Word+Image, essay by Jack Worsley

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Jack Worsley, 20031119 Word and Image - Spike Lee.

“Chi-rak”, Spike Lee, 2015. (1) In the image above, The denotation is a political protest, with connotations of corruption, taking a stand, and radical change. It has signifiers such as the American flag, next to a political banner, and a group of black women, the signified from this suggests corruption, racism, and a lack of equality in America. These signs are symbolic, as these thoughts are purely culturally and conventionally specific, these thoughts would not be thought without the media, and personal experiences within the western culture that we are exposed to. It could be argued that the political banner is also an indexical sign, as it is only there because of the lack of equality, meaning that the signifier is caused by the signified. All of these things tie into what Spike Lee wants us to see, as we can tell from other projects from Spike Lee, the depiction of race, and the issues that are present in America around race is something that Lee almost always has a focus towards, as can be seen by the quote ‘Race relations today are a direct response to having a black president’(2), this was no different. The black women, on top of what appears to be a political building, suggested by the aged white texture, and the flagpole in front, suggest power, the women are in control, however, this concept is quickly disproven, by the political banner, reading “No peace”, and the fact that it is the nighttime, with the women wearing camouflage clothing. The camouflage clothing suggests stealth and rebellion, and now because of these signs, we can now come to an assumption that the women were not meant to be up there, they had got there by any means necessary, to protest, to make change. (1) - Writer/Author N/A, Chi-rak, film-grab. https://film-grab.com/2017/03/10/chi-raq/ (accessed 14 March 2021) (2) - Catherine Shoard, Spike Lee: 'Race relations today are a direct response to having a black president', Fri 12 Jun 2020 06.00 BST, The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/jun/12/spike-lee-race-relations-today-are-a-direct-response-to-having-a-black-presi dent (accessed 14 March 2021)


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