Scarlet Masque Theatre Journal New Beginnings and Fond Farewells Vol. 1 | Page 79

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with the entity that “represents” their own demographic. Because he does not represent them.
And, at his core, Sal does not, either. He is a person, an individual, and white audiences should
not foreclose themselves into a monolith, either.
The last and arguably most important scene this essay will examine is the climactic
scene of ​ Do the Right Thing ​ , in which Mookie (played by Lee himself) hurls a trash can through
the front window of “Sal’s,” causing the people gathered around outside the Pizzaria to riot.
Corliss, Klein, and Kunen all weigh in on this scene, with a similar outlook. And, once again, the
nuance of the event is lost on them, and their critique suffers for it.
Corliss uses the scene to lump his characterization of Mookie in with that of Sal and
their relative mercuriality. He writes that “[o]ne minute, Mookie urges caution; the next, he
trashes the one store the brothers can call home” (Corliss). He thinks that this moment speaks
to the failure of Spike Lee to create a realistic character, and with it a realistic movie, and so
worsens the experience for moviegoers. The motivations for Mookie’s decision, like Sal’s, are
not explained well enough, Corliss contends. How can an audience expect to relate to flattened
personalities like these?
Klein, once again takes a more toxic approach, arguing that Mookie’s inciting of the riot
may have more consequences than deflating the theatrical experience:
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 have ever witnessed (if black kids act on what they see, Lee may have
destroyed his career in that moment) . . .. After he starts the riot in the movie, Lee sits