ERIC ED353622: Spike Lee and Commentaries on His Work. Occasional Papers Series 2, No. 1.

92 Pages·1992·1.4 MB·English

by  ERIC

DOCUMENT RESUME
CS 508 049
ED 353 622.
Hudson, Herman C., Ed.
AUTHOR
Spike Lee and Commentaries on His Work. Occasional
TITLE
Papers Series 2, No.
1.
Indiana Univ., Bloomington. Afro-American Studies.
INSTITUTION
PUB DATE
92
92p.; A Martha C. Kraft Professorship Publication.
NOTE
Reports
PUB TYPE
Collected Works
General (020)
Reference Materials
Evaluative /Feasibility (142)
Bibliographies (131)
MF01/PC04 Plus Postage.
EDRS PRICE
Auteurism; *Black Community; *Black Culture; Black
DESCRIPTORS
History; Cultural Images; Film Criticism; *Film
Production Specialists; *Film Study; Popular Culture;
Racial Relations; Urban Culture
*African Americans; *Lee (Spike)
IDENTIFIERS
ABSTRACT
This monograph presents a critical essay and a
comprehensive 454-item bibliography on the contemporary
African-American filmmaker, Spike Lee. The essay, entitled
"African-American Folklore and Cultural History in the Films of Spike
Lee" (Gloria J. Gibson-Hudson), analyzes Lee's filmmaking approach
from a cultural and historical perspective. The essay identifies Lee
as a contemporary storyteller weaving his tales with the aid of a
camera and demonstrates how his film narratives draw on both the
historic and contemporary experiences of African Americans. The essay
discusses five of Lee's films (made between 1984 and 1991)
thematically, categorizing them under intra-racal issues and
inter-racial issues. The bibliography (by Grace Jackson-Brown)
provides citations from both scholarly and popular literature,
encompassing newspaper articles, journal and magazine articles,
chapters or sections from books, and reviews of films (most of the
citations date from the last 5 years). The extensive 49-page
bibliography is intended to be a comprehensive guide to literature
that will assist students and researchers with an interest in Spike
Lee. It is divided into six broad subject areas: Biography,
Interviews, Production and Direction, Books and Book Reviews, Film
Criticism and Film Reviews, and Entrepreneurship and Conduct of Life.
(NKA)
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.1 7
I
too.
Spike Lee
and
His Work
Commentaries on
Editor
Herman C. Hudson,
with the Assistance of
Student in English
Audrey Levasseur, doctoral
A Martha C. Kraft
Professorship Publication
Indiana University
A Publication of the Martha C.
Kraft
Professorship
Indiana University
1992
All rights reserved
.1
Foreword
controversial
Spike Lee is the most prolific and
and '90s.
He
African American filmmaker of the 1980s
been successful both
has made five films, all of which have
Have It (1984),
financially and aesthetically: She's Gotta
(1989), Mo' Better
School Daze (1986), Do the Right Thing
His sixth film,
Blues (1990), and Jungle Fever (1991).
November 1992,
is
Malcom X, due to be released in
students, and the
eagerly anticipated by critics, film-study
general public.
decided
Because of his stature as a filmmaker, we
Occasional Paper to Spike Lee
to devote an expanded
essay and a
which contains two sectionsa critical
The essay analyzes Lee's
comprehensive bibliography.
from a
historical
and
cultural
filmmaking approach
citations from
perspective, and the bibliography provides
scholarly and popular literature, encompassing newspaper
and chapters or
articles, journal and magazine articles,
sections from books.
for the
Finally, we wish to express our appreciation
special Occasional
work of the two contributors to this
Jackson-Brown,
Paper, Gloria Gibson-Hudson and Grace
publication
this
made
scholarship
competent
whose
possible.
HERMAN HUDSON
t.)
Contents
African American Folklore and Cultural History
Spike Lee
7
in the Films
Gloria J. (. ,son-Hudson
7
Introduction
Intra-racial Issues as Themes
11
Inter-racial Issues as Thel is
23
34
Conclusion
Bibliography on Spike Lee
(Shelton Jackson Lee, 1957- )
43
Grace Jackson-Brown
43
Introduction
46
Biography
50
Interviews
52
Production and Direction
58
Books and Book Reviews
58
Malcolm X: The FBI Files
Five for Five: The Films of Spike Lee
58
58
Do the Right Thing: A Spike Lee Joint
Uplift the Race: The Construction
59
(?f School Daze
Spike Lee's She's Gotta Have It:
60
Inside Guerilla Filmmaking
Film Criticism and Reviews
61
WWII)? X
61
62
Jungle Fever
64
Mo' Better Blues
68
Do the Right Thing
77
School Daze
82
She's Gotta Have It
86
Joe's Bed-Stv Barbershop: We Cut Heads
Entrepreneurship and Conduct of Life
87
Gloria J. Gibson-Hudson is an Assistant Professor in the
Department of Afro-American
Assistant
Studies
and
Director of the Black Film Center/Archive at Indiana
She has conducted in-depth research and
University.
lectured extensively on the images of black women in film.
and
Wide Angle, New York Folklore,
She has published in
and has contributed
Black Studies
The Western Journal
(?I'
Gloria Gibson-Hudson
chapters on film to two books.
received her Ph.D. from Indiana University-Bloomington
