The Top Five Spike Lee Movies

Hello again world and welcome back to my blog. Today's entry is a retrospective of classic American cinema, as we count down the top five movies of filmmaker Spike Lee. As the prime years of his career range from the late 1980's to the 1990's, Lee (seen in the above photo as his Air Jordan saavy alter-ego Mars Blackmon) told stories of the modern black community, accurately depicting its views and opinions concerning racism, sexuality and class. His unique brand of realism would both counter the imaginary, superheroic "blaxploitation" era of a decade before, as well as usher in a cadre of black filmmakers who would be inspired to tell stories from their own specific point of view (i.e. John Singleton, Lee Daniels, and even Tyler Perry). Here are my top five Spike Lee movies, films that I think display his genius at mixing cultural, diasporic values with biting political commentary.

5. He Got Game (1998)



As we all know Spike to stay front row center at any given Knicks game, in "He Got Game" he uses the love of basketball to propel dissonance in the relationship between an estranged father and son.

4. School Daze (1988)



The satirical title for this film is accurately appropriate; it simultaneously praises and criticizes HBCUs while exploring deeper levels of difference in the black community regarding class, education and skin color.

3. Get On the Bus (1996)



Set against the backdrop of the Million Man March, "Get on the Bus" is a movie that I venture to say is truly specific to the black male audience. To attend the march, a small group of black men ride a charter bus cross-country from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., in hopes of finding solidarity within their race and communities. As we watch the group's pilgrimage unfold, we observe every possible interpretation and relationship of the black man, ranging from old to young, father to son, convict to lawman, even homosexual to homophobic. Though their individual personalities and lifestyles do provide division, it is at a cost that the group ultimately achieves the solidarity they journeyed for.

2. Do the Right Thing (1989)



Hailed by many to be Spike's greatest film if not his best known, "Do the Right Thing" parallels the hottest day of the year with rising, explosive anger towards gentrification in a black neighborhood. It could be said that most of the characters in fact do not do the right thing; they talk at each other rather than to each other, and each side wants the other to accommodate their culture while not being willing to do so themselves. The arguing and frustration catapult the film's most memorable scenes, such as when the comedically defiant Buggin' Out and friends have a dispute with a white neighbor over scuffed Air Jordans, or when the movie's breakout character Radio Raheem has a semi-hostile interaction with Korean store owners while trying to buy batteries for his boombox. The ending of "Do the Right Thing" is intentionally ambiguous, I think because Spike wanted the audience to draw their own conclusions about what was right or wrong, racist or defensive.

1. Malcolm X (1992)



Through this telling of Malcolm's epic story, the combination of Spike's direct narrative with Denzel Washington's commanding performance accomplishes the impossible; it makes an already iconic figure more grandiose in legacy but also more relatable to a new generation. "Malcolm X" was a total labor of love for Spike, as he had to fight to direct, produce and finance the film to be as accurate to his vision as possible. The film brilliantly evaluates Malcolm's constant and truthful spiritual evolution by breaking his life up into four parts that intermingle when necessary to show genuine feeling or thought behind certain events. His fiery yet elegant persona is perfectly embodied by Denzel in what is one of the greatest acting performances I've ever seen.

In recent years, Spike's range has expanded through directing both stirring, thought provoking documentaries (4 Little Girls, When the Levees Broke) and feature films that have his core audience relate to non-black, outlaw type characters (25th Hour, Inside Man). While some of this latter signature-styled films (She Hate Me, Miracle at St. Anna) have been more serious in subject matter but less playful in depiction, they nevertheless showcase his continued ability to tell stories accurate to black American society both historical and current. I hope that he will continue in this style in his upcoming remake of the Korean film "Oldboy", as some of the principles of that story can be amended towards his point of view. Though some of his releases have been initially recieved as controversial and insulting, Spike Lee used his movies to help the advance for "culture clash" in modern American society, as he pushes his audience into observing then relating to other races and cultures more in a common ground.

Well, that's about it for now folks. Thanks for taking the time to read to blog, and let me know what you think about this and other entries. Until next time, peace out.

