Hall of famed-director Spike Lee's work has been subversive, intimate, uncomfortably relevant, and moving. While he has feuded with many other notable artists, none of them can deny just how influential and important his work has been on the cinema landscape. But more than that, Spike's racial-justice-themed movies have audiences around the world to reevaluate their place in the world or, in the case of his subjects, make them feel like their voice is being heard. However, that's not been without its set of controversies.
When Spike's 1989 film Do The Right Thing came out, there was serious controversy surrounding it. Not unlike the tragic events that spurred the racial justice movements in 2014, 2019, and 2020, Do The Right Thing featured the death of a Black man that spawned riots and acts of violence. But why did those depictions in this film anger the critics so much and what was Spike actually trying to achieve?
Why Spike Set Out To Make The Film That He Did
In an interview with Empire Online, Spike Lee claimed that he wanted to capture the racial tension that existed in the late '80s in Brooklyn.
"I wanted to do a film that was about New York City at that particular time," Spike said. "The racial climate, the historical hostility between the African-American community and the Italian-American community. It was based on stuff that was happening. The film is dedicated to, specifically, individuals and families who are no longer here because of the NYPD."
In Do The Right Thing, the tension between the communities grows until one of the Black characters is brutally murdered (by a chokehold) by a white police officer. The result is a violent moment of anger, catharsis, and retribution for the innocent lives lost.
According to an article by Vulture, multiple critics denounced Spike and his film for encouraging violent acts as revenge for injustice. But the feeling of rage was an authentic one. It has been a feeling that was reaching a boiling point in the late '80s as it has in 2014, 2019, 2020 and for hundreds of years before that.
"If you look historically at the uprising that happened in America, of African-Americans, it wasn’t like black folk woke up one morning and said, 'Let’s burn it down'", Spike explained to Empire Online. "There’s a tipping point. The tipping point for Mookie [in Do The Right Thing] was to see his best friend, Radio Raheem, get choked to death. I made that movie in 1989. Then to see a videotape of Eric Garner [who was killed by a police officer in 2014], it affected me so much I called up my editor, Barry Brown. I said, 'We got to do something.' We put together this clip where we cut back and forth between Radio Raheem’s murder — fictitious — with the real murder of Eric Garner. It’s eerie how similar it is. We put it up on the internet."
The Critique Of The Film Happened Early
In fact, critics started attacking Do The Right Thing as soon as it debuted at the Cannes Film Festival back in May 1989.
"When Do The Right Thing premiered in Cannes, there was pressure put on Tom Pollock, who was then the president of Universal Pictures, not to release it," Spike explained. "Especially in summer time [when the movie was set], because this film would incite black people to riot and run amok."
While Universal didn't succumb to the pressure, some critics had a field day trying to tear the project (and Spike) down.
"It is Spike Lee himself — in the role of Sal’s deliveryman — who starts the riot by throwing a garbage can through the store’s window, one of the stupider, more self-destructive acts of violence I’ve ever witnessed (if black kids act on what they see, Lee may have destroyed his career in that moment)," Joe Klein wrote for New York Magazine after writing, "When some white policemen arrive and kill a black boy, the crowd, enraged, riots, taking revenge on the nearest white property. Rather than attacking the police, the rioters attack a symbolic target, and that part of the movie is hard to justify. Defenders will say this is what happens in the ghetto after a police atrocity, but Lee appears to be endorsing the outcome."
And this was just a taste of what some of the critics were saying... Although, it should be said that a few critics, including Roger Ebert and Peter Travers, defended Spike and praised the film.
"A lot of critics were just trying to find something incendiary to write about," cinematographer Ernest R. Dickerson said. "It was pure ignorance on their part. Nothing ever came of it, of not really knowing what African-American film is, and what it’s capable of. It’s not something that will cause the destruction of American society, but actually contribute to a better America. Best thing you could ask for, to have that last laugh."
"Research the articles by David Denby, Joe Klein, and Jack Kroll," Spike said of Do The Right Things' harshest critics. "Basically, what they said was, blood was going to be on my hands because black people were going to riot and it was going to be my fault. It was very racist reviews. If you write that, you’re saying that black people don’t have the intelligence enough to distinguish between what they see on screen and what’s real life. Not one of them has apologized or said what they wrote was wrong, with a capital W. I’m upset 30 years later."
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