Spike Lee: Afro-American Film

There are hardly any films involving African-Americans that accurately represent black culture and it is something that has rarely been accomplished in the mainstream film industry. In the 30s, black film had an extraordinary presence as they were shown to large segregated audiences. However, by the 80’s black film was seen as simply comic relief with no true depictions of real life. In 1986, She’s Gotta Have It was introduced by director, editor and actor Spike Lee who wanted real people with real lives in his work. The film offers a new perspective on sexuality and the double standard that is applied to men and women. This portrayal allowed audiences to visualize African-Americans as any other race when it comes to loving one another and

Shelton Jackson “Spike” Lee is a controversial film maker known for is powerful films such as She’s Gotta Have It, School Daze, Malcolm X, and 25th Hour. Spike Lee isn’t afraid to talk about the real issues that goes on in the everyday lives of African Americans. Lee has shown a willingness to tackle prickly issues of relevance to the black community- and has savored every ounce of controversy his films invariably produce (biography). Major themes in his movies have a lot to do with police brutality on African Americans, racism, and Spike Lee wasn’t going to define black life in terms of crime and poverty. He wanted to raise awareness or at least let it be known what’s really going on in the black community’s.

The United States has long been a country that has accepted that change is a necessity for prosperity and growth. However, each change within the nation's history was hard fought against those who resisted such change either through racism, bigotry, and blatant discrimination. African American cinema is enshrouded in history that depicts these themes of racism, struggle, and deprivation. Yet, this same cinema also shows scenes of hope, artistic spirit, intellectual greatness, and joy. Black actresses, actors, directors, producers, and writers have been fighting for recognition and respect since the great Paul Robeson. The civil rights movement of the 1950's and 60's was fueled by black cinema through films like A Raisin in the Sun.

The history of African Americans in early Hollywood films originated with blacks representing preconceived stereotypes. D.W. Griffith’s 1915 film, Birth of a Nation, stirred many controversial issues within the black community. The fact that Griffith used white actors in blackface to portray black people showed how little he knew about African Americans. Bosley Crowther’s article “The Birth of Birth of a Nation” emphasizes that the film was a “highly pro-South drama of the American Civil War and the Period of Reconstruction, and it glorified the role of the Ku Klux Klan” (76). While viewing this film, one would assert that the Ku Klux Klan members are heroic forces that rescue white women from sexually abusive black men. Griffith

In the realm of Black films there is one man that comes to mind and no that is not Tyler Perry although he is great, but that man is Spike Lee. Spike Lee has been making films since 1983 that is a career span of thirty years with him directing with him actually directing thirty-nine films. Those thirty-nine films do not include all of the films he has produced and been an actor in. Spike Lee has become known for his films that usually revolve around present day problems with race and issues that affect the Black community. Two of his most popular films the first being School Daze, (1988) and the second Jungle Fever, (1991). Both films were written, produced, and directed by Spike Lee who also played a character in the films. School Daze a film that on the surface seems like it is only about sororities and fraternities against people who do not join them, but a more in depth look reveals the film is more about complexion. Jungle Fever, a film about a married Black man cheating on his Black wife with a white woman on the surface may seem to be about infidelity, but is also about colorism1 within the Black community. The issue of colorism, which basically means one skin tone is preferred over another, usually in darker races the lighter skin tones are preferred. This issue has plagued the Black community since the time of slavery and continues to affect the Black community today.

The movie Do the Right Thing, composed, coordinated and created by Spike Lee, concentrates on a solitary day of the lives of racially differing individuals who live and work in a lower-class neighborhood in Brooklyn New York. Notwithstanding, this common day happens on one of the most sizzling days of summer. The movie fixates on how social class, race and the ethical choices that the characters make directly affect the way individuals communicate with each other. Furthermore, in this essay I will analyses Spike Lee’s use of mise-en-scene, cinematography, editing, and sound in the film.

