Nelson Mandela and Malcolm X

A powerful scene I remember from Spike's Malcolm X biopic. Rest in peace, Malcolm, rest in peace, Mandela.

Spike Lee's Red Hook Summer

Red Hook Summer wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. We get the usual "Angry Spike Lee" moments against gentrification, Obama's do-nothingness for black folks and po' folks, and Clarke Peters is a great actor. We even get a funny The Wire reference when the actor who plays Senator Clay Davis appears as a detective in Red Hook, saying "Shiiiiiiiiiiit." The film is visually quite interesting despite the bleak urban layout of Red Hook: projects, lots of green in desolate Brooklyn streets with 80% unempoloyment, and juvenocracy. The negatives: the seemingly absent transition scenes, lack of any real resolution or progress in the conclusion of the film (despite some unsurprising and interesting revelations about Flik's grandfather, which wasn't built up to very well), and Mookie's irrelevant and unnecessary appearance. Mookie does absolutely nothing to advance the plot and has no real reason for being a pizza delivery boy in Red Hook. Furthermore, one does not 'feel' Red Hook in the same way one does Bed-Stuy in Do the Right Thing, despite the attempts by Lee to use real residents and community spaces in the film. It just ain't right. Overall, not an overwhelmingly horrible film experience, given Spike's on point observations on race relations, class, and politics, but it does not seem to have much of a plot given the unsatisfactory ending. Perhaps there is some meaning attached to the film's conclusion given Flik's admission of falling in 'like' with someone he meets in Red Hook before returning to Atlanta, and Flik learning his roots  through his grandfather to become a man (a point expressed by Chazz's mother is that young male youths need strong male figures and role models, as well as strong parents, which suggests that Flik's mother sent him to stay with her father in order to teach him a lesson.

Some interesting themes in the film are the uncomfortable but growing presence (something Flik notes as discomforting and racially-loaded) of white gentrifiers in Red Hook, a topic Bishop Enoch Rouse brilliantly criticizes the black middle-class for since they left Red Hook for a "better house, better schools, better life" while leaving behind their less fortunate African-American community. This, in turn, has paved the way for white newcomers to profit off lower property values and takeover more and more of black Brooklyn since black folks with money still ain't wanted in majority-white neighborhoods and suburbs anyway. The film also has some disturbing and contradictory messages about Christ and the black church, in spite of breath-taking sermons and gospel chanting and singing in Bishop Enoch's Baptist church. Indeed, Christianity and religion in general, for poor, black ghettos, becomes like crack and drugs. The 'addiction' and money-grabbing of black churches, taking away from the black poor and lulling them with false security and solace, proves what brother Akil said about the two biggest drugs in the 'hood being crack and Christ. I suppose it's up for the viewer to take away from the film's religious themes what one wants to, but it does not paint a very flattering portrait of the church nor Bishop Enouch Rouse, who penance for his sinful past is his service at the low attendance black church in Red Hook. The film's black nationalist outlook also arises through critiques of gentrification, Obama's election not bringing any substantive change to black folks in America, and the growing class divide across the country. Reverse migration of African-Americans back to the South also comes up as an issue, since New York is so expensive and black folk can return to their roots/routes, a journey that the Bishop makes in reverse. But the film's overall message seems to be the maturation of a teenager and the public spectacle of the the Bishop's fall from grace after several years of turning his thoughts to the Lord.

The Genius of Spike Lee: Remembering School Daze

Spike Lee's School Daze is a classic in black film. Like most of Spike's 1980s output, I highly recommend this film to anyone interested in true black film (not Tyler Perry). This film is focused on a HBCU college in the South during the 1980s, at the height of anti-apartheid movements on college campuses and the struggle for funding that many HBCUs find themselves engaged in. Moreover, the film looks at colorism, class, and internal racial conflicts amongst African-American college students. In addition, Giancarlo Esposito, Samuel Jackson, the light-skinned black woman from Martin, Jasmine Guy, and Laurence Fishburne star in this film, alongside Spike Lee playing a nerdy character entering a fraternity. The film also explores particular African-American cultural traditions such as stepping, music, and the conflict between college-educated blacks and those unable to attend.

This particular clip features dark-skinned, natural hair black women competing with light-skinned sistas who straighten their hair. The beautiful jazz song was composed by Lee's father, Bill Lee, a jazz bassist who has also played with folk legends such as Bob Dylan and Odetta. The choreography is also well done and these women are dancing their hearts out. The true genius of this song, whose lyrics were composed by Spike, is the strong black nationalist sentiment woven into the entire film. Lee satirizes light-skinned black women who try to forget their blackness and look down on darker-skinned blacks, using offensive epithets such as "jiggaboo" and invoking the image of the mammy to ridicule black sisters. There is no doubt that Spike Lee sympathizes with us darker-complected Negroes and calls for unity among all blacks while simultaneously arguing against a monolithic blackness.

In Spike's mind, the black student body and administration must wake up, remain united by transcending the petty differences between us, and remain committed to a politicized blackness that maintains the collective racial uplift ideology embedded in the history of HBCUs. Lee's black nationalist ideology demands black self-respect, a dedicated desire to uplift blacks culturally, socio-economically, and doing so on the international level (hence the desire by Fishburne's character's desire for divestment from apartheid South Africa). Lee also wishes to demonstrate the persistence of racial uplift, a prevalent belief and practice among the black Talented Tenth to not forget their roots or the majority of African Americans still struggling.

Now, I have not seen this movie in two years and am now must watch it again. Rediscovering the hilarious "Good & Bad Hair" clip has rekindled my passion for Spike Lee's early work. Indeed, almost all of his early films are great, including She's Gotta Have It, Do the Right Thing, Jungle Fever, Malcolm X, Mo' Better Blues, etc. It's also nice to see Laurence Fishburne in a black film as well as Giancarlo Esposito's continued relationship with Spike. However, from a New York Times article recently in the paper, Esposito, who is half-Italian, divulged his disagreement with Spike's black nationalist vision and aesthetic. I'm curious to how Fishburne and Samuel Jackson perceive Spike's black nationalist aesthetic and ideology as well, since those are two actors I rarely see in black films. However, I must say that the black nationalist/Afrocentric assumption that all blacks who straighten their hair out of some desire to attain whiteness or distance themselves from their African heritage, though often grounded in truth, are unfair since many African-Americans simply like the style and different hair textures. Thus, it is problematic to call those black women "wannabe" although many of them probably do straighten their hair out of a conscious desire to avoid the pejorative connotations of nappy hair.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/03/theater/giancarlo-esposito-an-actor-known-for-divergent-roles.html?_r=1

http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/spike-lee-project?before=1340985263
This review raises some important problems regarding the patriarchal black nationalist discourse that dominates Spike Lee's film. Though I agree that women in the film are portrayed in such a way that suggests they lack a political consciousness or awareness, whereas the men are involved in things beyond sexuality that include 'real issues' like fighting racism, apartheid, or poverty. I disagree with this writer's statement that the women are not politicized since the Afrocentric and Afro-headed women clearly have political motives for wearing their hair in a certain style or not. Nevertheless, there is legitimacy to the rather patriarchal world Lee always portrays without really criticizing on its sexism.

Other great scenes in School Daze
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zv7Js0HK7s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lg8Oq_Sd3Bw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJOsjlXXfVo&feature=related

"Wake up!"