慶應義塾大学経済学部研究プロジェクト論文（2007 年度）
Spike Lee's Films' Depiction of Race
Films played the race card
Time to Face the Disgrace
経済学部３年
宇津木
謙
(指導教員：Michael Ainge)
２００８年２月２９日
要旨
One of the most famous and powerful African American film directors, Spike
Lee challenges the racial problem in America. He inserts his notion about the racial
problems rather black people should integrate or/and separate both intra-racially
and interracially.
As a tool to investigate his perspectives, I will use three methods of analyses,
auteur, socio-historical, and technical analysis. Auteur analysis fits with a way
of Spike Lee’s filming, which he participates throughout a development of his film.
It is obvious that his works are affected by its historical background and
socio-historical analysis is needed for analyzing. Technical analysis is necessary
for any film directors, since they use techniques to reflect their ideas in pictures.
These elements perfectly match the characteristics of Spike Lee and help me to come
up with a precise conclusion.
1
I would mainly focus on six of his major films such as School Daze, Crooklyn,
Do the Right Thing, Jungle Fever, Get on the Bus and Malcolm X.
School Daze and
Crooklyn are interpreted with auteur analysis since they both are influenced by
Spike’s earlier life. I use socio-historical analysis to analyze Do the Right Thing
and Jungle Fever. Get on the Bus and Malcolm X have unique similarity, which they
both are about African American leaders, Louis Farrakhan and Malcolm X. I tried to
suck up Spike Lee’s vision by focusing on how they are depicted in his films.
Basically, I used these three steps to get the precise message of Spike Lee.
After the exploration of his films, I come up with his conviction. Intra-racially,
he urges the integration between two black communities and also in a family.
In
addition, there is no exact position that Spike Lee maintains through interracial
conflicts. However, throughout his career, he clearly encourages spectators to wake
up, open their eyes and face the disgraced reality.
2
Contents
Introduction ……………………………………………………………p4
PREVIOUS RESARCHES
HYPOTHESIS
Auteur Theory………………………………………………………….p8
AUTEUR THEORY AND SPIKE LEE
AUTEUR THEORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF SPIKE LEE
TECHNICAL ANALYSIS
ANALYSIS OF FILMS (AUTEUR AND TECHNICAL ANALYSIS)
Sociohistorical Analysis…………………………………….……….p21
SOCIO-HISTORICAL ANALYSIS AND SPIKE LEE’
THE HISTORY OF AMERICA
ACTUAL ANALYSIS OF FILMS
FOCUSING ON DEPICTION OF TWO LEADERS
Conclusion……………………………………………………………..p40
INTRA-RACIAL
INTER-RACIAL
Bibliography…………………………………………………………..p42
1
Introduction
It is now over a century after the motion pictures are invented.
Movie has
developed, reformed, improved its structure and influenced from many materials.
Together with the improvement of science technology, movie has surprisingly expanded
its limit.
Various movies create various critics and various methods of analyses.
First of all, I would like to introduce Andrew Sarris, the famous auteur critic.
He claimed, “meaning of film is in part related to its “author” or director.”1
Auteur
theory usually excludes all the resources from the outside of the author and only
concentrated on his or her works.
Auteur theory also claims that the director’s
personal perspective or experiences consciously or unconsciously reflects in his works.
Second of all, I would like to introduce Stuart Samuel, the director of Vision of
Light and famous historian, who believes the close relationship with the film and its
historical period.2
I will from now call this method a socio-historical analysis since it
explores the connection with film and history.
Finally,
I would
socio-historical analysis.
combine
technical
analysis
with
both
auteur
and
Louis Ginnetti believed that the meaning was in the form.
The directors described their own notions by placing the materials in the frame, which
was called mise en scène.
Learning from three critics who formed the basic foundation of modern
methods of analyses, and by structuring my opinions on the foundation, my analysis
would be trustful and irresistible. The reasons of choosing these three methods of
analyses were that they were the best tools fit to the special characteristics of the way
Spike Lee made his films.
Spike Lee was one of the most favorable filmmaker for the auteur film critics
1
Andrew Sarris, The American Cinema –Directors and Directions, The University of
Chicago Press p27
2
ANTH 76: AMERICAN POLITICAL DISCOURSES
http://pzacad.pitzer.edu/~cstrauss/anth76/writing_assign.htm
2
since he had unique characteristic. First, he participated in most of the works taken to
create a film. He usually was the director, writer, producer of the film and sometimes
became an actor so auteur critics believed that the films included his full conviction
without any interference.
by Spike Lee.
in his films.
Secondly, I would only be discussing about the films directed
Finally, I would prove his experience in teens highly affected his theme
Usually auteur theory excluded the materials from outside its director but
his films overcame the limit of auteur theory.
Socio-historical analysis is essential for this essay since his films reflect the
American society, and its notion of separation and integration.
In addition, actual
events, people and historical background are depicted in his films, which prove his
works are influenced from the historical events.
The technical analysis is used to interpret the notion from mise en scène.
There are millions of ways to insert the notion; I will only concentrate on the techniques
that he uses consistently throughout his career such as the consistent camera work,
recurrent motifs, and placements of characters.
Therefore, in order to analyze S. Lee’s films, these three ways, such as
auteurism, socio-historical and technical analyses are all required and must be
combined to discover these films deeply.
In his movies, these three methods are
inextricably linked and give the depth in the movies, and can never be separated from
one another.
PREVIOUS RESARCHES
This research is meaningful and substantial since Spike Lee has not been
researched often by Japanese students.
I believe there are both disadvantage and
advantage for Japanese students to look into Spike Lee’s films.
The disadvantage is
Japanese students are usually not familiar with Spike Lee, the American culture and
American history, which make the investigators much more works to cover.
The
advantage is Japanese students do not have a fixed ideas about America, which make
my conclusion more subjective and accurate.
Since I do not have any absolute view
towards American society or any of other radical notions, I believe I can precisely
discover his position without being interrupted by any prejudice or stereotypes.
3
Indeed, over thousands of students in America have already investigated on
Spike Lee’s position of race either separatism or integrationist with auteur and
socio-historical analysis.
For example, School Daze has been analyzed by more than
thousand of film critics.
Michael Eric Dyson, Margaret Thomas, and Linwood H.
Cousins have come up with the conclusion using similar method of analysis, focusing on
the opposition depicted in the film. From these solutions of the critics, my conclusion
and the ways of discovering the films earn more credibility.
Verily, resemble researches decrease necessity of my work.
researches are about decode of Spike Lee’s message in his works.
Many of the
However, none of
them focused on his position about the integration in African American family.
Crooklyn has been treated unimportant because it doesn’t contain the passionate scenes
like in Do the Right Thing, School Daze, Malcolm X, and many of the other films that
are invented in his earlier career. Therefore, I would like to come up with my original
conclusion of his perspective on the black people integration both intra-racially and
inter-racially and differentiates it by adding Lee’s perspective on the family bond.
HYPOTHESIS
After finishing all the researches, I should have come up with one statement.
Not just me proving tight relationship between the socio-historical background and
Spike Lee’s films, but state the notion that is reflected in his films.
First of all, his view on intra-racial opposition between two black communities
could be discovered in School Daze and Get on the Bus. Secondly, his persuasion about
the family bond could be found by looking Crooklyn and Jesus Children of America.
Then by combining them I should come up with the clear conclusion of his perspective
on intra-racial integration.
For the discovery of his perspective on inter-racial relationship, I should look
into Do the Right Thing and Jungle Fever since those are the two movies that focused
on the relationship between black and white.
For the further and more precise
investigation of his notion on inter-racial relationship, I will seek deeply the depiction of
two leaders Malcolm X and Louis Farrakhan in Malcolm X and Get on the Bus.
The time of a decision is approaching America. The choice between separation
4
and integration must be made, both interracially and intra-racially. Lee reflected the
American background in his films and by using and combing multiple techniques, he
also reflected his view on this question (separation or/and integration) in fact is
ambiguous.
5
Auteur theory
AUTEUR THEORY AND SPIKE LEE
In this chapter I will be using both auteur theory and technical analysis to
discover the conviction of Spike Lee on race.
essential to investigate Lee’s minds.
These two theories are closely related and
In addition, for the actual usage of these two
methods as a tool to explore, the basic knowledge has to be covered.
From this point, I
will pursue the question and at meantime, I will be putting the some necessary
descriptive explanations.
Auteur theory is one of film criticisms. Due to the definition of “auteur”, the
term created by François Truffaut's 1954 essay
"A Certain Tendency of the French
Cinema", Spike Lee is most favorable director to be lined up in the list of auteur, which
include many other famous directors such as Alfred Hitchcock, John Ford and D. W.
Griffith.
The term auteur (author in French) usually meant to be directors and
literally it is the method of looking at a film focusing on directors. To convince that
Spike Lee is one of auteur directors, I would like to discuss in parallel about
development of auteur theory and his style of works.
A connection of these two
elements will prove that auteur theory is one of the best ways to analyze his products
and simultaneously, its dramatic timing of the filmmaker’s debut to the world of cinema
emphasizes its fateful relationship.
