Movie director Spike Lee is very aware that Hollywood has historically been run by White men and this fact has lead to misrepresentations, under-representations, or stereotypical portrayals of minorities and women. The lack of leadership and control over such a dominant and influential industry by minorities has perpetuated this discrimination and stereotyping. He is an important film-maker who set out to change the landscape of Hollywood films and was successful in doing so. Spike Lee has put out controversial films since the late 1980s that challenge the representations of minorities - particularly African Americans - that had been so prevalent before.

Lee has produced many films that challenge popular portrayals of African Americans, but one salient film is particularly important to analyze in this blog for two reasons: 1) the movie was arguably his most successful film commercially and thus reached a more mainstream audience than some of his other work has. Since this blog addresses popular media, it is important to choose one of his films that have had broad reception, and 2) the film addresses race relations in America directly and explicitly, making it important to recognize and analyze how exactly these representations were made and what argument it makes. The film is Do the Right Thing that came out in 1989 and much of Lee’s work since has been compared to it.

                  The biggest issue the film addresses is our hegemonic society where white Americans have dominance over other groups, particularly in matters of businesses and the economy. Lee presents an argument that there is a sort of institutionalized racism inherent in American capitalism. The movie demonstrates how American capitalism and its basis in meritocracy and individualism are problematic to the African American community. The plot revolves around Sal’s Pizzeria owned by an Italian man and his two sons. It is located in a prominently black urban neighborhood. Although nearly all of the restaurant’s clientele is African American, the ‘Wall of Fame’ inside only has pictures of Italian-Americans. This sparks an argument between the owner Sal and a customer named Buggin’ Out. Buggin’ Out becomes so outraged when Sal does not agree to put any “brothers” up on the wall that he tries to start a boycott of the pizzeria.

                  Metaphorically, Lee uses Sal’s Pizzeria to represent Hollywood. The boycott did not work because the pizzeria was very popular with the people in the neighborhood. They said things like: “We grew up on Sal’s!” “I was raised on this pizza! Why would we ever want to boycott Sal’s?!” Even if the owner is racist (he and his two sons make racist remarks repeatedly throughout the movie) and will not hang up pictures of African Americans in his store, no one is willing to boycott the pizzeria because they ‘grew up on it’ – the people, then, have come to depend on Sal’s. They grew up depending on this business located in a black community and owned by a white man who does not take part in that community. Sal and his business take on the role of a provider to the black community in a very patriarchal sense.

When the pizzeria is seen as representing Hollywood, it is inferred that the black community has been ‘raised’ by a white-owned industry and that because they have become dependent on it, there is little hope for change. Lee thus argues that the individualistic ideals of American capitalism are not applicable to minorities. This is because there are huge, influential industries already owned and operated by the white community. These owners have little engagement or participation in black communities, making participation in them and upward social mobility nearly impossible for those people.

Do the Right Thing is a very influential and monumental film. It addresses issues in race-relations of the United States that most directors would shy away from due to the controversy of the topic. Spike Lee changed the movie industry by producing films with black protagonists and storylines that counter the normal discourse of Hollywood. DTRT was a clever analysis of Hollywood, American capitalism, and current issues relevant to the black community. Making a film such as this commercially successful was a significant accomplishment because it allowed a mainstream audience to see this argument and give a new perspective in thinking about race as it pertains to businesses and industries.