in folklore and ethnomusicology with an emphasis on the
For 1992-93 she was awarded a
use of music in film.
National Research Council fellowship to study films by
women of the African diaspora.
Cultural
African American Folklore and
History in the Films of Spike Lee*
Gloria J. Gibson-Hudson
"Storytelling is a dynamic form of remembering
Barbara Christian
/recreating."
Introduction
In front of a crackling fire, many decades ago,
and
African Americans would sit, gaze into the flames,
tale.
listen intensely to a storyteller weave a marvelous
from African
Some of these narratives contained survivals
folktales, others represented a unique synthesis of European
based
and African motifs. Some narratives, however, were
experiences, including the relation-
on everyday personal
Many folktales and
ship between slave and master.
generation to
personal narratives were passed down from
recorded and placed
in
generation and
subsequently
Scholars from various disciplines continue to
collections.
narratives,
analyze African American folktales, personal
and cultural
and folk music for their historic, folkloric,
relevance.
Although research has demonstrated that folklore
analytical tool to help understand and
can function as an
historical
evaluate creative cultural expression within a
African American film,
context, the relationship between
explored.'
folklore, and cultural history has rarely been
York Folklore Vol.
*A version of this paper appears in New
18, No. 1-2, 1992.
African American Folklore and Cultural History
8
Recently, however, film scholars have called for a critical
examination of African American cinema and its relation-
"What is needed is a
ship to culture. Todd Boyd states:
clear articulation of African-American cinema within a
culturally specific context so as to avoid imposing the
dominant discourse upon a textual system to which it does
this paper
not apply."'
line with
challenge,
this
In
approaches Spike Lee's work from a cultural perspective.
identifies Lee as
a contemporary
The basic
premise
storyteller weaving his tales with the aid of a camera. His
film narratives draw on both the historic and contemporary
experiences of African Americans.
dominant
examines
selected
This
investigation
She's Gotta Have It
themes that structure Lee's fiims:
(1984), School Daze (1986), Do the Right Thing (1989),
Mo' Better Blues (1990), and Jungle Fever (1991).3 The
analysis will demonstrate that Lee's themes are derived
from African American cultural experiences and, further,
that his themes reflect conceptualizations of black life found
at the core of numerous African American folk traditions
A strictly thematic
(music, folk narratives, jokes, etc.).
inquiry facilitates the analysis of the African American
experiential relationships that exist in Lee's films as well as
in other cultural creative expressions. The eminent scholar
larger
Lee's
"His
of
work:
states
Baker
Houston
thematizations are what enable us to rank him among the
creative company of blackamerican artists and intellectuals
who have dedicated themselves and their works to cultural
paper does not
address
plot
critique."'
While
this
it does argue that Lee's
development (chain of events),
thematic infrastructure (1) imparts cultural meaning in its
own right over and above plot development and (2) evokes
9
The Films of Spike Lee
culture-specific images by presenting a unique synthesis of
folk elements derived from everyday experiences.
article may be
The themes discussed
this
in
intra-racial issues
categorized under two major headings:
These categories are not mutually
and inter-racial issues.
Intra-racial themes draw upon experiences such
exclusive.
and the
as color gradation, internalization of stereotypes,
politics of identity within African American culture. Inter-
racial themes explore the negative interactions between
of
African
racism
on
effects
the
especially
races,
Americans.
In acknowledging the importance of Lee's themes,
thematic
the
huw
demonstrate
will
analysis
this
infrastructure of Lee's work is derived from and informed
The
by aspects of African American cultural histot r.
clarify
significance of this derivation resides in its ability t&
As
aspects of African American culture for the viewer.
Baker observes: "Lee's films are not devastatingly original,
telling us always things we do not know. What is striking
about his work is that it is so thoroughly grounded in what
change."5 This
we all know, but refuse to acknowledge or
article concurs and maintains that the thematic use of
folkloric and cultural elements within the film's context
illuminates the folk-life experiences of African Americans.
Moreover, Lee's use of folkloric elements functions as a
creative mode of response to cultural and social conditions.
Lee's film themes incorporate aspects of cultural
history mediated by African American folk traditions.
reveals the
Folklore functions as a mediator in that
it
their
of Black
country
and
this
people
"history
in