Auteur theory mainly insists that the director’s personal vision or life is
reflected in his or her works.
This method of film analysis infiltrated in America
during 60’s by Andrew Sarris. He brought it to America, devised the notion of auteur
and led auteurism.
cinematography.
However, the theory weakened after the conservatism affected
Directors concentrated more on their box office and certainly started
making commercialized films rather than the real films.
of directors.
Films contain the persuasion
In addition, the theory was criticized because the film became too complex
and became more collaborative.
Anti-auteur objected that movies must get affected
and interrupted the pure reflection of a director by separating works between
co-director, producer, nor writer.
Since the wind was blowing against the auteur theory, Spike Lee became more
6
favorable for auteur critics.
In the right middle of 80’s, when neo-conservatism had
spread over the states, Spike Lee debut to a world of cinema with She’s Gotta Have it, a
sensational movie.
The movie was praised and nominated and won Cannes Festival
Award and Independent Spirit Award.
conservative movies dominated that time.
This movie was definitely not one of those
It was an innovation.
The main character
was a black woman and totally depicted differently from all the established movies in
the past.
Furthermore, Spike Lee directed, written and acted in the movie.
Since he
did the most of the works that took to film the movie, he was the great element to use
against the anti-auteur critics. With these two reasons, Spike Lee well fit with the
characteristics of the criticism.
American most famous auteur critic, Andrew Sarris claims in the book “The
American Cinema (Directors and Directions 1929-1968)” that “the auteur theory is not
so much a theory as an attitude, a table of values that converts film history into
directorial autobiography.
the
artist.”3
The auteur critic is obsessed with the wholeness of art and
After, he also added, “Since auteur criticism is based on an awareness of
the past, it finds the work of old directors rich in associations.”4
From these lines,
obviously Andrew regarded biography of the director as important and necessary for its
criticism. Andrew Sarris believed that there is no way to judge a movie good or bad
without knowing its director.
Therefore, a growth of a filmmaker is necessary to
analyze a director’s pieces with auteur theory.
For the further and deeper
investigation, I would like to look over a development of Spike Lee and confirm a deeper
relationship between the style of Spike Lee and characteristics of the theory.
3
Andrew Sarris, The American Cinema –Directors and Directions, The University of
Chicago Press p30
4
Andrew Sarris, The American Cinema –Directors and Directions, The University of
Chicago Press p27
7
AUTEUR THEORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF SPIKE LEE
According to a definition of “auteur” announced by François Truffaut, auteur
film directors considered to have a common view or consistency throughout his or her
works.
It could be repeated subject matter, particular psychological or moral theme,
recurring visual and aesthetic style, or any combination of them5. Spike Lee had been
showing thematic and technical consistency, common film location and actors for his
entire career. With the auteur analysis, I would also like to mention all of his common
points in his career and that they were influenced from his growth.
In order to prove the relationship with Lee’s development and his works, I must
pay attention to his biography.
Shelton Lee.
Most of the people don’t know Spike Lee’s real name,
He was born in 1957 in Atlanta, Georgia, between Bill Lee, a jazz
musician and Jacqueline, a school teacher, in an African American family.
Spike grew
up the oldest three brothers, David, Cinque, and Chris, and one sister, Joie.
mother nicknamed him Spike as a child evidently alluding to his toughness.
His
Right
after Lee was born, Lee moved with his family to Brooklyn since it was easier for Bill to
find a job as a jazz bassist.
After Lee graduated high school in NY, he majored in mass
communications at Morehouse College in Atlanta.
Then he moved back to New York to
attend New York University’s Institute of Film and Television, Tisch School of Arts.
One of the few black students in University, which motivated him of making a movie
based on racial discrimination. He submitted a ten minute film, The Answer, the
remake of D. W. Griffith’s The Birth of Nation. He pointed out the racism that was
depicted in the film of Griffith by reversing the race of the characters in the film. The
Answer had a huge criticism by the teachers as a profanity of one of the greatest
directors in American cinema history and caused a controversy.
However, his thesis
film, Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads was the first student film to be
showcased in Lincoln Center's New Directors New Films Festival.
It won NYU's
prestigious Wasserman Award, Student Academy Award, and more importantly won a
high public estimation. I briefly reviewed Lee’s early life and indeed I discovered an
involvement to his consistency in his works.
First, in any of Spike Lee’s films, he had a consistent central theme, which was
a race.
Since auteur theory appreciated any part of the director’s life, interview of Lee
was the great source to understand his movies.
5
In his interview, he brightly looked
François Truffaut's 1954 essay "A Certain Tendency of the French Cinema"
8
back his life in Atlanta where most of his surrounding people (friends, doctors,
teachers…) were black.6
Ironically it emphasized suffocating life in New York where
he felt racially despised.
These two experiences in different environment accentuated
“race” as a main theme in his life.
Filming The Answer was the first step to bring out
the race problems to surface.
Secondly, he had some constancy in a process of a filming.
almost every film was set and shot in New York.
One of it was that
Since he sensitively experienced
problems based on skin colors at New York University, New York would be the right
place for him to use it as a setting and a film location of a movie with the racial theme.
In addition, New York was the place that many different kinds of races concentrate and
major ancestry groups excluding white in state were African American, Asian, and
Hispanic.
Consequently, not just African American often appeared in the films but
Italian, Asian, and Puerto Rican habitually appeared as well.
Finally, Spike Lee kept choosing the same actors and actresses in several
movies including him.
Like I explained earlier, he directed, produced, and wrote a
screenplay to maintain a pure message.
completely express his own notion.
He himself acted some roles so that he can
He also reselected the same actors and actresses
for the consistency to keep the message as pure as possible.
The most famous talented
African American actor, Denzel Washington, performed the main role in Inside Man, He
Got Game, Malcolm X, and Mo’ Better Blues. The performers like Ossie Davis, Samuel
L Jackson, Wesley Snipes, Ruby Dee, Denzel Washington and several more actors,
multiply played the several characters under Lee.
He frequently cast young
non-famous African American like Denzel, Samuel L Jackson, Halle Berry, and gave
them the talented young actors and actresses a chance to show their abilities.
Common theme, setting, film location, actors and actress supported the
complete insert of his conviction.
The thematic repetition, which in this case was
about the race problems, apparently was affected by his experience in teens.
Accordingly, he chose New York as a location of his work and its setting.
Repeated
usage of same performers facilitated putting his message into his art works.
Therefore,
movies were the pure reflection of his powerful message and the audiences must feel
obligated to decode it. The way to understand the films, the technical analysis would
Kazuma Inoue, Black Movie:
Black Society), Kodansha
6
America Eiga to Kokujin Shakai (American films and
9
be needed.
In the next chapter, I will introduce some of the techniques that the
director used.
TECHNICAL ANALYSIS
As Spike Lee intended to have several frequencies in his work, he also had
some common techniques.
In order to invade his director’s message into a piece of
entertainment, he applied “mise en scène” for the expression of ideas.
Louis Giannetti
who was well known for the writer of his best seller book “Understanding Movies”
stated in his book that “mise en scène was originally a French theatrical term meaning
placing on stage. The phrase refers to the arrangement of all the visual elements of a
theatrical production within a given playing area – the stage.”7
In case of films, it is
the visual effect of putting a meaning to the certain scene by placing any materials in
that frame. There were infinite numbers of techniques for the movie creators to put in
his or her persuasions but in this essay, I would like to concentrate (mean not excluding
all the others but just focus on these three) only techniques that frequently appeared in
his films. Again, the frequency is important for reflection of directors.
The first method of technique is a camera work.
It seems that the camera
doesn’t relate with placing in a frame but it is the idea of thinking a camera subjectively
and it does not go beyond or out of mise en scène. Placement of a camera changes
placements of a material in a frame.
In this type of technique, Spike lee favored
making characters direct addressing to the camera.
“Direct Address to the Camera” is
very rare technique to be brought in the filmmaking since and it is more commonly used
for a stage performance.
There are some disadvantages of using the technique during
movies thus very partial directors use it this often.
The German playwright Bertolt Brecht, active in early to mid 19th century,
believes that “audience should always be aware that it is watching a play, and should
remain at an emotional distance form the action.
Brecht described this ideal as the
Verfremdungseffekt, variously translated as alienation effect.”8
The term of alienation
effect is coined by Brecht and he described it “prevents the audience from losing itself
passively and completely in the character created by the actor, and which consequently
7
Louis Giannetti, Understanding Movies Eighth Edition, Case Western Reserve
University p42
8 Bertolt, Brecht "Brecht on Theatre", page 122
10
leads the audience to be a consciously critical observer." 9
“Direct address to the
camera” contains a same effect, which is called “breaking the fourth wall.”
Observer
physically sees three walls in a stage and is made to believe that there is an imaginary
fourth wall.
fiction.
Thus, fourth wall is a boundary that stays between an audience and a
An effect of breaking fourth wall is to drag back an audience to realism by
telling audience an existence of a camera and it can be both advantage and
disadvantage. It can be disadvantage because it is disrupting.