The changes of the American black culture status and the development of black-America films are also experiencing the progress that since the birth of the first black films and to mature. The development of the black film has gone through a journey of more than 90 years. During this period of time, black filmmakers always be with unremitting efforts with their natural art talent and tenacious national characters. Also, the history of black filmmaker constantly prove their worth, the

Do The Right Thing (1989) is a classic film written, produced, and directed by Spike Lee. The focus on the movie is set on racial issues, and the entire movie takes place on the hottest day of the year in the Bed-Stuy section of Brooklyn. Lee does an incredible job demonstrating the tautness between the races on the block specifically among the African American race and American Italian race. Lee’s use of symbolism among the characters, mise-en-scene, and shot composition in his film Do The Right Thing from beginning to end illustrates the struggle between peace and conflict.

Over the course of approximately one-hundred years there has been a discernible metamorphosis within the realm of African-American cinema. African-Americans have overcome the heavy weight of oppression in forms such as of politics, citizenship and most importantly equal human rights. One of the most evident forms that were withheld from African-Americans came in the structure of the performing arts; specifically film. The common population did not allow blacks to drink from the same water fountain let alone share the same television waves or stage. But over time the strength of the expectant black actors and actresses overwhelmed the majority force to stop blacks from appearing on film. For the longest time the performing arts were

over blacks Tani Sanchez contends in her book Understanding Black American Aspects in Hip Hop Cinema that Black generalizations had particular capacities. I plan to utilize this motion picture in a school course about race in the broad communications, and I think it will be provocative and instructive, however the periodic absence of point by point clarification will be a slight hindrance for my generally white, for the most part working class understudies as it is no less than a minor frustration for white, white collar class me. Maybe this film will basically be a strong beginning stage for a more drawn out and once in a while troublesome learning

Throughout this course we have learned how hip hop and the African American culture became a prominent element in American cinema. Most of the movies we looked into in this course were about struggling black men trying to make it out of their environment. For individuals that aren’t African American that see these struggles, believe they are interesting and intriguing when in reality they are real life issues African Americans face. In this essay I will use the film Belly, The New Black Youth Culture: The Emergence of the Hip-Hop Generation by Bakari Kitwana, and the films 8 Mile and Straight Outta Compton from this course to explain how the realities of African Americans are essential to block buster films.

Spike Lee's "Malcolm X" celebrates an American life that began in sorrow and bottomed out in prison before the hero reinvented himself. Watching the film, I understood more clearly that people really do have the power to change their own lives, how fate does not deal all of the cards, and that we have strength within us to be the change that the world needs - we don’t always have to rely on a hero to come along, we can be that hero ourselves.. The film is both inspirational and educational while also very entertaining, something movies must be before they can be anything else.

“They never seen black people kissing or making love on screen” (Lee ,1987).After decades of black love not being portrayed in the film industry, one young black director, by the name of Shelton Lee, also known as Spike Lee, brought this new visual aspect of African American love. Lee was the first to display black love, both figuratively and physically, on the big screen. It is not only the intimacy of black people that attract larger audiences but it is the inclusion of black female sexuality. The look of a woman through a male gaze quenches the subconscious thirst of a male’s fantasy. In Lee’s films, males portrayed on screen as multidimensional, and are defined by their unusual characteristics and attributes. The women, on the other

In the earlier years of the 1990s, African American directors such as John Singleton and Hughes Brothers seemed to focus on race. More importantly the statistics of the majority of African Americans and life within their community. These statistics include, “at least 56 percent of black families headed by a woman, 45 percent of black children living below the poverty line, and black unemployment generally tripling the rate of white unemployment.” (Quart 197). It was these figures that inspired the largest movements about African Americans since the 1970s.

1st Report Reading: Robin R. Coleman Means, “Introduction: Studying Blacks and Horror Films.” Topic: What is the difference between ‘Blacks in Horror Films’ and ‘Black Horror Films’? Why is it important?