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Five reasons why I’m not a Spike Lee fan - Part V

This is Part V of a five-part series, Five reasons why I’m not a Spike Lee fan.

    

   

No Likey

    

    

Finally, and without consideration of how I may feel about him personally, for me, the reality is that I don’t really find any of his films entertaining.  I’m just not feelin’ his moviemaking.  Viewing his films is not a pleasurable cinematic experience for me.  There were a few that I liked, i.e. 25^th Hour and Summer of Sam. I thought School Daze was mildly entertaining.  Maybe one or two others. 

    

For one thing, the movies are too damned long!

    

And that God-awful camera.  I despise those utterly stupid, pointless and unnecessary camera tricks that do nothing more than detract from the film.

    

    

Closing Remarks

    

    

I see why we have embraced him.  He was one of the first and best known modern day mainstream black film directors.  We were proud to have one of our own making movies; didn’t matter what kind of movies; and I think his messages, his musings were perceived as good and uplifting and pro-black. I believe black people were just happy he was making movies.  And we were glad.  And we gave him praise… then… and now.

    

Didn’t Spike Lee risk it all and make She’s Gotta Have It on credit cards?  I think the story went something like that.  I think people were inspired by that.

    

I wonder how many people honestly examine his films’ true artistic merit.

    

With those things said, I kind of get what he’s trying to do.  But I think he’s terribly self-absorbed.  And it shows.

    

I’ve heard it said that Spike Lee is a genius.  I don’t know if he’s a genius or not.

    

I will, however, give credit where it’s due.  Despite the fact that he often uses the same actors repeatedly, Spike Lee is credited with giving lots of these performers their “first chance,” and highly necessary “exposure.”  I agree.  And I applaud Spike Lee for that.

    

Moving forward, I will continue to watch his work.  People change, mature, learn, respond to criticism and make different creative choices as they age and as their viewpoints and perspectives change.

    

To Mr. Lee:  If nothing else, I implore you to be kinder to black women.  You’re vicious. 

    

    

What do you think?

    

For more on Spike Lee, see the SPIKE LEE category on this blog.

Five reasons why I’m not a Spike Lee fan - Part IV

This is Part IV of a five-part series, Five reasons why I’m not a Spike Lee fan.

    

   

Same Things

    

    

Sometimes I feel like I’m seeing the same things too often.

      

   

Morehouse

For Godssakes.  We knowwwwwwwwwwwwwwww you went to Morehouse.  We know.  We know.  How many times do I have to see a Spellman or Morehouse t-shirt wearer in your films? 

    

The Window

I’m just sayin’.  There’s always a window and someone hanging out of it – talking down from it – talking up to it.  (Yeah, yeah, yeah; SPIKE LEE’s Brooklyn childhood; blah, blah, blah). 

    

The News

There’s often a newscaster broadcasting an event.  Why?

    

Women

If any of you have read my blog, you know how I feel about his portrayal of women.  Too often, women in his films are shown as sex objects.  See the following posts:

    

    

Spike Lee and those chi chi's

Spike Lee - What's with the va jay jay's?

Spike Lee's She Hate Me

Five reasons why I'm not a Spike Lee fan - Part III

This is Part III of a five-part series, Five reasons why I’m not a Spike Lee fan.
    
   
Same Old Actors    

Early on, he kept using the same actors over and over and over and over and over and over again, without giving other actors a chance – despite the fact that he had the power to give this chance.  I’ve always wondered why he did this.  Some might say I’m nitpicking about this.  Admittedly, this is likely more a pet peeve than a justifiable complaint… maybe.  Nevertheless, I’ve always been annoyed by it.  For instance, there were other senior actors (besides Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis) who were not given opportunities.  I suppose Ossie Davis was seen as the best actor to deliver the requisite soliloquies in the Spike Lee joints in which he appeared.

Does John Turturro have something on Spike Lee or what?  Turturro shows up in most Spike Lee films; as does Michael Imperioli… and Thomas Jefferson Byrd, Isaiah Washington, Roger Guenveur Smith… and of course, Joie Lee.

    

For more on Spike Lee, see the SPIKE LEE category on this blog.

Five reasons why I'm not a Spike Lee fan - Part II

This is Part II of a five-part series, Five reasons why I’m not a Spike Lee fan.

    

   

Put me on stage.  Put me on stage.  Put me on stage.

    

    

Why, oh why does he feel the need to place himself inside his films, so often?  He’s gotten away from this in his recent work, though.  Thank goodness.  I dunno...  maybe Oliver Stone does it. Maybe Martin Scorcese does it.  Does Steven Spielberg do it?  Maybe the Coen brothers do it.  Does Francis Ford Coppola do it?  Ron Howard?  John Singleton?  Actually, I think Alfred Hitchcock did it from time to time, though I don’t know if he had speaking parts.