Brecht is well known
for intentionally breaking the fourth wall to encourage spectators think more critically
about what they watching and so does Spike Lee.
Only in important scenes, his
characters in films deliberately direct address to the camera to attract attention of an
audience, which I will get more in details in ACTUAL ANALYSIS section by giving
concrete examples.
The second common technique that emerges is a recurrent motif.
uses a same phrase over and over in most of his films.
Spike Lee
In addition, by combining with
the other technique, “direct address to the camera”, he emphasized, at a glance, an
ordinary line.
This is a visual and sound effect, which also is a part of mise en scène
because it places in front of a camera and forces a character to face towards it.
The
phrase, “wake up” repeatedly said by characters seem to be unimportant however it
represents a core of his notion.
The phrase intentionally reapplied in a movie and
almost every one of his movie.
The last technique to be mentioned is also one of mise en scène but typical one.
It is called “frame with in a frame” or “enclosure with in an enclosure”10 and a major
effect is to express the character’s situation or emotion. It is usually to show the
character being physically or emotionally entrapped in the scene.
By focusing on these three frequent elements of mise en scène, it is now
possible to decipher what and how Spike thinks about his main theme, which is race.
How does he feel from his experience in earlier age?
What does he want to tell
spectators about a race problems exist in a real world?
By using both of these two
methods of analysis, explore of Spike Lee’s mind that is reflected in his films begin.
9Brecht,
Bertolt, "Brecht on Theater", page 91. Hill and Wang, 1957
Louis Giannetti, Understanding Movies Eighth Edition, Case Western Reserve
University p62
10
11
ANALYSIS OF FILMS (AUTEUR AND TECHNICAL ANALYSIS)
Since the auteur theory is a method of analysis that regards an author as
important, interviews from a director are the most trustful and reliable sources.
According to the interview that is attached to Spike’s DVD of School Daze, he says the
movie illuminates the exact experience that he has had in Morehouse College.
some of the scenes in Morehouse College to create more realism.
He shot
However, after he
refused the request from the college to revise the script, his team got kicked out so he
shot rest at the neighboring Morris Brown College.
He also states that he directed,
wrote, and produced Crooklyn semi-biographically.
In this chapter, based on the
comments from his interview, I will concentrate on these two films and conduct to his
racial position.
In these two movies, he strongly asserts the necessity of integration in
the black community.
SCHOOL DAZE
School Daze is his second feature film and his first film from famous company,
Columbia Pictures, released in 1988.
The movie, as usual, directed, written and
produced by Spike Lee shot in New York.
Therefore, it fully contains his expressions.
Spike Lee believes that only black directors can depict black people correctly.
In the
interview from the DVD, actress Joie Lee commented it is “the first movie that depicts
the right black lifestyle.” The blacks in a film history were only depicted by either the
stereotypes of white or the way the white people wanted black people to be. The movie
was criticized even by African American since it truly scooped out an embarrassment of
black communities.
It shows the obvious intra-racial segregation according to skin
color, notion, finance or education and Spike Lee asseverates the reasons of
confrontation are superficial.
The symbolism of two opposing different groups starts from the opening shot.
The movie begins with an insert of a gospel visually showing a history of blacks in
pictures.
Pictures of the low class black citizens and blue workers wearing the same
costumes are in contrast with pictures of high class black men, high ranked soldiers,
and the people graduating college. It differentiates in two groups by a financial and
social class.
In addition, pictures of American football team and military troops formed
only by black, intelligently symbolize integration in one community and simultaneously
opposition against the other community.
12
The story starts with “Mission College Founded 1883 Uplift the Race” arising
into the screen. It is about a homecoming weekend in the college, and a scene opens
with Dap, a politically conscious African American student who leads anti-apartheid,
encouraging students to claim administrators to completely divest from school.
In the
next scene, Julian, the leader of a fraternity called Gamma Phi Gamma, leading
freshmen Gamma dogs, making him clear that he is totally against the revolutionary.
These two confronting groups have absolutely opposite characteristics visually and
ideologically.
The contrariety based on a belief between informed students and Gamma Boys
is obvious. The group led by Dap confronts the race discrimination, positive to remove
it away, and is not afraid to stand up against the bigger power.
Compare to Dap,
Julian and his gamma boys disagree with the revolutionary and anti-apartheid.
More
importantly, members of Dap’s group are wearing differently but Gamma boys are
always in the same costumes.
The dissimilar clothes symbolize their individuality.
After Dap is threatened by the administrator to quit the demo, he asks his friends for a
backup but the members individually hold their opinions and refuse him.
On the other
hand, the members of Gamma must follow any unreasonable orders from the leader.
In the very first scene of G-Phi-G, fresh members of fraternity are dressed in the
corresponding uniform, moved similarly, and repeated the same line together, “G-Phi-G,
that’s what we wanna be.”
The uniform symbolizes a lack of an identity.
Spike Lee, in the film, criticizes the fraternity by putting Dap most central and
sympathetic character. Since Dap is the protagonist of the movie, only insanity and
inhumanity of fraternity is depicted throughout the film. The very first scene when
they enter to the screen, their necks are chained and act like the dogs.
It shows a lack
of humanity, dignity and a self respect. The cruelty of the leader, Julian, appears more
in the scene of the death march.
The death march is the unavoidable test that
newcomers must take to be approved as the members of Gamma Phi Gamma.
In the
test, freshmen are forced to hold on to heavy torches without dropping, forced to eat a
dog food, and forced to stick their hands into the toilets.
The greatest opposition between these two groups is expressed in the dance
scene.
After A-Phi-A, the other fraternity shows their steps, G-phi-G starts dancing in
the floor. Then suddenly Dap and his friends breaks into the party, makes fun of
13
Gamma boys, calling them a punk and a fag.
The tension between two groups hits the
top and when Dap try to leave the room, the physical fight starts, which is not in the
script.
Anyway, Spike keeps shooting and successfully creates a scene with a real
opposition of two groups.
Two unities with just different ideas do develop into a
physical fight.
The other group polarity exists between a light skin female African American
organization, Gamma Ray, and an organization of dark skin female African American.
Gamma Ray is an auxiliary group for Gamma Phi Gamma led by the girlfriend of Julian,
Jane and it as well wearing in same costumes, acts like cats.
Having a disguise on
literally mean that it is lacking or hiding their identities, and faking like animals
symbolize their inhumanity is being lost.
When they stand facing each other in a
hallway, eventually they become sarcastic about their identities and the conflict
explodes. Ladies with the darker skins criticize Gamma Ray’s fake blond hair and blue
contact lenses, calling them wannabes.
On the other hand, Gamma Ray makes fun of
them about their curled hair, calling them jiggerboos.
Margaret Thomas, Assistant
Professor in the Program in Linguistics at Boston College, look into a film focusing on
the script of the film, claims that the scene signifies the opposition.11
The biggest
antagonism is articulated with a musical that they make fun of each other’s hair style
taken in barber shop. Linwood H. Cousins agrees that, “this scene and its signification
of internal racial and class division are exposed.”
12Only
in this scene, both of the
groups are wearing a hockey uniform to magnificently indicate the massive conflict.
Another opposition is caused between undergraduate and non-educated
African American.
When Dap and his friends go to Kentucky Fried Kitchen for a lunch,
black people not in college start to become a problem.
They blame that Dap and all the
other educated blacks are moving in to the town and taking over their jobs.
They also
stereotypically believe that the college students are looking down on them.
Their
leader Leed, acted by Samuel L Jackson, blames “Now I bet you niggers do think y'all
white. College don't mean shit. Y'all niggers, and you gonna be niggers forever... just
like us. Niggers,” even they are considered as anti-wannabes in college.
11
Margaret Thomas College English © 1994 National Council of Teachers of English
Linguistic Variation in Spike Lee's School Daze, p913~
12
Linwood H. Cousins, Black Higher Learning’:
Politics of Higher Education, Routledge
p245
14
Black Popular Culture and The
In addition, all of these prejudiced conflicts between two black unions
glamorize the beautiful moments when they integrate.
The scenes when Julian and
Jane, Dap and Rachael having a physical relationship represent an individual
harmonization.
More simply, the scene in a dance hall where all the college students
gather in one placing, peacefully dancing, expresses the unity of all the black students.
Similarly in the scene when many of the college students attend to cheer their American
football teams for the game of homecoming, they again showed their unity.
Setting the scenes where groups or individuals of African American visually
and physically integrate against the scenes of the fights in one race, emphasize the
superficial reasons of intra-racial conflicts.
It is the proof of possibility of the union
and at the same time Spike lee denounces and surfaces the unnecessary causes of the
separation.
However, I only interpreted the film from its structure of the scenes. For
the deeper analysis, I would like to look into it by converging on technical elements that
I previously mentioned.
The scene that is fulfilled with the message of Spike Lee appears in the very
last of the film.
Dap hears and angers at his cousin, Half Pint acted by Spike, joining
the fraternity, Gamma Phi Gamma and getting laid with Jane immorally.
Suddenly,
Dap gets out of the dorm, runs through the courtyard, direct addresses the camera and
shouts “Wake up!”
