Talk:Do the Right Thing

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

	This article is part of WikiProject Films, an attempt to build a comprehensive and detailed guide to films and film characters on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can edit the article attached to this page, or visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion.
Start This article has been rated as Start-Class on the quality scale. High This article has been rated as High-Importance on the importance scale.
Editing Guidelines Please remember these guidelines when editing a film article: If a non-film article already exists with the name of the film that you are trying to create an article for, disambiguate and use (film) in the title: Film Title (film) For more information see: Wikipedia:Naming conventions (films) When writing an article about a particular film, the general format should be a concise lead section, followed by a plot overview, production details, a cast list, a reception section, and references. Create an Infobox that tells all pertinent information about the film. We are always looking for new members! Join us today!
More information about this article... This article was the Cinema Collaboration of the Week (27 September 2005).

Contents 1 Controversial film 2 Re: plot summary. 3 Obsessed with money 4 "Four-fingered ring" 5 Citation Needed

[edit] Controversial film

Was "Do the right thing" controversial? eh? Project2501a 18:55, 20 July 2005 (UTC)

Very. When it was released there were reports of riots showing the film in some areas, and it was boycotted by several anti-defamation leagues.--Fallout boy 08:53, 15 December 2005 (UTC)

That's not true. There were fears that it might cause riots. In the event it didn't. The Singing Badger 14:58, 15 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Re: plot summary.

Did extensive rewrite, especially after someone said that Smiley (the mentall retarded guy) was white. He might be lightskinned, but he's not white! --FuriousFreddy 01:39, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Obsessed with money

I had to remove the remark that Mookie was "obsessed with money" because he wants to get paid. I want to get paid. Does that make me obsessed with money? There's just not enough evidence in the movie to point to money as a primary motivation for any of the actions Mookie takes, except for going to work in the first place. -- Anon

[edit] "Four-fingered ring"

Is a "four-fingered" ring what's commonly known as a knuckleduster? -- Anon

Not quite. Similar, but somewhat different, I'd say. --FuriousFreddy 00:53, 28 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Citation Needed

"Lee himself has stated that this question is only one that bothers white viewers. He believes that the key point is that Mookie was angry at the death of Radio Raheem, and that viewers who consider the riot unjustified are implicitly valuing property over the life of a black man."

I haven't found anything where Spike Lee says that. Can someone put in a citation?

Roger Ebert makes the above implication that the writer attributes to Lee in his essay on the film for the Criterion Collection. Ebert writes, "Among the many devastating effects of Lee’s film, certainly the most subtle and effective is the way it leads some viewers (not racist, but thoughtless or inattentive or imbued with the unexamined values of our society) to realize that they have valued a pizzeria over a human life." [1] The Criterion web site positions this essay directly beneath a signature of Spike Lee in a way that might lead one to believe Spike Lee had written the article (one would have to ignore the self-references to Spike Lee within the article, but anyway..) It seems plausible that someone confused the two. But someone suggests Lee himself says it in the same DVD, which is something I cannot verify. -- Anon