Spike Lee Essay - 1478 Words

Shelton Jackson Lee was born in Atlanta, Georgia March 20, 1957. Born to teacher Jacqueline Carroll and jazz musician William James Edward Lee, Shelton grew up in Brooklyn, New York where he was provided with a rich cultural upbringing that included plays, movies, and music (Gale 1). At a young age, Lee was nicknamed â€Å"Spike† by his mother who noticed his rough nature and the nickname stuck well into his adult life. He attended Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia where he gained an interest in film and then graduated with a Bachelors degree in Mass Communication. Lee went on to attend New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts where he created his first student film and graduated in 1982 with a Master of Fine Arts in Film and†¦show more content†¦The movie never went into production due to a dispute between Lee and the Screen Actors Guild who did not grant him a waiver which would have allowed him to use nonunion actors. Lee believed they did not gran t him the waiver due to his race. This experience only added to his determination to make films portraying other racial issues currently circulating the country. With a burning determination from his previous refusal, Lee scrapped together funds to create She’s Gotta Have It, a low budget film made in two weeks about a black woman’s encounters with three men. Starring himself as one of the men, a trait very common through out his film career, the movie was an expected success in the United States making $7 million. She’s Gotta Have It emphasized the gender issue of double standards that women face when dating several men at a time. The film, although not directly about racial issues, was definitely a black film which set off his important and controversial career (Sheridan 4). To continue his controversial career, Lee followed She’s Gotta Have It with School Daze, a film based on the director’s four years at Morehouse College. The movie dug into conflicts occurring within the black community itself, one of which was the divergence between light-skinned and dark-skinned blacks. Lee stereotypically portrayed light-skinned blacks having money and being in a higher class while dark-skinned blacks were â€Å"less cool† andShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of The Movie Spike Lee 1475 Words   |  6 PagesSpike Lee is an Afro-American director who has developed more fame and importance in the last 20 years. He portrays his stories in a way that nothing is fictitious and many of them are written about some real events. Lee has co-produced many of his films and has acted in some small roles within them. According to IMDb (2016), Lee s work consists of: 26 films, 30 television programs, 45 commercials, 15 short films, starred in several films, and was a producer and writer of many other works. AlthoughRead MoreSpike Lee - Auteur Essay1069 Words   |  5 PagesWoody Allen. The director I have chosen as an auteur is Spike Lee. Lee’s Life: Spike Lee is an American film director who has directed, produced, written and acted in Spike Lee films such as Malcolm X, Jungle Fever, Inside Man and Love Basketball. Spike Lee was born in Atlanta, Georgia where he attended Morehouse College and made his first student film Last Hustle in Brooklyn, he then graduated from New York University in 1982. Lee grew up in a well-off, respective African American familyRead MoreEssay about Spike Lee679 Words   |  3 PagesI. Intro Spike Lee is one of the many directors who in my opinion always want to keep people alert. Lee is a film director, producer, writer and actor. He is with no question a very intelligent man that believes he has a responsibility to try and explain the world of black folks and other minorities in their most genuine form. When it comes to making films, he always fulfils his responsibility to show the behind the scenes black personnel who are underrepresented in an industry dominated by whiteRead MoreEssay on Malcom X: Movie and Real Life Comparison666 Words   |  3 PagesMalcolm X and Spike Lee Pushing the Limits In 1992, director Spike Lee combined his artistic vision with historical events to create the controversial and much hyped film Malcolm X, a biographical and historical account of the slain civil rights leader. Staring as Malcolm X was Denzel Washington who has been noted that this was his best role in a movie to date. As controversial as the flesh and blood Malcolm X was in life, so was the film version of his life as depicted by Lee. Lee made sure toRead MoreA Critical Analysis of Michael Jordan and the New Global Capitalism1089 Words   |  5 Pagessame way and that leads one to think, is that all blacks have as a people? This book touches on the selling of blackness in many aspects. One of the dominant ones that stands out is the early marketing of the Jordan shoes by Nike. Black director Spike Lee, who even made appearances in them, directed some of the first commercials for the shoe. They focused mostly the leaping ability of Jordan with implications that the purchaser of the shoe would be able to do the same. As for the future of blackRead MoreAnalysis of the Film Inside Man Essay2056 Words   |  9 Pages Neupert – Film Studies The True â€Å"Inside Man† â€Å"Inside Man† was released in 2006 and would later become the highest grossing film for the director Spike Lee. The film is a crime-drama, located primarily in a bank in New York City run by multi billionaire Arthur Case. Although the film is a thriller and contains bits of action and suspense, the movie focuses heavily on the difference between good andRead MoreFight The Power By Spike Lee2248 Words   |  9 PagesWhile twenty-nine years has passed since its release, Spike Lee’s 1989 film Do The Right Thing remains a tragically relevant tale of race relations, heated confrontations, and police violence. As the sweltering summer heat rises in the black Brooklyn neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant, racial tensions escalate between the locals and the Italian-Americans. Characters sweat and scream, fight and fend, dance and die. On screen, Spike Lee depicts a 1989 Brooklyn that acts as a magnified view of whatRead MoreEssay about The Message in Spike Lee’s M ovie Do the Right Thing482 Words   |  2 PagesMessage in Spike Lee’s Movie Do the Right Thing In an attempt to enlighten audiences with a powerful message about the cancer that hate and violence can bring to a society; writer, director, Spike Lee brings Do the Right Thing to the screen. Fusing a powerful story with creative film making, Lee gives us an insider’s look at life on a blistering summer day in Brooklyn. To create an atmosphere that both looks and almost literally feels like possibly the hottest day of the year, Lee uses orangeRead MoreDo The Right Thing By Spike Lee1189 Words   |  5 Pages Do the Right Thing, Spike Lee’s 1989 blockbuster film, depicts the growing racial tensions and political conflicts set in Bedford-Stuyvesant, a low income neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York. Set in the middle of a record breaking heat wave, high temperatures test the temperaments of local residents and business owners, creating an explosive racially charged atmosphere in this small neighborhood. There is an on going struggle for power in the multicultural but mostly Black community. Mookie, theRead MoreDo The Right Thing By Spike Lee1434 Words   |  6 Pagesand soul of the â€Å"melting pot,† they know that the idea of diverse and equal identities in American culture isn’t always true. Two sources that dive deeper into this idea are The Reluctant Fundamentalist, by Mohsin Hamid, and Do the Right Thing by Spike Lee. In The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Hamid uses the main character Changez to show the struggles of being a Pakistani-American in the 9/11 era of America. The audience follows Changez as he struggles with identifying as an American while he regularly