Then he rings a bell, visually and literally wakes up everybody in
the college including the professors, organizes them in the court yard and again direct
addresses the camera together with Julian and says “wake up,” then an alarm clock
rings.
When a character direct addresses the camera, spectators realize the existence
of the camera and dragged back to the reality. The effect of the technique does sound
negatively although Spike Lee utilizes to create a noticeable point in the film.
Therefore, the scene must contain his message towards the film, which is about the
opposing coalitions with the same race.
The auditory uses of “wake up,” are used in the other scenes as well.
In the
beginning of the film, after the first contact with Julian, he says “You need to wake up
Julian.”
The other scene is after the Kentucky Fried Chicken scene, Dap and Julian
have a conversation then Dap whispers, “Boy, you need to check that alarm clock and
wake up, my brother.”
15
Since the film only focuses on a conflict of African American, the message from
Lee must be made towards African American.
Auditory and visible recurrence of
motifs, wake up, literally mean to open up their eyes and face the reality.
He criticizes
any shallow causes of the enmity brought up in the film. As in the last scene, where
Julian and Dap understand each other and over come all the superficial reasons for the
fight, black communities need to wake up and intra-racially integrate.
CROOKLYN
Crooklyn is the film that encourages a family to integrate.
It is a
semi-biographical film written, produced, directed and even acted in 1994 by Spike Lee,
which directly indicate that the film is accomplished from his full perspective.
The
film takes place in Brooklyn, New York as in most of his films, where he strongly
experiences difficulty of being black.
The movie is valuably favored by many of the
auteur critics since it is almost the perfect reflection of Lee’s life.
However,
interpretation of the films isn’t done by many critics since it is considered “light”
compare to his other films like Do the Right Thing, School Daze, Malcolm X, that are
called radical in that time.
Because it appears to be less involvement with his
perspective, it is categorized irrelevant.
As he denies this in his interview, “Yes. I think
it’s light, but I don’t think it’s the vast departure that some people said,”13 there is a
particular message that he puts in Crooklyn as well.
Small quantity of a clarification on Crooklyn is concentrates in its protagonist,
black identity, and the stereotypes in the black.
Frances K. Gateward and Murray
Pomerance point out that it is the very first movie in Hollywood with the African
American female child as a protagonist.14
They also add, “Crooklyn is most compelling
in those moments when it offers fictive representations of black subjectivity rarely seen
in mainstream cinema, depictions that counter both racist stereotypes and facile
notions of positive images.”15
The film brings into Hollywood, the reality of black
lifestyle. Many of other papers about Crooklyn also are focused on these points.
this paper, different from the others, I will converge on the family integration.
Spike Lee, Spike Lee: Interviews, Univ. Press of Mississippi, p89
Frances K. Gateward, Murray Pomerance, Sugar, Spice, and Everything Nice:
Cinemas of Girlhood, Wayne State University Press pg93
15 Frances K. Gateward, Murray Pomerance, Sugar, Spice, and Everything Nice:
Cinemas of Girlhood, Wayne State University Press pg94
13
14
16
In
The story centers the growth of Troy, the only daughter of the five children in
the Carmichael family.
Spike Lee used to live in Brooklyn his earlier life and also had
three brothers and one younger sister.
Not just the similar family structure but Lee’s
mother and Carolyn have same jobs, school teacher and both pass away due to lover
cancer.
Moreover, Lee’s father is a jazz musician and so is the father of Troy, Woody.
After the tragic death of Carolyn, Troy bonds the family that is almost fallen apart.
Lee, in the movie, indicates the importance of the unity of the family.
First, Troy replaces her mother after her death and maintains the bond of the
family.
In the beginning of the film, Troy has a toilet accident, fights with her brothers
over Twix, and is a cause of a disaster.
discipline in the family.
Carolyn is a reliable mother who maintains a
She also supports her family financially and pays a rent since
Woody cannot make enough money from his work as a musician.
Carolyn, the family obviously cannot hold together.
mentally grows up and supersedes a mother’s role.
Therefore, without
After the Carolyn’s death, Troy
It is implied in the last scene when
image of Carolyn combing Troy’s hair fades into image of Troy combing hair of Joseph,
the youngest brother.
The contrast of these two images points out that Troy has
become a mother of this family.
Second, physical contacts after the funeral scene indicate the strong bonds in
the family even after mother’s death. Troy always gets into a fight with the eldest
brother, Clinton.
Once she steals his New York Knicks’ basketball tickets and spends
his collection of valuable Buffalo nickels they start a huge fight.
However, in the
funeral scene, Clinton comes over to Troy, shares a couch and holds her hand.
The next
morning, when she realizes that her mother is really gone and starts to cry, Woody holds
Troy on his laps and tightly hogs her.
These scenes symbolize the tight connection in
the family.
Last but not least, there is the other film called Jesus Children of America
directed by Spike Lee that also signifies the importance of the family bond.
It is one of
the seven short films gathered in All the Invisible Children about the childhood
problems from seven director’s eye. Lee shows a HIV positive girl, Blanca, suffers from
the cruel treatment from her schoolmates.
When she hears about her junkies’ parents
are the source of the disease, it drops her into the deep grief.
schoolmates see her bleeding, they run away from her.
17
The scene when her
The loneliness that is depicted
in that scene significantly emphasizes the scene right after it where her father hugs his
family tightly.
It is implying the consequence of an attachment for a family.
One of the respective black leaders that Spike Lee admires, Louis Farrakhan
says “Family is basis of all sorts of nations.” (original translation)16 in the speech in
Million Family March and asserts the importance of family.
Statistically, half of the
black families are fatherless families and 60 percent of them are suffering from poverty.
On the other hand, only 20 percent of families with the fathers suffer from poverty.
Minister Farrakhan tried to reconstruct the marriage culture for one of the options to
get out from destitution.
Hence, Spike Lee shares the same perspective with minister
Farrakhan and encouraging the bond of the family throughout his works.
Consequently, from School Daze, Crooklyn, and Jesus Children of America,
Spike Lee definitely affirms the necessity of ethnical integration both among black
communities and in a family.
As Andrew Sarris claims that “a director must exhibit
certain recurrent characteristics of style, which serve as his signature,” 17 auteur
analysis helps to find out Lee’s intent towards black community by looking closely at the
consistency in his work that is affected by his life.
uses also help to find out his hidden notion.
The constant techniques that he
However, these two methods of analysis
cannot cover up the depth of Spike Lee’s belief that is included in his films.
His films
do not only get affected by his life but socio-history of America is reflecting in his films.
Usually auteur theory excludes any materials outside its director. Therefore his films
overcome the limit of the auteur theory.
Kazuaki Aoba, Kokujin leadership nituiteno ichi kousatsu (Theory of Black
Leadership) This and all subsequent translations from the Japanese are original.
17 Andrew Sarris, (1979) Notes on the Auteur Theory in 1962, in Gerald Mast and
Marshall Cohen (eds) Film Theory and Criticism, second edition. New York and
Oxford: Oxford University Press
16
18
Socio-historical Analysis
SOCIO-HISTORICAL ANALYSIS AND SPIKE LEE’
Beyond frames of moving pictures and beyond a life of a director, a certain time
period of a film’s background including ideologies, ideas, trends, events, fashions, are all
contained in Spike’s films.
Let me introduce the well known Hollywood director and
the author of Vision of Light, who strongly believes the definite relation with a film and
its history, Stuart Samuels.
According to Samuels, films “may reflect as well as
produce ideology: They ‘reflect, embody, reveal, mirror, symbolize’ through ‘reproducing
(consciously or unconsciously) the myths, ideas, concepts, beliefs, images of an historical
period.”18
Spike Lee shows the remarkable reproduction of black lifestyle of 70’s in
Crooklyn by recalling their costumes and specially the event New York Knicks winning
the NBA 1972-1973 season, which proves his work is being affected by its historical
period.
There are three reasons for the needs of the socio-historical analysis to
interpret his films.
Most importantly, some of his movies are indicating racial and
historical incidents that have happened in real life.
In addition, his one of the most
famous movie, Malcolm X is the auto-biographical film of Malcolm X, the leader of black
community.
By analyzing the depiction of the events in the films, the notion of the
directors will be possible to discover.
Auteur theory and technical analysis will be
continually used and even combined with socio-historical analysis for the further
investment of the deeper conscious or his perspective about the race.
Therefore,
analyzing his films socio-historically is absolutely necessary since his works are
obviously influenced from the actual social events and indicated his ideas.
First, some of his movies are based on or got ideas from non-fictional events.
As I have already explained, Crooklyn and School Daze are formulated from his self
experience in New York.
Get on the Bus is about many African American participate
the famous demo, Million Man March, which is organized by Louis Farrakhan in 1995,
the year before the film is released.
Recently, in addition, Spike lee has filmed a
documentary of Katrina disaster for T.V. series of HBO, When the Levees Broke.
ANTH 76: AMERICAN POLITICAL DISCOURSES
http://pzacad.pitzer.edu/~cstrauss/anth76/writing_assign.htm
18
19
Directing these two films show the sensitivity of the director to the social and racial
occasions.