    

I’m not talking about John Singleton walking through the frame as a mailman.  I’m talking about Spike Lee, who has speaking parts and enjoys prominence in many of his films, including School Daze, Do the Right Thing, Mo Better Blues, Jungle Fever, Clockers, and Summer of Sam.  This is burdensome to watch because Spike Lee can’t act and despite makeup and costuming, he’s still the same character film after film.  Besides satisfying a seemingly insatiable desire to be seen and heard, there are perks to be had.  After all, in Jungle Fever, he kissed then-model, Veronica Webb.

    

    

    

For more on Spike Lee, see the SPIKE LEE category on this blog.

Five reasons why I'm not a Spike Lee fan - Part I

This is Part I of a five-part series, Five reasons why I’m not a Spike Lee fan.

    

Opening Remarks

    

Before I started this blog, I had definite opinions about Spike Lee. With the commencement of this blog, I became more acutely aware of Spike Lee and his films and there were things I wanted to say about him.  I felt so strongly about Lee, that his work, the horrific She Hate Me, was actually featured as the blog’s very first post.  In case anyone’s wondering, I am not going to talk about Spike Lee over and over again.  I had some things to say and I’ve said them here.  When this series reaches completion, I’ll be done.  This doesn’t mean I won’t talk about him again.  As long as Spike Lee is making films, I will continue to look at his work… and comment on it.  We all should.

    

    

Just Wanna Be Entertained

    

    

For Godssakes… I just want to be entertained; not informed about racial disparities and the like.  There is a place for this in documentary filmmaking.  I could do without all the messages and overt prosletyzing.  And it’s not necessarily even the messages, but rather the in-your-face manner in which they are presented.  I believe his filmmaking fails at forcing a change or even informing, as black Americans are well aware of the racism we face living in this country.  And frankly, I’m not looking to a filmmaker necessarily to educate me about racial injustice in America.  Maybe a scholar.  Maybe a writer.  And, in the proper genre, maybe a film director.  He told us to “wake up” twenty years ago.  And what?  We still sleepin.’ 

    

What do you think?

    

    

For more on Spike Lee, see the SPIKE LEE category on this blog.

Spike Lee and those chi chi's

This grown man reminds me of a schoolboy who saw his first chi chi’s… time after time after time.

    

One of my issues with Spike Lee is his portrayal of women in his films.  They’re often portrayed as sex objects.  If you view his films, you will see this pattern.  It is unmistakable; demonstrated in film after film.

    

There is evidence of his breasteses fascination in the following films:

    

Inside Man – (which he directed and co-produced.  He didn’t write this film)  In the scene when one of the hostages was being interrogated by the police, the hostage’s large breasts were highlighted and figured prominently in the frame; in fact, the boobs were taking up almost all of the frame.  Previously, one of the other hostages, during questioning, said he remembered seeing this woman in the bank.  When asked why she was memorable, he remarked, she had “nice tits.”  Or was it, “big tits.”  Whatever.  Same thing.

    

Do The Right Thing – Rosie Perez’s nipples are shown 16 minutes into the film.  Later, she performs a striptease for Spike Lee Lee’s character, Mookie.

    

Mo Better Blues – Denzel Washington’s character is a womanizer.  He had two women; any man’s dream;   We see genitalia.  See post below.

    

Jungle Fever – First scene, we see Lonette McKee’s breasteses.

    

Crooklyn – Now this was interesting (if not revealing).  In this film, there is a little girl (probably about ten or so).  She can’t wait till she grows ta ta’s.  We see her stuffing her shirt with tissue so as to create boobies for herself.  As if it weren’t enough with grown women, the tit-fetish has been attached to even a child.  Yes; as women, we’ve all been there.  As little girls, you are waiting to be like the big girls and wanting your chi chi's to grow.  Understood.  There are many things little girls and little boys experience; many things that make them feel happy, sad, worthy, etc.  There are lots of things a child hopes for and longs for.  Of all the possible struggles this child could have had, OF COURSE, her struggle would be feeling inadequate (and made to feel inadequate by her brother who taunted her, by calling her “flat chested”) because she had no chi chi’s.  This child’s concern is noteworthy because the psychosis is cinematically launched onto even a child.  In the film, the child received a gift.  The gift the kid received wasn’t a bicycle or a doll.  It was, of course, a training bra.

