12 September, 2005 Really “Do the Right Thing”

by on 2019-06-25 at 10:28 pm
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Cats running a pizza parlor want customers to bring in photos of which they're proud. But customers assume the cats want pictures with cats, not dogs, and dog lovers are angry. That's why the big front window is thick plexi-glass.
Trying to do the right thing, with thanks to Spike Lee for the trash-can-through-the-window scene.

Years before, the late Carole Cass, Richmond Times-Dispatch movie reviewer, described Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing” as “a joyous celebration.” I didn’t see the joy. I saw lots of people doing the wrong things, in big ways and small.

There was one very short, very funny scene, cutting between the Asian store owner, the Italian restaurant onwner, and Spike as the pizza delivery guy, each dissing the other two ethnicities. And even theywere doing a very wrong thing.

The ending left me more depressed than usual. So when I had the idea of a comic strip about cats running a pizza parlor, I wanted them to have something better than the Italian-American Wall of Fame, or the Feline-American wall. I wanted them to set up a Wall of Fame for all their customers’ proud moments. But what pictures would they get? Aw, the cute kitties want our pictures!” They’d get pictures with the family cat, but not the family dog. Some people would assume the cats are prejudiced against dogs.