Secondly, his movies indicate racial incidents especially that have happened
around the filming.
Jungle Fever starts with the picture of African American attached
with “In memory of Yusuf K Hawkins.”
Doing the Right Thing is another social film,
which indicates the Howard Beach and Tawana’s case, both dramatically build up the
racial tension in Brooklyn, New York.
By looking into these movies, his conviction
against these incidents will be emerged.
Finally, Spike has created the auto-biographical film of Malcolm X.
Malcolm
X is truly existed leader of the black community, had most in power with and after the
death of Martin Luther King Jr.
The depiction of Malcolm X will help finding out his
idea by looking at which phase of his life is focused in the film.
As it been seen in School Daze, the intra-racial antagonism is one of the major
themes that Lee has throughout his career.
Furthermore, the socio-historical analysis
will emerge the new theme, which is the inter-racial opposition due to the usage of the
conflicts between two different races such as Howard Beach and Tawana’s case. In
this chapter, I will be researching on those films I have mentioned in the top for the
investigation of the director’s racial perspective.
However, the socio-historical analysis
will require the basic stream of the history, mostly concentrated on the development of
the racial conflict between black and majority.
20
THE HISTORY OF AMERICA
This chapter covers basic American history through 60’s to now, focusing on a
development of a racial conflict that exists in today’s States.
The main reason is to
define a close relationship between Spike Lee’s films and their background.
required as a material in a socio-historical analysis of the films.
It will be
Another reason is for
the readers who maybe not familiar with the history of America.
Since many of the
readers will be the students of Japan, there is a high possibility that they do not know
particular decades of American history, especially if it is focused on a built of racial
opposition. Since the racial problem is delicate, the history must be a list of the facts to
be objective as possible.
As W.E.B. Dubois claimed, African American prioritized the built of the equal
rights and simultaneously abandon Jim Crow law during the 50's.
Jim Crow law
mandated “separate but equal” but the content of the law kept African American
inferior for many years.
In addition, Two World Wars supported rise of black
liberalism in three ways. ①Since the northern America industrialized, a demand of
young manpower increased tremendously and many of the black citizens removed.
Therefore, the consciousness of racism spread throughout the country.
② The
honorable works by black troops during the war urged America to look over the black
culture.
③The slogan that carried among the States to criticize communism was
“America, the liberal and equal country”
community to abolish any unequal laws.
it gave a great excuse for the black
An incident on Little Rock (9 black students
going Little Rock Central high school) during the civil rights movement and one similar
situation in university of Mississippi heated up the conflict between desegregation and
segregation.
The election of President John F. Kennedy in the 60s accelerated the rise of
liberalism. Martin Luther King Jr. became a leader of African American and declared
non-violent movement to insist the equal rights.
In 1963, a century after
Emancipation Proclamation, he organized “The March on Washington for Jobs and
Freedom,” and gathered two hundred thousand black in front of the Lincoln Memorial
and made one of the most famous “I have a dream” speech. It caused the birth of civil
rights, gave them rights to vote, and prohibited the separation beyond a race.
Further
more, it induced Affirmative Action and Welfare but in the future, they would become
21
the reasons of a separation inside the black community.
An assassination of JFK and MLK one after another gradually descended the
non-violent movement.
around the country.
possible.
Then a riot with violence against white occurred frequently
The black started to think co-exist with white seemed no longer
Unlike with MLK, Malcolm X then Louis Farrakhan who both had radical
principles started to become a leader of black community one after another. They were
both known for members of NOI (Nation of Islam) where held the black power.
During the 80s, after the Vietnam War, the American government was
collapsing under President Reagan.
The debt of the country never stopped its growth
due to the over-import and military affair.
People of Neo-conservatism blamed
non-WASP for what happened and denounced them.
At the same time, the fear of the
aids spread all over the country. Neo-Nazis denounced homosexual as well.
These
movements created the clear opposition between liberalism in 60s and conservatism in
80s.
Immigration of Hispanics during 80’s increased the tension of the opposition.
When it came to 90’s, the gap between the rich and the poor widened since the tax was
lowered.
The anger from poverty exploded and caused riots during 90’s.
Los Angeles
riots of 1992 would represent the anger of minority and it exposed the racial problems
that America had been concealing for a long time.
The States is now hovering between
two choices, integrate or separate and the choice can be no longer extended.
Although, the problem is not simple as it seems.
happening between only white and black.
The separation is no longer
The problem is becoming more complicated
since there is a separation inside a black community due to the lack of the strong
leadership. As it appears in School Daze, the difference from the notions, finance, and
education segregate blacks.
For example, affirmative action, which is the law to
assure the certain percentage of positions in college for the minorities, is supported and
surprisingly criticized by blacks. Wil Smith, one of the most popular African American
actors in Hollywood, believes that affirmative action reduces the motivation of African
American and keeps them lazy.
Plus, “Reliance on welfare is the farewell to
22
self-reliance,” (original translation)19 is the comment of Louis Farrakhan denunciating
the system of welfare is keeping African American from the responsibility.
Those
systems that they earned ironically separate blacks and made even harder for the unity
over different races. Throughout the complex situation that America is facing, what
kind of statement that Spike Lee is trying to make out of his films?
From the
interpretation of School Daze, Crooklyn, and Jesus Children of America, he is willing for
the unity of African American but how about in his other films?
Inter-racially?
How about
Is he in the support of conservatism, liberalism, or just neutral?
Kazuaki Aoba, Kokujin leadership nituiteno ichi kousatsu (Theory of Black
Leadership) This and all subsequent translations from the Japanese are original.
19
23
ACTUAL ANALYSIS OF FILMS
SCHOOL DAZE
Since socio-historical analysis deals a lot with ideologies, I would like to define
the word to avoid any confusion. According to Louis Giannetti, “Ideology is usually
defined as a body of ideas reflecting the social needs and aspirations of an individual,
group, class, or culture.
The term is generally associated with politics and party
platforms, but it can also mean a given set of values that are implicit in any human
enterprise – including filmmaking.”20
I would like to discover the ideological position
of Spike Lee from his delineations.
Before an investigation of any of the films that are mentioned above, I like to
look into School Daze. One of the critics, Michael Eric Dyson who uses socio-historical
analysis believes that the characters are reflecting and representing the social
materials.21
I believe socio-historical contents are reflected in School Daze as well.
Conflicts that are depicted in the film represent the opposition of conservatism and
liberalism. The certain beliefs, costumes, and system of the group classify Gamma Phi
Gamma and Dap’s allies as in either category.
Dap, through out the film, believes in anti-apartheid and organizes the group
of the demos against the administrators.
The young power of revolutionary against
the elders is the characteristic of the liberalism that tries to reform the old systems.
On the other hand, G-Phi-G and all the fraternities against the reformation represent
the conservatism to maintain the original social system.
The ideology can be defined from the way they have dressed in the film.
Gamma boys, Gamma rays and all the other fraternities and sororities are always
wearing the uniform severally.
20
On the other hand, Dap, his friends, and all the black
Louis Giannetti, Understanding Movies Eighth Edition, Case Western Reserve
University p396
21
Margaret Thomas College English © 1994 National Council of Teachers of English
Linguistic Variation in Spike Lee's School Daze, p913~
21
Linwood H. Cousins, Black Higher Learning’:
Politics of Higher Education, Routledge
p245
24
Black Popular Culture and The
who self respect their identity, individually wearing in different clothing.
As it shown
in Edward Scissorhands, the director Tim Burton criticizes how the originality or
characteristic is neglected in the conservatism.
He expresses the conservative notion
with dressing people in same costumes.
Last but not least, the system of the group is either hierarchical or democratic
categorize either conservatism or liberalism.
The system of Gamma Boys is
hierarchical that the ways of members think is totally controlled by the leader Julian,
which makes the organization even more conservative.
Giannetti points out “rightists
emphasize the differences among people, insisting that the best and the brightest are
entitled to a larger share of power.”22
Unlikely in Dap’s group, it is democratic and the
members do not always follow the order of Dap, which makes the group more liberal.
Since Spike Lee criticizes an insanity of a fraternity through out the film, his
ideological position is considerably tending more on a liberal side. In addition, by
putting the most sympathetic character Dap, he seems more supportive to him.
In the
last scene, Dap takes the lead and becomes the leader to organize the characters and
tell the central message to the audience by direct addressing the camera.
The scene
clearly suggests that Lee is supportive of Dap who is the liberal character.
Therefore,
not just Lee believes in intra-racial unity but he also puts himself in liberal side. Then
does he also support the inter-racial integration?
JUNGLE FEVER
In order to discover Spike Lee’s feelings towards the inter-racial relationships,
Jungle Fever cannot be ignored. Spike Lee is a writer, producer, director and the actor
of one of the major roles in the film.
As usually, he undertakes most of the steps in
filmmaking, it also contains his full sentiment. The film location is also the same, New
York.
Plus, the film starts by mentioning audience of the recent incident happened
less than two years before the film is released to Yusuf K Hawkins in New York. He
was the third African American who unreasonably got shot by white men in the 80’s
22
Louis Giannetti, Understanding Movies Eighth Edition, Case Western Reserve
University p402
25
New York.