    

Girl 6 – (Spike Lee directed and produced this film.  The writer was a woman.)  In the first 6.5 minutes, we see bare breasts.  Moments later, the camera pans onto Girl 6’s (Theresa Randle’s) perfectly plump round ass.  At 9:10 when Girl 6 was in acting class, we had more opportunity to gaze upon her chi chi’s.  There they were; her nipples, like little eyes watching us; wanting us to watch them.  During her one-on-one drama coaching, all we see is her perky, protruding nipples staring at us from under her sweater.  Yes; this same woman who, while at an audition, was annoyed at the casting director who had insisted she remove her shirt for a role.  Mother Theresa, one moment.  Jenna Jamison, the next.  Despite the theme of the film, there was no dramatic reasoning to justify the constant focus on this woman’s breasts.  In one scene, we had opportunity to gaze upon them for nearly two whole minutes; that’s how long they were in the frame.  Interestingly, in many ways, she’s walking around the whole movie with her shirt off and her ta ta’s out. 

    

He Got Game – Several exposed breast scenes and “unnecessary” sex scenes.  We even see breasts being squeezed.  That was interesting.  When I say squeezed, I mean squeezed.  LOL.  Lesbian sex.  Interestingly, there is a scene where Denzel is having sex with someone but he’s sexing her with his pants (and belt) on.  But we see her bare ass.  LOL.

    

Summer of Sam – More bare breasts.

    

Bamboozled – There is a video showing; a liquor commercial, which shows hoochies dancing suggestively and sexually. 

    

She Hate Me – More female sexuality.  Show genitalia.  Lesbian sex… again.  He likes lesbian sex.  See post below. 

    

Clockers – Women are:  video hos; and also murder victims, angry moms and crackheads.

    

I am a member of the black, female, United States moviegoing audience and I am intolerant of Spike Lee’s inability to separate his own preoccupation with female sexuality from his cinematic vision.  His choices make for subpar filmmaking and if I choose to view his films, I am made to suffer though his choices.  And if I never watch one of them, someone in Japan or Germany will.

    

(That’s a whole nother post; someday)

    

    

For more on Spike Lee, see…

    

Spike Lee's She Hate Me

Spike Lee - What's with the va jay jays?

Spike Lee - What's with the va jay jays?

Vaginas are just fine.  So is childbirth.  Everyone on the planet knows babies are born through vaginas (with the obvious exception of caesarian births).
    
I want to know why Spike Lee chose, in Mo Better Blues, to show us in full, plain view, the birth mother’s vagina.
    
I think everyone has seen in TV and film, dozens of childbirths.  Filmmakers seldom show the audience the actual vagina.  The camera routinely pans away, sparing the audience the view of genitalia.  There are exceptions; those being documentaries, medical TV shows and the like. 
    
The scene would have worked without showing us the va jay jay.  This display of lady parts was unnecessary to the scene and the flow of the film.  The image did nothing to push the story forward or illuminate the shot in any way.  He could have, for example, merely cut to hospital personnel lifting up the newborn.  Showing us cooch was a deliberate choice on his part. 
    
My theory?  It has to do, I think, with the weirdness inside of him.  Spike Lee wanted to see it.  My guess is that there is was that thing inside him; that thing…  It’s okay.  We all have some weirdness inside us.  Most people hide it.  Spike Lee -- you showed us yours; under the guise of filmmaking.
    
He repeated this antic in the dreadful She Hate Me.
    
These scenes are handled lots of different ways.  For example:
    
Sometimes,
    
Pregnant lady, laying down in hospital bed, sweating, screaming, pushing.  Poof!  Baby is born.
We see newborn, bathed in body fluids, placenta attached, emerge from beneath the sheets of the covered woman
    
Sometimes,
    
Pregnant lady, laying down in hospital bed, sweating, screaming, pushing.  Poof!  Baby is born.
Cut to baby being washed off
    
Sometimes,
    
Pregnant lady, laying down in hospital bed, sweating, screaming, pushing.  Poof!  Baby is born.
Cut to baby wrapped in a blanket
    
Sometimes,
    
Pregnant lady, laying down in hospital bed, sweating, screaming, pushing.  Poof!  Baby is born.
Cut to new scene; child laying in mother’s arms
    
Sometimes,
    
Pregnant lady, laying down in hospital bed, sweating, screaming, pushing.  Poof!  Baby is born.
Cut to some other scene
    
Leave it to Spike Lee to show the audience furry, pubed va jay jays.  LOL.

More on Spike Lee:

Spike Lee's She Hate Me

Spike Lee's She Hate Me

Spike Lee’s 2004 film, She Hate Me, was awful.  And presumptuous.  And ill-considered.

