It looked unbearably hot throughout Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing. From the outset of the film, people wake up covered in sweat, and the heat’s proliferation is felt by the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood in Brooklyn as tensions rise between members of the community. While almost every building appears to lack sufficient air conditioning, the neighborhood finds solace from the heat by using resources in their community like the fire hydrant and neighborhood ice cream and shaved ice vendors to cool down. Despite the excruciating heat, many of the film’s characters remain outside and together, laughing and talking as they try to brace for the worsening weather.
But, heat is everywhere in the film. Not just the physical heat, but heat from partner’s, co-workers, and neighbors; Indeed, many characters in the film feel heat to change their actions, location, or mindset. The physical heat brings about tension between members of the predominantly African-American community and others deemed outsiders to the neighborhood—the shop owners Sal and Sonny and their families, the police, and white passerbyers in the neighborhood. As the film grapples with the ideas of racial homogeneity and inclusion in the neighborhood, the first depiction of the New York Police Department reflects a lack of care and attention to the conflict in the neighborhood, immediately telling the residents that there is “going to be hell to pay” if a fire hydrant is turned on again. Thus, the police’s quick response time to the resident’s conflict with an outsider and short tempers foreshadow the future conflict that results in Sal’s pizzeria burning down. Faced with the heat of the day, the neighborhood also grapples with the omnipresent heat of police activity in their community.
Additionally, Sal feels heat to leave the neighborhood from Buggin’ Out, Radio Raheem, and his sons, who see issues with there being a white-run pizzeria in a predominantly African-American community. Sonny, the Korean shop owner across the street from Sal, is also threatened and questioned for his ability to establish a shop despite knowing little English. Additionally, much of the dynamics between members of the community are put under fire as Da mayor looks to get closer to Mother Sister and Mookie seeks to have a bigger role in the upbringing of his son. While the movie centers partially around characters’ struggles dealing with a hot day in Brooklyn, it uses heat to express the constant pressure that African-Americans feel from outsiders in their community and police and how people in the neighborhood navigate the ever-changing dynamics between one another.
Hi Gordon,
I greatly enjoyed reading your blog post analyzing both the narrative and symbolic function of the extreme temperatures present in Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing. Though I had seen this film before, I had not paid close attention to the multitude of ways Lee uses physical to both drive the plot forward and represent rising tensions. I think heat is a powerful tool for bringing bubbling troubles to the service. When people are cold, they bundle up and hide things. The warmth leads them to expose truths. Multiple times throughout the film, it is during moments of intense heat where people are let down their guard. For example, only when things heat up romantically do Mookie and Tina become vulnerable with each other and express feelings of desire rather than those of frustration. Additionally, only when the fire blazes at Sal’s and an angry mob is approaching does the Korean store owner finally stand up for himself and tell the Black residents of the neighborhood how he truly feels about their discriminatory attitude towards him, admitting that he, too, faces struggles in this country. Overall, I enjoyed your commentary analyzing the various types of heat/pressure felt by the characters and ethnic groups presented in the film and agreed that Lee’s skillful use of temperature as a symbol and plot device contributed significantly to the film’s theme of pressure.
Hi Gordon,
I really enjoyed your analysis of the role of heat within the film. You did a great job connecting the literal heat in the film to the metaphor of heat that builds between characters and within the community. It’s true that the physical heat serves as a backdrop to the rising tensions, which makes every moment in the film feel even more intense. The point you made about the fire hydrant and the police’s reaction really stood out to me; the way that the cops immediately escalate such a simple act of relief shows their relationship with the community. It can even be interpreted as a foreshadowing of the tragic events later in the film while also highlighting how the police act as an external force, constantly turning up this “heat” within the neighborhood. I also liked how you connected Sal and Sonny’s experiences to the theme of pressure. Sal’s position as an outsider running a business in the predominantly black community made me think about how the concept of “belonging” is central to the film. Even though Sal has been in the neighborhood for years, he’s still seen as separate, which adds another layer to the tension. And Sonny’s struggle to be accepted shows how these pressures aren’t just about race, but also language and cultural differences as well.
Hi Gordan,
I enjoyed reading your blog post. I think you sufficiently analyzed what Spike Lee sought to do with the analogy of the heat. You perfectly described and encapsulated the idea of what the physical heat represents and how it shaped the events of the community that experienced it. It may be a simple idea to use something physical to represent something figurative/non-physical, but I felt Lee did it in such a way that blended very seamlessly into the plot and helped to serve its purpose without being too obvious. I liked that you brought up many different examples of ‘the heat’ in the movie including, scenes affected by the literal heat, scenes that were affected by figurative heat, and scenes affected by both. I think using these examples pushes your point and allows for someone who might not know the film to be able to grasp these ideas within the central plot of the movie. The use of this plot device in the film was very meaningful and helped to shape the message that the film is trying to portray and you perfectly described that in your blog post.