He and his two friends went to see a used car on sale, suddenly surrounded
by more than 30 white men, beaten up and Yusuf got shot.
Six of them were brought to
the trial but only one of them, the gunman, Joey Fama, was convicted.
The
tremendous anger and the expanded tension between black and white can be notified
from its beginning.
It also proves that the film is influenced by the historical event in
that time.
The film is about a successful and married black architecture, Flipper Purify,
having a white Italian assistant, Angie Tucci and they develop into an intimate
relationship.
give up.
However, through out noticing many social obstacles, they eventually
Consequently, the film must be comprised with the certain notions of Spike
Lee about miscegenation.
First of all, the title of this film criticizes the relationship of black and white is
evanescent.
Jungle Fever is a slang term for interracial relations, or a tendency to be
sexually attracted to persons of African descent.
Flipper’s Christian father, Doctor
Purify also proclaims in the dinner table scene that the relationship with Angie comes
only from a curiosity.
Furthermore, fever makes the connection sounds very
temporally.
Second of all, by making the opening scene reappear in the last scene show the
events that occurred in the middle look momentary.
The story begins with the scene
that a newspaper is delivered to Flipper and his wife Drew’s house.
into the house, and shoots them having affair.
The camera moves
In the next door, their daughter is
happily listening to her mother gasping and saying “don’t wake up the baby.”
Since the
scene is after running the telop of Yusuf, the contract emphasizes the peaceful
relationship of African American family. Then, after everything that has happened
between Flipper and Angie, the very similar scene with slightly different angles appears.
It brings out the effect of deglamourizing the relationship of Flipper and Angie.
Since
the miscegenation ends with a tragedy, it emphasizes the relationship between Flipper
and Drew happier.
Finally, there are too many social and personal obstructions disturb Flipper
and Angie.
as well.
Like Doctor Purify opposes on their relationship, Angie’s father is against
When her father finds out about it, he violently attacks her. Still more, the
society isn’t ready for miscegenation.
When Flipper and Angie are fooling around,
26
somebody judges with a prejudice and reports the officers that white woman is being
attacked by a black man.
The scene brings up the racial problem to the surface that
the couple of different races have so many difficulties.
Since the film shoots so many negative sides of an inter-racial relationship, it is
considerable that Spike Lee is not urging the public of miscegenation.
At the same
time, he is bringing into question the problems of the society that are very stereotypical
and superficial.
As he has stated the necessity of the African American family bond in
Crooklyn and Jesus Children of America, he is restating it with this film. Since Spike
Lee reminds the audience of the Yusuf K Hawkins, he is taking a pessimistic view of
integration.
The film also criticizes the poverty, the social problem of black people and
posture of black people on it.
The film ends with Flipper holding an African American
prostitute tightly and shouting “no---------!!!!”
It indicates the problem of the poverty
because the social style of the poverty brings the lack of education and the workless
situations.
The contrast of the two parallel stories about Flipper and Gator pursue the
question weather the poverty is the only problem for the unemployment.
Gator are living in totally opposite lifestyles.
Flipper and
Flipper is a middle class African
American who has a family and a descent job for living.
On the other hand, Gator is
unemployed, unmarried, drug abused, and is a thief.
The point is that the
environment should be the same since they are the brothers and are raised in wealthy
family.
Therefore, Spike Lee is pointing out that the unemployment isn’t only caused
by the environment but the posture of black people is important as well.
DO THE RIGHT THING
Explore of Spike Lee’s perspective on inter-racial relationship continues. Do
the Right Thing is another film that has the dramatic message towards the relationship
between black and white.
The film tells a tale of bigotry and racial conflict in a
multi-ethnic community in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New
York, on the hottest day of the year. The motion picture produced, written, directed by
Spike Lee and he plays the main character, Mookie.
He holds up the riot against Sal’s
famous pizzeria owned by Italian American, where Mookie works.
27
With the auteur analysis, this is the film again contains the full perspective of
the director due to the process of filmmaking and the film location.
The socio-historical
analysis is also necessary since it designates the recent racial incidents such as Howard
Beach and Tawana’s case.
Some film critics of previous researches like G Spivak
criticized Spike Lee is being politically radical and the films justify the violence for the
solution to the racial conflict.
The film is the representation of the real world and it
shows the real racial tension in that time period.
There are five elements of reasons
of the riot unconcernedly showed through out the film.
The first element is the black characters being uneducated and unemployed.
Mookie is one of the rare characters who actually have a certain job. Mookie tells
many of his friends to “get a job” and many characters reappear in the street just
hanging out with their friends.
Uneducated and unemployed directly lead to the second element of the black’s
frustration, poverty.
poverty.
Da Mayor acted by Ossie Davis is representing the victim of the
He has a line says, “What do you know? Until you have stood in the doorway
and heard the hunger of you five children, unable to do a damn thing about it, you don’t
know shit.”
The third cause of the riot, Tawana’s case is introduced out from the content of
the film. When Mookie warned his little sister Jade to stay away from Sal, “Tawana
Told the Truth” was spray painted in the background wall.
Tawana Brawley is an
African American woman, who accused six white men including police officers for a
charge of rape in Wappingers Falls, New York, 1987.
However, it concluded that she
had not been assaulted, abducted nor raped. Weather she told the truth or not, it
brought the racial tension over New York.
Another similar incident is depicted in the film when black people are burning
down Sal’s place.
Suddenly, people in the riot start to chant “HOWARD BEACH!
HOWARD BEACH! HOWARD BEACH!”
incident on December 20th 1986.
Howard Beach refers to Howard Beach
Three African American were assaulted by local
teenagers. 12 of them were accused in this case, was latter acquitted. One was killed
when he got hit by a car escaping from the pursuers.
New York.
It also caused a racial tension in
Therefore, the riot represented the revenge of the incident in Howard
28
Beach.
The final element, which actually triggered the riot, is Radio Raheem being
killed by white police officers.
After the cops left with the dead body of Radio Raheem,
Mookie picked up the garbage can and started the riot saying, “hate!” The hate became
the cause of the riot over Radio Raheem’s dead body, which in his right hand had rings
that said love.
Therefore, it at least seems that Spike Lee justifies the violence as a final
solution to the racial conflict.
Many reasons of the causes are magnificently depicted
in the films with overlapping the real world.
As socio-historical analysis believes, Lee’s
film is obviously affected by its historical period.
Every one of them makes the riot
understandable; however, I still insist that Lee does not intend to bring up the riot
against the race.
He is realistically describing the crisis that people are facing and
trying to activate them for a discovery of a solution.
Most importantly, visual and auditory consistent motif and theme are again
used in Do the Right Thing. The film is released right after School Daze and these two
films are tightly cooperating to italicize “Wake Up!”
School Daze ends with the
memorable scene Dap looks at direct address to the camera and says to wake up.
Then
the alarm clock rings and the frame turn black and white. On the other hand, not the
actual opening shot but the story of Do the Right Thing starts with the insert of the
sound of alarm clock ringing, then the extreme close up shot of Mister Senor Love
Daddy’s mouth saying “Wake up!” Thus, two films are thematically connected and the
technique outlines his statement.
Usage of wake up means literally open up the eyes and faces the crisis.
Alarm
clock rings, DJ says “Waaaake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Up ya wake! Up ya
wake! Up ya wake,” then the old black man wakes up. It is indicating that young
generation has to activate the older generation.
In addition, the opening shot is a
young woman dances in a boxing costume and in the back ground there is a song, “Fight
the Power” by Public Enemy.
The most powerful scene of the film is in a quick-montage of racial slurs, with
different races pointing the finger at one another.
camera.
Each person directly addresses the
Breaking the fourth wall brings the same effect as in School Daze to create a
29
point in the film.
MOOKIE - Dago, wop, garlic-breath, guinea, pizza-slinging, spaghetti-bending, Vic
Damone,
Perry
Como,
Luciano
Pavarotti,
Sole
Mio,
nonsinging
motherfucker.
PINO -
You
gold-teeth,
gold-chain-wearing,
fried-chicken-and-buiscuit-eatin’,
monkey, ape, baboon, big thigh, fast-running, three-hundred-sixty-degree
basketball-dunking spade Moulan Yan.
Spike Lee criticizes unsubstantial relationships of people in multi-ethnic community
still can only be thinking stereotypically.
It simply accentuates and blames on the
unnecessary prejudices that are keeping them apart.
The closing shot of the film points out that the riot is not the solution. In the
next morning, when Mookie goes to Sal’s place for a salary his place is totally burned
down.
However, the camera slowly zooms out from the store and showing the city is
unchanged.
The black people come outside to the streets like the every other mornings
and start acting like nothing has ever happened.
The scene depicts the meaningless of
the act of last night.
The next morning, DJ says, “My people. My people.
I can. I saw it but I didn’t believe it.
together?
What can I say? Say what
I didn’t believe it what I saw.
Together are we gonna live?”
Are we gonna live
The question sounds that he is being
pessimistic about what happened last night.
