Do the Right Thing -- Beca G.

Danny Aiello plays Sal in Do the Right Thing. His character portrays the characteristics of an older generation that has had to deal with the hardships of a changing neighborhood. There doesn’t seem to be the animosity on his part towards the black patrons of Sal’s Pizzeria like his son Pino has. Sal has accepted the changes in the neighborhood, and as long as he has customers, he doesn’t seem to upset by the change in the color of his clientele. Yet his problems start because his son does have issues with the black patrons. Most of the film, Sal is trying to counteract the animosity that Pino shows the customers – yet instead of counteracting this by actually having a rational discussion with his son, Sal only perpetuates more violence and verbal abuse.

Yet overall, Sal does show respect to his customers and workers; defending Mookie from Pino’s verbal attacks, attending rather conscientiously to Jade – there is still a sense of anger when Buggin’ Out demands that black people be put on the Wall of Fame. Sal has a right as the patron of his pizzeria to put Italians on the wall, yet he has failed to see that the shift in his clientele would probably appreciate that he show them people of their own race who have become famous as well. (Buggin’ Out fails to note that there are no other races represented – not Puerto Rican or Korean who also live in the neighborhood as well.) Sal doesn’t understand why customers that he has been kind to and has known for years are now growing angry and frustrated with him over a seemingly trivial issue. But racial tensions have grown in the neighborhood due to police brutality, and so the blacks in the neighborhood have began to see all the whites as something to fight against. Sal fails to see this shift in perceptions, and so his reaction to Radio Raheem, while violent, is not something that ought to cause as much of a feral reaction that it does. The actions that follow are unprecedented for Sal, and they are things that he would’ve never really anticipated.

Sal represents people who are unaware that racial tensions have shifted and become more violent. His actions and demeanor have been the same for years, and he treats all customers in a similar gruff fashion, regardless of their color. He is a sympathetic character in the general sense that he is simply clueless to how life has changed around him. His adaptability to change in essence has become a bad thing, and his failure to teach his son how to not act so antagonistically towards those of a different race has not served him well. And yet despite everything, Sal is still willing to give Mookie more than his fair share of the days wages – albeit in an angry fashion, Sal is still unwilling to let go of the values that he has had throughout the entire film.