the ensuing police and firefighters. Less than 20 minutes later, at the end of the film, we are presented with two conflicting quotes: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., stating that violence is never justified, and Malcolm X saying that violence, used in self-defense, is "intelligence."
This question is left intentionally unresolved, as are many literary questions, but Spike Lee's comments on the validity of the question are decidedly pointed:Originally Posted by Wikipedia
So, the question I pose to the group: Is Spike Lee right? Does questioning Mookie's actions implicitly value Sal's pizzeria over Radio Raheem's life?Originally Posted by Wikipedia
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