He is grieving of the solution and
proposing the question to everyone including the spectators.
Furthermore, the title of
this film is Do the Right Thing but the film does not clearly state what the right thing is.
Therefore, the director has successfully reflected the reality in the film, and now
proposing the question to activate a dispute.
Moreover, he stimulates the audience by using two honorable African American
leaders, Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Smiley, who has a speech impediment,
has a picture of those two leaders all the time.
Originally, the very first cause of the
conflict between the black and Sal started since Sal did not put any African American on
his wall. When his place is burning down, Smiley leaves the picture of two leaders.
The scene honors of their achievements but also indicates that they are the history. In
the middle of roll credits, the famous speeches of them about the violence are quoted.
30
Martin Luther King Jr. absolutely opposes the violence. He says, “Violence is both
impractical and immoral…
understanding.
It seeks to humiliate the opponent rather then win his
Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love. It
destroys community and makes brotherhood impossible.”
On the other hand, Malcolm
X states, “I am not against using violence in self-defense.
I don’t even call it violence
when it’s self-defense.
I call it intelligence.”
Both of these two polarized opinions of
violence are depicted in the film, thus unclear the position of Spike Lee.
In conclusion, the ambiguity of Spike Lee’s statement is intended to inspire the
spectators to think deeply about the racial problems.
For that purpose he in this film
introduces or forces to reaffirm the situation of the reality that everyone with conscious
or unconscious does not recognize. Poverty, unemployment, racial incidents and many
other materials that are depicted in the film have to be debated for the solution. The
film urges the spectators to face the truth, ruth.
31
FOCUSING ON DEPICTION OF TWO LEADERS
Jungle Fever and Do the Right Thing handle the very delicate question
whether inter-racially we should be integrated or be separated.
The respond that I got
from these two movies are not so bright. Do the Right Thing does not show its clear
statement on this question but Jungle Fever shows the passiveness towards integration.
Plus, the relationship between black and white ends with tragedy in both of the films.
On the one hand, Spike Lee aggressively encourages the black people to be united
intra-racially.
integration.
On the other hand, he is very passive and prudent about the inter-racial
For the final conclusion, I would like to look into a movie that deals with
an African American leader.
One is the autobiographical film of Malcolm X, Malcolm X.
The other one is Get on the Bus.
Louis Farrakhan.
The film is about the Million Man March led by
Movie cannot show entire lives of people and the choice has to be
made by the director.
Therefore, by focusing on the choices of which part of their lives
are formed in the film will lead to the deep and precise notion of Spike Lee.
GET ON THE BUS
Get on the Bus is directed and produced by Spike Lee. Unusually, the setting
of the film is 1995 Los Angels, the year before the film is released.
Spike Lee took most
of his works in New York which emphasized how much he is particular about filming
this movie.
The film can be classified unimportant from the auteur analysis vision,
although the relation with the historical period is tremendous.
In addition, the film
uses the real moving pictures of Million Man March.
The film follows the Million Man March convened by Nation of Islam leader
Louis Farrakhan to encourage African Americans to vote in US elections and increase
black involvement in political and community activism.
The story itself is about
African Americans being collected from all over the country, and Spike Lee definitely
insists the intra-racial integration through out the contrasts between beginning and
ending.
There are various characters with different backgrounds, beliefs, religions, jobs,
classes and sexualities are gathered in one bus.
Flip is the character that judges
people with stereotypes and mainly starts to become a cause of a conflict.
A couple of
homosexuals, which represent the gay liberalism, were ridiculed by Flip and eventually
32
get into a fight.
Additionally, the members of the bus kick out the black car dealer on
the way since he discriminates the black people.
So many other conflicts between two
black men are also depicted in the film and all of the causes of the fights are superficial.
Oppositely, there are many scenes that show their unity.
First of all, the
Million Man March itself is an action of collecting black people from different places.
Second of all, when the bus stocks in the gutter, everybody comes out and integrates
their power to get it out.
Many scenes of them all singing along together are inserted
to show their solidarity.
Most importantly, the death of Jamar, the eldest in this bus
who has given a great pray to everybody, encourages them to overcome from all the
superficial conflicts and unite.
Therefore, the movie supports the intra-racial
integration and criticizes the stereotypical antagonism.
The opening shot symbolizes the limitation of African American as individual.
Many extreme close-up shots of body parts of black male who is wearing shackles and
being chained appear.
The chains and shackles seem so old and irresistible and they
manifest the black man is being limited for a long time. There is famous Malcolm X
line, “Our color became to us the chain.”23 The restraints symbolize the restriction and
powerless of the black man.
The extreme close-up shots also show that the man is
being entrapped in a small frame.
The contrast of the opening shot and the last scene emphasizes the beauty of
the unity.
All the members missed Million Man March since they all gathered in the
hospital where Jamar was carried. In the last scene, when they were in Washington in
front of the Lincoln Memorial reading Jamar’s pray that he prepared, emotionally and
peacefully unite the members.
After they left, the unchained shackle was placed on
the ground in front of Lincoln’s statue.
It symbolized the powerfulness of integration
that can free the man from the restriction or limitation.
Therefore, by looking at these contrasts, Spike Lee states the powerlessness of
individual and the strength of unity.
Since the goal of Million Man March is to
motivate black people to vote in order to earn a political influence, they thematically
match.
23
Thus, Lee again obviously supports the intra-racial integration.
Yoshiaki Sato, Malcolm X World, 径書房編
33
1993
From here, I would like to biographically focus on Louis Farrakhan, the
member of Nation of Islam and representative of Elijah Muhammad.
Many of white
people criticize him and Nation of Islam (NOI) as a racist, sexist and separatist.
In
addition, he only collected African Americans in Million Man March. Since Spike Lee
depicted the event positively in Get on the Bus, does it make Spike Lee a separatist as
well?
Yes indeed Elijah Muhammad, the organizer of NOI, believed in separation and
convinced that white people are the devils and Farrakhan has been the center of
controversy.
However, he denies the charges and frequently insists that his
controversial comments are taken out of context by critics.
He even criticized the
principles of NOI and principles of Muslim do not match and seceded from the party in
1978 and built the new Nation of Islam. From this point he looks over the beliefs of
Muslim and started to work on the integration among different religions.
In the year of 2000, he finally reconciled with the old NOI from the long terms
of opposition.
Then he succeeds an amicable settlement with Christian by
emphasizing the similarity that both Muslim and Christian teach their students to
repent of one’s sinful life and begins to live again.
religious difference and racially integrated.
the people were Christian.
Louis Farrakhan overcame the
In Million Man March, more than half of
He also succeeds a reconciliation with Jewish to abandon
the racism. Farrakhan is well known for saying “Hitler is great,” but he only admired
the achievement that he reconstructed Germany from nothing.
Anyway, minister
Farrakhan achieved to unite two communities with different race and religious belief.
In Million Family March, which was taken five years before the Million Man March,
three representatives of each religion cooperated and symbolized of the unity.
He
ended the long opposition among different religions by stressing that they all believe in
monotheistic religion.
Consequently, Louis Farrakhan does not believe in separation among race.
Preferably, he spends most of his lives to remove his misinterpretation and create a
harmony.
He says “I believe that I have a fate to notify the responsibility and
obligation that we all have to gather this country in one complete union.” (original
translation)24
Louis Farrakhan should be considered supportive of desegregation for
Kazuaki Aoba, Kokujin leadership nituiteno ichi kousatsu (Theory of Black
Leadership) This and all subsequent translations from the Japanese are original.
24
34
an honorable accomplishment.
It is possible to assume that Million Man March is to
gain the political power for the integration in the future.
Therefore, Spike Lee can also
be considered as an integrationist.
MALCOLM X
The same thing as Get on the Bus could be questioned in Malcolm X.
He also
was the member of NOI and unlikely with minister Farrakhan, he actually made
himself clear that he believed in separation.
In addition, he denounced Martin Luther
King Jr., his non-violent policy and his goal of integration.
The perspective of Spike
Lee will depend on the way he depicts Malcolm X in this film.
Malcolm X was a biographical film directed, produced and written by Spike Lee.
This film was the first non documentary film and first American produced film to be
permitted to shoot in Mecca.
It was also filmed in some cities in New York as well.
The consistent policy of his filmmaking made him possible to put his personal notion in
his film.
Even though he featured Malcolm X who believed in separatism, Spike Lee
made the character sympathetic by the usage of the techniques.
First, he depicted many forgivable reasons of joining NOI and being
brainwashed.
He was emotionally cornered from his experience through the
development.
His father, who believed in black returning to Africa, was killed by
members of KKK and the house was burned down.
her mother was raped by white men.
always called nigger.
His mother had a light skin since
He also was the only black in the class and
It was unavoidable for him not to hate white, and even more,
when he was invited to join NOI, he was in a prison with a charge of rubbery.
The
scene when he decided to join the party, he was in a jai, entrapped by the walls and a
wire netting.
He was in a frame within a frame, which implied his emotional
entrapment that he wasn’t able make the right judgment.
