MUSIC Criticism for "Do the Right Thing"

I wasn't sure if this was needed for Tuesday night or for Tuesday class, so I'll just post it now to be sure.
My group was Darrell, Zander, Alex, and me: Robin. This is mainly my paper.


“A jumping beat can be heard as two performers ready themselves by dancing on a makeshift-looking stage situated in the middle of a sea of dark hair and over-sized sunglasses. A chant begins in the crowd while signs supporting Black equality rise from the depths of the sea. One message becomes clear as the entertainers perform: 'Fight the Power.'” The music video for the song only amplifies what Public Enemy meant when they wrote it. “Fight the Power”(1989) was written to encourage African Americans opposing the White upper hand of society. The idea of Blacks fighting White supremacy excites many of those in the African American population. But the song isn't just an excuse for uprising, it is a cry for attention, a punch in the side of the majority, an alert signaling to look out for the minority. The fact that Spike Lee made the song so prevalent in “Do the Right Thing” along with the character Radio Raheem makes one wonder what he meant by it. Did he mean the same as Public Enemy did when they wrote the song, or is the point on a much deeper level?

One notices that when Radio Raheem walks into the scene, most of the time he is told to turn down his blaring music so that those around him may hear themselves think. When asked to play something else other than “Fight the Power,” he replies, “I don't like nothin' else,” with a stoic glare. Most people around him find him annoying and obnoxious because of his pounding radio and the single song that he plays over and over in his patrol over the city, including those he is trying to rouse into rebellion: the Blacks. Spike Lee wanted to show that although White supremacy and racism are both a problem in the city to a certain degree, Radio Raheem brings an amount of that oppression upon himself by irking everyone out of their minds with his not-so-silent rebellion of White owned businesses and things of the same nature. One example can be found in the scene where Raheem walks into Sal's Pizzeria expecting to buy a slice of Pizza with his music disturbing the entire restaurant. Sal refuses to sell Raheem Pizza until he turns off his music and deals with the matter civilly. This turns into a shouting match not only because of the blaring music, although it is an underlying cause. Raheem creates the oppression because of his own inability to order a slice of pizza from a vendor rationally. This paints a bigger picture than that of Sal and Raheem's struggle. It shows that some racism is only in the minds of those who feel oppressed for no reason. Even today, there are those who will not deal rationally with those from other races because they think that everyone will oppress them. There will, of course, always be some, even many people in the world who still have the white supremest views but the oppressed still should keep an open mind, as there are many who take the opposite stand and believe the same as they do in wanting racial equality. They set themselves against a world that may or may not be racist, but they will not be civil enough with it in order to find out which it is.

One other way Lee uses the song is just after Mookie dedicates a song on the radio to his girlfriend, Tina. A group of guys on the street somewhere in the city are listening to the song rather loudly. Then, Radio Raheem enters the scene, radio in hand as always. Since his radio is blaring as usual, the guys protest at him, only to receive his stony glare back. In retaliation, they turn their music up, after which, Raheem does the same. This battle represents an internal struggle of Mookie's. The song Mookie dedicated represents his home life with Tina and his son, Hector, while “Fight the Power” shows his want to be one of his people in a way. This is why he never puts his whole self into either side throughout the movie.

One last thing that must be mentioned is the way the song is used at the end of the destruction of Sal's Pizzeria. When the pictures on the wall are shown burning, a ghostly “Fight the Power” can be heard as if rising from the anger of the people. This shows that it was never just Radio Raheem or Buggin' Out. The Black population of the city as a whole felt the oppression in their own way, they just never expressed it in the way that Raheem chose to, in the way “Fight the Power” was able to.

The way “Fight the Power” is used in “Do the Right Thing” shows that it can mean much more that what its original creators intended for it to. It shows a lack of open-mindedness in the oppressed in that Radio Raheem refuses to deal with Sal civilly in turning off his music. It shows Mookie's internal struggle as well as an internal anger of an entire people. The way Spike Lee was able to mold the song in so many different ways is extraordinary and astounding.