DIRECTOR SPOTLIGHT: Spike Lee Does the Right Thing...

Spike Lee is an interesting case in the directing world. He is one of very few directors who have a certain stigma attached to their name. Maybe Stanley Kubrick held the reputation of an obsessive perfectionist, nearly impossible to deal with, and maybe Sam Peckinpah was a notorious drunk, but Spike Lee’s aura holds a unique polarization. But regardless, Lee is one of the most interesting filmmakers, and while he may be wildly inconsistent from time to time, he also has several monumental pictures in his back pocket, and is always looking for a new way to explore race relations in this country.


Spike Lee is known for several films over the last twenty years, but he is also known for making his mark on pop culture. Perhaps you aren’t familiar with Spike Lee’s portfolio, but I am pretty sure you remember Spike Lee here:



Or maybe the Spike Lee incident that comes to mind for the sports fans out there is this one:

Even if you don’t follow basketball, odds are you heard or saw something about the little pissing match Lee got into with Pacers’ superstar Reggie Miller, who preceded to kill Lee’s beloved New York Knicks in the playoffs with eight points in sixteen seconds. Lee has never been one to shy away from controversy, both in his life and in his films, and that very controversy is what put him on the map twenty years ago.

Although Sheldon Jackson “Spike” Lee was born in Atlanta on March 20, 1957, his move to Brooklyn as a small child would mold him into the Spike Lee we all know today. His educational career culminated with a Master of Fine Arts in Film and Television from NYU’s School of the Arts. Lee’s first film, She’s Gotta Have It, made on a budget under $200,000, was a success at the American box office and brought in over $7,000,000.00. Before Lee hit it big with his next feature, however, Lee gained notoriety as the partner to Michael Jordan in the first Air Jordan commercials. Then in 1989, Lee would forever make his mark on American cinema.

Do The Right Thing was a groundbreaking film focusing on race relations in America, revolving around a Brooklyn neighborhood one hot summer day. I won’t go into the specifics of Do The Right Thing as I plan on doing that Thursday, but needless to say the film is still an important examination into how we react to one another based on race. The picture earned Lee an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay, but was not nominated for Best Picture (it clearly should have been). Driving Miss Daisy, the story of a black chauffeur (Morgan Freeman) developing a friendship with a feisty older white woman (Jessica Tandy) won Best Picture that year, and Lee has said in numerous interviews over the years that this upsets him more than his film not being nominated.

Lee has tackled the plight of the African-American community in a number of his films over the years. He followed up Do The Right Thing with Mo’ Better Blues, a picture about a self-destructive jazz musician, and Lee’s first collaboration with Denzel Washington. The next year, Lee ventured into more controversial avenues with Jungle Fever, a film revolving around the interracial romance between an African-American man (Wesley Snipes), and an Italian woman (Annabella Sciorra). While controversial, the film also put a face on what was, amazingly enough, a taboo idea at the time.

Perhaps Lee’s most successful picture was the biopic of aggressive African-American activist Malcolm X, once again starring Denzel Washington. Lee was not originally slated to direct, as Warner Brothers greenlit the project with Norman Jewison (In the Heat of the Night) attached. But the decision sparked major controversy in the black community, and Lee was brought in. And despite many objections of Lee and his possible portrayal of Malcolm X, the numerous budget issues, the laundry list of controversy from all sides – mainly the fears from some that Lee would sensationalize the early criminal life of the subject rather than his time as a Muslim leader – the film was released to overwhelming praise, and is a fair and balanced look at the controversial leader. Denzel lost Best Actor that year to Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman, and Lee, never one to shy away from his thoughts, also voiced his dissatisfaction with the result.

But Lee has not pigeonholed himself as a director of “black movies.” Despite making his name with such examinations, Lee has also made films like Ed Norton’s existentialist drama The 25th Hour, and in 2005 released the labyrinthine crime caper The Inside Man starring Clive Owen and, again, Washington. While these films look like straight dramas and crime-dramas, respectively, there is always the undercurrent of race relations. More recently Lee directed Miracle at St. Anna, a World War II film focusing on a platoon of African-American soldiers. The film was not well received and a bit of a misstep, but nothing that will keep Lee from tirelessly working on new projects.

Lee’s subject matter has been well established, and his stylistic choices are often used in film classes. The most famous of Lee’s signature techniques is the “floating” shot of one of his central actors. Denzel Washington has been used in these shots in Mo’ Better Blues, Malcolm X and Inside Man. Lee also incorporates mentions of baseball players and uses baseball motifs in several of his pictures.

Regardless of what opinion you have on Spike Lee, there is no getting around the fact that he is important. He is important to the representation of the African-American community, he is important to the affluence and impact of American filmmakers, he is stylistically important, and he is a compelling storyteller when his subject matter hits the right notes. If only he weren’t a Knicks fan…