Second, after he became the part of NOI and started to give a speech in the
public of what Elijah Muhammad taught him, Lee displayed that Malcolm was only
parroting Elijah’s words.
In the scene of Malcolm’s speech about accusing white people,
Lee used cross cutting, which was “the alternating of shots from two sequences, often in
35
different locales, suggesting that they are taking place at the same time.”25
In addition,
by making the scene of Malcolm’s speech and the shot of Elijah cross-cut, the spectators
would receive an image of Malcolm was being only controlled by Elijah from the back.
Finally, in the scene he encouraged the separation between white race and a
black race in the biggest hall fulfilled with black people, Lee defended Malcolm by
putting a flag with Elijah’s face over him.
This was one of the mise en scène to express
Lee’s idea by the placement of two substances to imply their relationship.
Since the
Elijah’s face on the flag takes so much of weight in the frame, it implied Malcolm being
suppressed by him.
frame.
Weight depended on how much space that the subject had in the
Since the flag towers over Malcolm X, the top of the frame dominated the
bottom of the frame.
After the speech, he heard Elijah pregnant 20 years old woman
and started to doubt him.
After he heard the attempt of assassination by placing the
bombs in his car, he recognized that he was betrayed by Elijah.
Then he seceded from
NOI and reformed the new organization.
Consequently, Spike Lee was very supportive through Malcolm when he was
part of NOI.
However, it only disproved that Spike was supportive of separatism in
this film. His perspective on inter-racial integration would be able to find from the
depiction of Malcolm’s life after this.
The new organization accepted the help from white people but refused them
joining.
However, that was only because he wanted the black unity before unity with
white.
To understand more precisely about Muslim, he attended a pilgrimage to Mecca,
which softened his beliefs, teaching him that Muslims come from all races, even whites.
A life in Mecca with many different races changed his prejudice on white people.
he came back, his ideology was more towards the integration.
When
This wasn’t depicted in
the film but he formed Afro American United Organization and the purpose was to
structure the world of white and black are in real deep friendship.
Nevertheless,
before he achieved the goal, he was assassinated by his own color during the speech.
Since the death of Malcolm was written as a tragedy, it showed how much Lee
regret his death.
25
He was ironically assassinated soon after he willed the integration
Louis Giannetti, Understanding Movies Eighth Edition, Case Western Reserve
University
36
between black and white. It seemed Spike Lee wanted to change an image of Malcolm X
believing in separatism.
Since he emphasizes the death as a tragedy, Spike Lee was
supportive of Malcolm X as an integrationist.
37
Conclusion
INTRA-RACIAL
In conclusion, I was able to get a clear perspective on intra-racial matters.
As
some of black people become the middle class, it financially and economically separated
black people.
notions.
Affirmative action and welfare system also divided black with different
Wil Smith denounced affirmative action and Louis Farrakhan denounced the
system of welfare.
They criticized both of the laws that they reduced the motivation
and competitive spirit from African American and keep them away from self-reliance.
The intra-racial antagonism was mostly depicted in School Daze.
It was
written based on the college experience and the story represented the divorce in black
communities who believed in different ways.
During the 80’s, the opposition of
conservatism and liberalism heated up and the historical stream was well reflected in
the film.
In addition, the necessity of unity was also well written in Get on the Bus.
Through out the story, African Americans with different background, class, ideology,
religion, and sexuality integrated white they shared a situation, place, music, goal, and
tragedy of Jamar’s death from heart attack.
When Spike Lee confronted the
intra-racial conflict, he always emerged the superficial reasons that separated them and
encouraged to integrate.
INTER-RACIAL
Unlikely to intra-racial matters, I could not get the precise position of Spike
Lee on inter-racial separation.
By looking at Do the Right Thing and Jungle Fever it
seemed Spike Lee is against the unity since he ended the relationship of black and
white always with catastrophe.
Only statement that I could make from these films
was that Spike definitely wasn’t hoping of easygoing integration.
For the discovery of more accurate position on inter-racial polarization, I
focused on how the two black leaders, Louis Farrakhan and Malcolm X, were depicted in
Get on the Bus and Malcolm X.
Both of them were categorized as believing in
separatism, however, I discovered that they both got away from Nation of Islam and
38
changed their convictions.
They were easily misunderstood as a radical and separatist,
since they were only member of the NOI.
truth of them.
Lee throughout the film depicted only the
Because he portrayed Malcolm X more as an integrationist, Spike Lee
must have more liberal view.
Overall, I only could get vague vision of Spike Lee on inter-racial conflicts.
However, this could be considered as an improvement since he easily categorized as a
radical director who urged the violence, which proved that was wrong.
In addition,
Spike Lee was trying to bring out a racial dispute as it could be interpreted from Do the
Right Thing.
Furthermore, the reason of the hardness of finding the perspective of Spike Lee
was because he tried to depict only the truth.
stereotypes and he must have excluded.
He always criticized the racial
As he claimed that only the black directors
could depict the black lifestyles correctly, he thought that the lifestyles of the black
people only can be depicted by black people without prejudice. That was probably the
reason why most of the characters in his films were African Americans.
Since he
consistently appealed to the spectators to wake up and see the reality, the best interest
of him in his films was to make them “face the racial disgrace.”
and his perspective weren’t that important.
depicted correctly in the world of cinemas.
Therefore, his position
The importance was black people being
Not the way white people wanted nor the
stereotypes of white people have, but as they are.
I could insist my conclusion with the confidence since it was structured upon
the three honorable methods of analyses such as, auteur, technical, and socio-historical
which constructed the basic foundation of today’s film interpretation. With the support
of the historically admirable critics, Andrew Sarris, Louis Giannetti and Stuart
Samuels, my conclusion could stand as a reliable resource.
39
Bibliography
CITED WORKS
1.
Andrew Sarris, The American Cinema –Directors and Directions, The University of
Chicago Press
2.
ANTH 76: AMERICAN POLITICAL DISCOURSES
3.
http://pzacad.pitzer.edu/~cstrauss/anth76/writing_assign.htm
François Truffaut's 1954 essay "A Certain Tendency of the French Cinema"
4.
Kazuma Inoue, Black Movie: America Eiga to Kokujin Shakai (American films
and Black Society), Kodansha
5.
Louis Giannetti, Understanding Movies Eighth Edition, Case Western Reserve
University
6.
Bertolt, Brecht "Brecht on Theatre"
7.
Brecht, Bertolt, "Brecht on Theater", page 91. Hill and Wang, 1957
8. Margaret Thomas College English © 1994 National Council of Teachers of English
Linguistic Variation in Spike Lee's School Daze, p913~
9.
Linwood H. Cousins, Black Higher Learning’: Black Popular Culture and The
Politics of Higher Education, Rout ledge
10. Spike Lee, Spike Lee: Interviews, Univ. Press of Mississippi
11.
Frances K. Gateward, Murray Pomerance, Sugar, Spice, and Everything Nice:
Cinemas of Girlhood, Wayne State University Press
12.
Andrew Sarris, (1979) Notes on the Auteur Theory in 1962, in Gerald Mast and
Marshall Cohen (eds) Film Theory and Criticism, second edition. New York and
Oxford: Oxfor University Press
13. Michael Eric Dyson Reflecting Black: African-American Cultural Criticism,
University of Minnesota Press
14.
Yoshiaki Sato, Malcolm X World, 径書房編
1993
REFERENCES (FILMS)
1. When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts" (2006) (mini) TV mini-series
... aka When the Levees Broke (USA: short title)
2.
Inside Man (2006)
40
3.
All the Invisible Children (2005) (segment "Jesus Children of America")
... aka Enfants invisibles, Les (France)
Jesus Children of America (2005)
4.
She Hate Me (2004)
5.
25th Hour (2002)
6.
Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet (2002) (segment "We Wuz Robbed")
7.
Bamboozled (2000)
8.
The Original Kings of Comedy (2000)
9.
Summer of Sam (1999)
10.
He Got Game (1998)
11.
Get on the Bus (1996)
12.
Girl 6 (1996)
13.
Clockers (1995)
14.
Crooklyn (1994)
15.
Malcolm X (1992) ... aka X (USA: poster title)
16.
Jungle Fever (1991)
17.
Mo' Better Blues (1990)
18.
Do the Right Thing (1989)
19.
School Daze (1988)
20.
She's Gotta Have It (1986)
OTHER REFERENCES
1.
Last Hustle in Brooklyn (1977) G Spivak, Representing Blackness: Issues in Film
and Video, 1997 –
2.
Auteur DAN FLORY - The Journal of aesthetics and art criticism, 2006 - Blackwell
Synergy
3.
Spike Lee with Lisa Jones, Do the Right Thing – A Spike Lee Joint, A Fireside Book
Published by Simon & Schuster Inc. New York
4.
Noboru Uesaka, King Bokushi to Malcolm X (Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm
X) 講談社現代新書(ko-dan sha gendai shinsho)
5.
Suzuki Tooru, Kioku wo Tsumugu America – 21 Seiki America no Doukou wo
Yomitoku (America Spins Memories – Decode American Movement in 21st Century)
6.
Mark A. Reid, Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing, Cambridge University Press
41