On the Conscience of AmericaEssay Preview: On the Conscience of AmericaReport this essayOn the Conscience of AmericaThe story behindSpike Lee and his documentary“4 Little Girls”Liz FarmerDocumentary FilmmakingProf. Gene WeisMay 1, 2002In 1986, Spike Lee burst on the scene with his hit movie Shes Gotta Have It. Since then, Lee has averaged a relentless production of nearly one film per year, in both fiction and non-fiction form. Lee is known for his resolve to stay true to his style and vision–no matter how controversial the results may be. Whether draped in praise or controversy, Spike Lee is arguably one of the most influential filmmakers of the twentieth century.
A Few More Points About Spike Lee (and his The Simpsons)
When Spike Lee spoke at SXSW he seemed to have a certain, if not entirely exclusive, relationship with his music. He appeared in a handful of Spike Lee-friendly interviews as part of the SSA lineup during his showings. Since then, it has been reported that he has been speaking at various venues in North Carolina where he will hold his “The Best American Music Festival of All-Time” panel which is slated for September 21-22. Of particular interest is Spike Lee’s announcement to promote the award for Best Anthology to the New York Times Magazine which was held at their American Comedy Festival this year. Lee has made an enormous impact with his The Simpsons series, showing an intense respect for the characters and their work. Spike has already appeared in several major television, film, and cartoon shows, including Arrested Development and The Re-Seekers. Spike Lee and his team have also been making appearances at a number of art exhibits across the country where he has been involved with artworks in almost every genre from children’s books to comic book illustrations and animation.
“Spike is an interesting and talented guy that came around to us in the last week talking about how he loved his music and he knows the audience well. When you find this kind of relationship you immediately see, it’s going to be a cool place for you to be in and you can give whatever you may want.””
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Spike Lee is a prolific composer and composer of over a dozen symphonic scores, as well as nearly 30 films, and he has recently released his critically acclaimed album This Country Is for the first time.
He currently resides in St. Louis, Missouri, working with his partner Tania Kowalski and their son, Brandon; they recently completed the production of a documentary about Spike Lee with Spike Lee.
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A Few More Points About Spike Lee (and his The Simpsons)
When Spike Lee spoke at SXSW he seemed to have a certain, if not entirely exclusive, relationship with his music. He appeared in a handful of Spike Lee-friendly interviews as part of the SSA lineup during his showings. Since then, it has been reported that he has been speaking at various venues in North Carolina where he will hold his “The Best American Music Festival of All-Time” panel which is slated for September 21-22. Of particular interest is Spike Lee’s announcement to promote the award for Best Anthology to the New York Times Magazine which was held at their American Comedy Festival this year. Lee has made an enormous impact with his The Simpsons series, showing an intense respect for the characters and their work. Spike has already appeared in several major television, film, and cartoon shows, including Arrested Development and The Re-Seekers. Spike Lee and his team have also been making appearances at a number of art exhibits across the country where he has been involved with artworks in almost every genre from children’s books to comic book illustrations and animation.
“Spike is an interesting and talented guy that came around to us in the last week talking about how he loved his music and he knows the audience well. When you find this kind of relationship you immediately see, it’s going to be a cool place for you to be in and you can give whatever you may want.””
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Spike Lee is a prolific composer and composer of over a dozen symphonic scores, as well as nearly 30 films, and he has recently released his critically acclaimed album This Country Is for the first time.
He currently resides in St. Louis, Missouri, working with his partner Tania Kowalski and their son, Brandon; they recently completed the production of a documentary about Spike Lee with Spike Lee.
