Do the Right Thing: Music, Ghetto and Rebellion in Spike Lee’s Work.

Abstract

In Spike Lee’s career, Do the Right Thing (1989) is a key work in order to define THE drives and politics that found in the cinema of his author. Also in regard to the use of music: from the songs played by Mister Señor Love Daddy (Samuel L. Jackson) in his radio station to the obsession of Radio Raheem (Bill Nunn) for listening over and over again to Public Enemy’s «Fight the Power», the music chosen by the director is a locus defining the identity of a community as well as a call to resistance and, finally, to social uprising. The purpose of this essay is to study, taking the suggested case into consideration, in which ways are the ideological and activists structures are consolidated, through the choice and use of the music in Spike Lee’s cinema.