Martin Luther King, Jr and the Young, Non-Southern Black Man

Hello again world and welcome back to my blog. In keeping with February's great tradition of Black History Month, today's entry will be about a man who I think is the only prophet America has ever produced, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The video I posted above I found about a month ago via YouTube around the King holiday while I was searching for interviews and speeches he did, as well as documentary clips. Though the specific date of this speech is unknown, I'm assuming that he made that speech somewhere between the last two years of his life (1966-1968). When I first saw this video, I played it like it was the new single for at least two hours straight. It actually surprised me, chiefly because it was the first time I had ever heard Dr. King refer to himself and his people as "Black" as opposed to the term known to his generation, "Negro". But what I also noticed about his speech in this video is that it is a bit more outwardly radical then I had known him to be, keeping in mind that King IS a radical (you cannot accomplish goals like desegregation, voting rights, and true working pacifism unless you are radical). What makes it so "outwardly radical" is that I believe this statement must have come from his observations and the influence that the younger, "Black" generation of civil rights leaders would have on him.

Continuing my search for King information, I watched on YouTube the PBS special "Citizen King". This special focused on the last five years of his life, starting from his delivering the iconic "I Have A Dream" speech at the March on Washington and ending at his assassination and massively attended funeral. The years that primarily interested me were from 1965 to 1967- a period where he observed and experienced the life of the young, non-Southern Negro. This is the period that I believe brought King to the speech on that video. It begins with his stay in Chicago in 1966, inspired by his realization that he needed to understand the non-Southern Negro's (and underclass minorities overall) struggle with race and class disparities. This leads to his march to desegregate the Chicago suburb of Cicero where, in watching the footage of it, is easily most frightened and courageous I had seen him. The march turns into a caustic and dangerous event courtesy of its opposition, who may have been partly inspired by the counter demonstrations led by American Nazi Party leader George Lincoln Rockwell. Though some marchers began to lose their cool, King maintained his, even while being hit with bricks and stones, ducking from the sounds of firecrackers meant to depict gunshots. The experience of the Cicero march indeed shook him- he would go on to unfavorably compare the experience to those he had in Mississippi and Alabama- but it also gave him a semblance to the specific level of frustration and opposition non-Southern black America faced.



I believe that the experience of Chicago began King towards that speech I found on YouTube, and the inspiration towards that speech was continued by his experience with Stokely Carmichael while continuing James Meredith's "March Against Fear" in Mississippi in 1966. Carmichael, the newly appointed chairman of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), was the definition of the young black radical; he was a Pan-Africanist who didn't fully believe in nonviolence, sharing the view of the pre-hajj, Nation of Islam era Malcolm X in that whites couldn't really help in the fight for black and minority civil rights. During their time together leading the "March Against Fear", King and Carmichael understood that they served as diverging symbols of black leadership; King is of the generation where Negroes use nonviolent decorum to achieve their collective goal, and Carmichael represents the younger generation's ideal of "Black Power" to inspire a racially unitarian mindset. King is in fact cautious of Carmichael's "Black Power" philosophy, believing it to be a type of segregation that will lead to loneliness and destruction. However, this relationship does prove to be one of collaboration and respect, as through Carmichael King sees the non-Southern Black man in his total individual form. As "Citizen King" reports, it is also through Carmichael that King begins to interchangeably use the terms "Negro" and "Black", a fact that Carmichael would boast about to others for the rest of his life.

It is my assumption that stemming from his experiences in Chicago and with Carmichael, King now had a source of relation with the rise of the new, non-Southern black man. This newfound perspective taught him to be aware of the changes of "Black" America, as well as give him more cause to look at America as a whole nation. I think that by the time he made the speech I found on YouTube, he found a way to keep his nonviolent tactics and sensibilities yet embrace at least part of the newer generation's mantra; still not accepting the connotation of "Black Power", but ready to acknowledge that "Black is Beautiful". It is a bit ironic that King's assassination in 1968 would trigger his prophetic fears of "Black Power" to come true, as Black America would riot in major American cities in retaliation. Nevertheless, ALL of America- black, white, other colors and creeds, and even the world in general- have grown to greatly appreciate King's legacy of work in making this great land a more equal and tolerant playing field.

King's speech that I found on YouTube initially surprised me, but I also found it refreshing. Why? Because it is proven document of his forward thinking being specifically directed at his love for his people, an indication of entrusting them to make significant leaps and bounds in America's great landscape. This video makes me realize that the terminology of a people is far from just labeling, as what they call themselves dictates their future prosperity; I think that without a speech like that, a "Negro" calling himself "Black", we would have never elevated to making those superior leaps and bounds as "African Americans". King's realization couldn't have come from anywhere else but his experiences with the newer generation, as they taught him to understand them, their country, and time overall more accurately.

Well, that's about it for now folks. Thanks for taking the time to read this blog, and let me know what you think about this and other entries. Until then, peace out.