The Evolution of Spike Lee

FEATUREIn 1977, New York City was economically and spiritually at its nadir. Rampant crime, budget cuts and a free-falling economy had taken its toll on the city. President Gerald Ford flatly declared that he would veto any bill that provided “a federal bail-out of New York City,” stabbing the already traumatized populace in the heart. Famously, the New York Daily News ran the story of Ford’s denial of federal aid on its front page. The headline read: Ford to City: Drop Dead. Racial tensions were high during that summer, and just as was the case in Queens and the Bronx, the landscape of the Bedford Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, known as Bed-Stuy, became a boiling hotbed of crime and desperation for the hundreds of thousands seeking a way out, but finding very few options and little hope. This was the backdrop that formed the worldview of Spike Lee, whose recent release, BlackKklansman, has undeniably increased his importance and relevance among his peers.

The grandson of an art teacher and son of a successful jazz musician, Lee was born in Atlanta but moved with his family to Bed-Stuy at a very young age, and it was there that his underdog’s point of view-a clear theme in all of his films began. His grandmother, Zimmie Reatha Shelton, financed Lee’s education at Morehouse College, and then N.Y.U. Film school. After Lee won a student Academy Award in 1983, she also funded his first feature;She’s Gotta Have It. The film was produced for only 175,000 dollars and grossed over 7,000.000 dollars, and was one of the most profitable films of 1986. With its success, Lee’s career was born.

Though his arrival as a director of import followed that of MartinScorcese by at least a decade, the paths that each man has traveledare similar. Thematically, both native New York directors explorestories that deal with their respective culture and environment.Scorsese’s Mean Streets, which had a significant influence on Lee asa younger man, studied Italian-American life in New York in the nineteenseventies. Similarly, Goodfellas, and later, Casino, were similarforms of this exploration. However, rather than posit a question inthe minds of the audience as they leave the theater, Scorsese onlycomments on the state of existence of his characters without directlychallenging his viewers. Though not an ignoble position to take, thisform of cinematic storytelling entertains, but rarely sparks discussionbeyond the context of the film itself. It is on this specific point wherethe difference between Lee and his contemporaries can be found, andwith the release of BlackKklansman, the position has never been more clear.

In an era of cinematic social commentary on all sides, there are few films, if any, that have the immediacy of those that tackle the subject of racism. The timing of its release (on the one year anniversary of the Charlottesville riots) have not fueled uprisings, as some had feared, but instead, have re-energized desperately needed discussions on the deterioration of race relations not only here in America, but the rest of the world as well. As in the case of his other films, Do the Right Thing and Malcolm X, the film’s release date was timed for maximum effect; a knack for which Lee has proven himself artful, if not brilliant. His films are produced for social impact, first and foremost with art following close behind, and come into existence from Lee’s sincere desire to effect change. It is here where Lee has separates himself from his pack of contemporaries, placing the greater good over profit.

The trajectory of Lee’s projects all follows what has now become a familiar arc. Most of his passion projects are produced independently, without the heft of big studio-muscle and massive publicity budgets. However, it is Lee’s mastery of the act of routinely taking these all-or-nothing risks, both as a person and filmmaker, that have made his career. When Mr. Lee accepted his honorary Academy Award in Los Angeles in 2015, he was joined onstage by Denzel Washington, Samuel L. Jackson, and Wesley Snipes. Washington told the audience that “Spike Lee has put more African Americans to work in this business than anyone else in the history of this business.” To that, Jackson added that Lee “made it viable for filmmakers (not only people of color but all filmmakers) to tell their story, their way.” Never before has a director taken such courageous stands, over and over again, at such personal risk. (For proof, look no further than Lee’s comments at this year’s Cannes Film Festival press conference).