    

Spike Lee regulars Ossie Davis and John Turturro show up again, as well as rapper-turned-actor, Q-Tip.  This film stars Anthony Mackie, as John Henry Armstrong, a young, corporate executive who is employed by Progeia, a biotech company.  The film begins with Armstrong blowing the whistle on his company’s corruption and mismanagement.

    

After that, the movie turns into medieval water torture something laborious… something nonsensical… something illogical.  The pic was all over the place, with 1,248 storylines occurring simultaneously.  The film went from corporate whistleblowing to the outrageous lesbian-hetero-sexcapades-for-money.  After that, a new Mafioso storyline is introduced culminating in Armstrong impregnating a Mafioso’s daughter.  Next, Lee is onto the Watergate break-in (and the plight of fellow black whistleblower, Security Guard Frank Wills).  The film ends with a quaint, if not absurd, familial scene; Armstrong – all smiles and hugs – bonding with his baby mamas and their respective children.

    

The signature bizarre camera work persists in this film, as it has in the Spike Lee joints that preceded it.  Story lines are not developed.  New characters are introduced late in the film.  Blah Blah Blah.

    

You just gotta ask…

    

Why would Armstrong; an educated, in-demand pharmaceutical executive need to earn money in this manner?  He hadn’t been out of work that long before he started planting seeds.  He did this so easily, without really examining the ethical and moral ramifications of this behavior.  He had no savings?  Was he that hard up for cash?  Even with his assets frozen, seems like he would have somehow had other options – especially given his intellect and education.

    

But this post is not about the things that make this film a perverse disastrous montage of absurdity.  This post is about other things.

    

Assumptions – The Lesbians

    

The lesbian story line is illogical and preposterous and emotionally implausible.

    

The lesbian characters were crafted to have a virtually insatiable sexual desire for Armstrong.  Yet they are lesbians.  Not bisexuals.  But lesbians.  Why would these lesbians -- all eighteen of them -- be desirous of sexual intimacy with this man?  It’s one thing if they just all happened to prefer to be impregnated naturally, but no; they wanted sex with him.  Interestingly, the lone lesbian who chose not to have intercourse with him and opted for artificial insemination, ended up not getting pregnant (although all the other women – all seventeen of them -- did).  In the end, seemingly believing that Armstrong -- and only Armstrong’s -- penis inside her was the only way she could ever possibly become pregnant, she virtually begged him to have sex with her.

    

The first group of lesbians are femmy.  Each group is noticeably less feminine than the previous group.  The third group shows up (the hardcore dykes) and we are supposed to believe that these women want carnal sex with him -– even if by virtual force -– all so they can be mothers. 

    

Why show these different groups of women?  Would Spike Lee have the audience believe that no matter how committed to a lesbian lifestyle, that really at the end of the day, a lesbian woman is nothing more than a conflicted sex toy that is surreptitiously desirous of sex with a man?

    

What is this portrayal about, Spike Lee’s secret belief that lesbians are sexually fluid or changeable?  And that given the right penis, they seek to be freed of their sexually suppressed lives by way of the penis?

    

Images - Sex Objects

    

When femmepimp Fatima Goodrich (Kerry Washington) accompanies the first six lesbians into Armstrong’s home, she assures Armstrong  that the women are “highly educated,” “highly successful businesswomen” in their fields.  That must explain why Oni (Bai Ling) who, though highly educated, does not know what circumcise means.

    

Conversely, highly educated John Armstrong prances about in fine suits and tidy shoes.  We see that John Armstrong is a professional; a biotech executive who has arrived, being the youngest VP at Progeia. 

    

One of the educated and successful black women is shown to be a ghetto hoochie who utters the word “skepticalism” when she means to say “skepticism.”  Evelyn (Paula Jai Parker), our platinum recording artist, blond wig wearing, exposed midriff wearing, ginormous chain-wearing, tatted, ghetto-talking, thug-whore is one of the highly educated, highly successful businesswomen.

    

Educated women somehow are still shown to be whorish sexual objects; for this is the purpose women often serve in Spike Lee’s films.  No matter how educated or successful, Spike Lee preserves black women’s usefulness as sexual objects. 

    

Spike Lee Creepiness

    

This continues.  Is this Spike Lee’s own personal fantasy?  Does he sexually desire lesbians -– the kind who want to have sex with men… the kind who want to have sex with him?  Is this his very own clandestine pleasure?

    

I’m Just Sayin’.

    

And by the way, the animated traveling sperm scenes are ridiculous.    

    

You may also want to read:    

    

Spike Lee - What's with the va jay jays?