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Lees Georgia birth certificate reads his full name as Shelton Jackson Lee, born on March 20, 1957–the eve of the civil rights era. Although born in Atlanta, Lee grew up in Brooklyn, New York, an area that figures largely in his work as a filmmaker. Spikes parents raised their uncomfortably middle-class family of five in an all-white Brooklyn neighborhood, an environment that undoubtedly had an effect on his later films. Lees awareness of his African American identity was established at an early age. His mother, Jacquelyn, instilled in her children a schoolteachers enthusiasm for black art and literature. He was made familiar with classic artists such as Langston Hughes and Claude McKay and revolutionaries like Marcus Garvey. His father Bill, an accomplished jazz musician, introduced him to African American jazz and folk legends like Miles Davis and Odetta, respectively. Bill is also a composer, and has scored the music to a number of his films. As a result, Spike and his siblings were raised in a very creative environment. Lee recalls being made to see Broadway plays such as The King and I, and how that affected him later on in life. “Now I could see that exposure was very important,” Lee articulated in a 1996 speech, “even though I didnt know that that was what I wanted to do, even though I didnt want to see those plays, even though I did not want to see my father play jazz. Now I see that if my parents didnt insist on it, even with me kicking and screaming, Id have not become a filmmaker.” (Lee)
By the time he was old enough to attend school, the already independent Lee had earned the nickname his mother had given him as an infant, Spike –an allusion to his toughness. When he and his siblings were offered the option of attending the predominantly white private school where his mother taught, Lee opted instead to go the public route, where he would be assured of the companionship of black peers. This choice resulted in a different learning environment between the Lee siblings. While Spikes sister Joie was channeled into predominantly white colleges, Spike chose to go to his father and grandfathers all-black alma mater, Morehouse College in Atlanta.
It was at Morehouse that Lee found his calling. He had grown up an avid sports fan and had a lifelong dream of becoming a second baseman for the New York Mets. However, as Lee wryly puts it, “genetics conspired against that dream happening.” (Lee) He chose to major in mass communications because it encompassed the arts, specifically film–a side interest of his. Lee became serious about pursuing film as a career during the year of 1977. Following the unexpected death of his mother, Lees friends tried to cheer him with frequent trips to the movies. He quickly became a fan of directors Bernardo Bertolucci, Martin Scorsese, and Akira Kurosawa. But it wasnt until he had seen Michael Ciminos The Deer Hunter that Lee knew what he was going to spend his life doing. Spike wanted to be a creator of his own kind of art form. He wanted to make films that would capture the black experience, and he was willing to do so by whatever means necessary. That summer, which was the summer of the Son of Sam and the New York City blackouts, Lee could not find a job. Instead, he bought a Super 8 camera and shoot scenes he saw around the city. It was the first summer of disco, and it was common to find people out on the streets at a block party, dancing to the hustle or other songs. The film finished as a highlight film of Blacks and Puerto Ricans looting and dancing. Lee titled his film Last Hustle in Brooklyn, and showed it to his college class. He was inspired by the favorable response he received and wanted to learn more about the art of making films. Upon graduating Moorehouse, he decided pursued his passion at New York University, where he enrolled in the Tisch School of Arts graduate film program.
At Tisch, Lee was one of the few African-American students. He spent the next three years making films, either his own or helping out his classmates with theirs. Because of the predominantly white environment, Lee felt he had to make his work stand out. “You ask any successful Black person,” Le relates in an interview, “They all know when they embark on what theyre doing they cant be as good as the white person–they have to be ten times better. Its not fair, but thats just the way it is.” (Breskin, 161) Lee quickly became notorious among his professors when he produced ten minute short entitled The Answer as his first-year project. In his film, a black screenwriter is assigned to remake D. W. Griffiths The Birth of a Nation and contained negative references alluding to Griffiths stereotypical portrayals of Blacks. Despite the backlash he received, Lee confidently went on to produce a 45-minute film for his senior thesis titled Joes Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads. His acclaimed project garnered him the 1983 Student Academy Award.
Lee graduated from film school that year, and proceeded to write the script (The Messenger) for his first feature film idea. In order to maintain creative control, Lee wanted to film his feature independently and found a producer to finance his project. However, the funding never materialized, and Lee had to abort the film–letting down a number of actors and crew members that had promised to work for Lee. Yet, the experience was not a complete failure for Lee. He learned a valuable lesson about what it takes to get a real film script produced. “In retrospect,” Lee says, “I committed several key errors all first-time filmmakers do. They try to be over ambitious, try to do stuff thats beyond theyre means–that