Analyzing the Star or Director Through Their Films Spike Lee - Modern Star Director - She’s Gotta Have It, Crooklyn, Inside Man
By: Thomas Kallergis
Film Critique: Analyzing the Star or Director Through Their Films
Spike Lee - Modern Star Director - She’s Gotta Have it, Crooklyn, Inside Man
Spike Lee, born Shelton Jackson Lee, is a modern Black director who was born in Atlanta, Georgia but grew up in Brooklyn, New York. It can be said that Mr. Lee is not one to shy away from controversy, be it in his films or public statements. The production company that Mr. Lee founded is called “40 Acres and a Mule” referring to the famous American policy in 1865 that gave newly freed slave their own land and a mule as reparations for slavery. (Sharecropping) That policy was rescinded less than six months later. With forty-six titles to his credit, including feature films, documentaries and television, Mr. Lee has a multitude of material to watch and critique and it is quite the task to choose just three films that span his career as an American film director. The three films that will be reviewed in this essay are; She’s Gotta Have It (1986), Crooklyn (1994) and Inside Man (2006). After reading reviews, looking through plot summaries and watching trailers, I chose the three films above because they span three different decades, one is Mr. Lee’s first feature film, and another is his second to last feature film. What do these films say about Spike Lee? What do they say about American culture? What do they say about society? How have they changed film making?
Directors are storytellers, interpreters. As Mr. Lee himself says “storytelling... that’s the most important thing as a film maker”. All three of these films have a great deal to say about American culture. Both She’s Gotta Have It and Crooklyn were written and directed by Mr. Lee. Both of these films center around racial, cultural, social and economic situations. Although Inside Man was not written by Mr. Lee, and on the surface it may seem as a typical action heist film, it also has significant racial, cultural, social and economic
Film Critique: Analyzing the Star or Director Through Their Films
Spike Lee - Modern Star Director - She’s Gotta Have it, Crooklyn, Inside Man
Spike Lee, born Shelton Jackson Lee, is a modern Black director who was born in Atlanta, Georgia but grew up in Brooklyn, New York. It can be said that Mr. Lee is not one to shy away from controversy, be it in his films or public statements. The production company that Mr. Lee founded is called “40 Acres and a Mule” referring to the famous American policy in 1865 that gave newly freed slave their own land and a mule as reparations for slavery. (Sharecropping) That policy was rescinded less than six months later. With forty-six titles to his credit, including feature films, documentaries and television, Mr. Lee has a multitude of material to watch and critique and it is quite the task to choose just three films that span his career as an American film director. The three films that will be reviewed in this essay are; She’s Gotta Have It (1986), Crooklyn (1994) and Inside Man (2006). After reading reviews, looking through plot summaries and watching trailers, I chose the three films above because they span three different decades, one is Mr. Lee’s first feature film, and another is his second to last feature film. What do these films say about Spike Lee? What do they say about American culture? What do they say about society? How have they changed film making?
Directors are storytellers, interpreters. As Mr. Lee himself says “storytelling... that’s the most important thing as a film maker”. All three of these films have a great deal to say about American culture. Both She’s Gotta Have It and Crooklyn were written and directed by Mr. Lee. Both of these films center around racial, cultural, social and economic situations. Although Inside Man was not written by Mr. Lee, and on the surface it may seem as a typical action heist film, it also has significant racial, cultural, social and economic
Cited: "Sharecropping & "Forty Acres and a Mule" — History.com Articles, Video, Pictures and Facts." History.com — History Made Every Day — American & World History. © 1996-2011, A&E Television Networks, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Web. . "Spike Lee: 'Anyone Who Thinks We Move in a Post-racial Society Is Someone Who 's Been Smoking Crack '" Interview by Jason Solomons. Www.guardian.co.uk. Web. . Quote can be found at 7:13 to 7:19 Kennedy, Lisa. "THE STORYTELLER. (Cover story)." Essence (Time Inc.) 38.11 (2008): 183. Academic Search Complete Norment, Lynn. "A revealing look at Spike Lee 's changing life." Ebony 49.7 (1994): 28-32. Inside Man. Dir. Spike Lee. Perf. Spike Lee. 2006. DVD. DVD extras with Directors commentary ON.