The Spike Lee Joint by James Harris in F.E.D.S. Magazine

When you hear movies and controversial you think of Spike Lee, a man who never strayed away from controversy rather in public statements or in certain proactive elements in his films. Spike Lee’s career  pushed boundaries and explored many areas that many filmmakers dare stay away from, which makes him one of the most well-known and public African American filmmakers of our time. 

Born Shelton Jackson Lee on March 20, 1957, Spike Lee is a writer, producer and director that established his own production company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks which has produced over 35 films since 1983. Lee had was making amateur films by the age of 20. His student thesis film, Joe’s
Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads, won a student academy award and was the first student film to be showcased in Lincoln Center’s New Directors New Films Festival. He would release his first feature film, She’s Gotta Have It in 1986 with a budget of only $175,000. He shot the film in two weeks and once released, it grossed over $7,000,000 at the U.S. box office. 

Lee would follow up the successful film with School Daze two years later, which reviewed positive reviews and like most of his work, controversy.  Many officials from black colleges bashed the film for it’s racial language and portrayal of black colleges. The film explored racism, not only among whites and blacks but among blacks themselves as dark skin vs light skin, an issue that many overlook today. Doing production, Lee would keep the two different groups separate, giving the “wannabees” better hotel accommodations over the “jigaboos”.  As a result, it created tension amongst the actors giving a much more realistic feud among the different groups on film. It was also reported that the fight scene at the step show was not in the script as Lee ordered the camera crew to keep filming. Lee would follow up with Do The Right Thing the following year. The film was nominated for Best Screenplay and a Best Supporting Actor for Danny Aiello portrayal of Sal. It only took him two weeks to write the script which had a different ending from the movie which had a stronger reconciliation between Mookie and Sal. While gaining positive reviews it was also criticized by white critics inciting blacks to riot. Like most of his films people miss the point and the message. Despite the negative back lash the film holds a rating of 92% on Rotten Tomatoes and was met with universal acclaim. 

Lee’s three younger siblings all work in many different positions in Lee’s films whereas his cousin Malcolm D. Lee is too a director. Lee also attended Morehouse College where he made his first student film, Last Hustle in Brooklyn. Lee would also take courses in Clark Atlanta University and eventually graduated with a BA in Mass Communication from Morehouse. He also earned a Master of Fine Arts in Film and Television at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. 

There are numerous of groundbreaking and controversial movies under the director’s belt such as his film usually takes a critical look at race relations, political issues and violence. Many people chose to stray away from such stories and content but Spike Lee chooses to go against the grain and tackle this issues heads on. His controversial behavior doesn’t stop there as in October 2005, responding to a CNN anchor’s question as to whether the government intentionally ignored potential dangerous situation of black Americans during Hurricane Katrina, Lee answers; “It’s not too far-fetched. I don’t put anything past the United States government. I don’t find it too far-fetched that they tried to displace all the black people out of New Orleans.” The writer and director also got into with fellow director Clint Eastwood over the lack of blacks in Eastwood’s WWII Iwo Jima movies, Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima which was around the same time Lee was doing his WWII Imo Jima movie, Miracle at St. Anna, which was focused on a African American marine unit. They two would later patch things up through a mutual friend, Steven Spielberg. 

Spike Lee movies has been nominated on numerous occasions but it wasn’t until Inside Man that he won for a movie he either Directed or wrote, where he won for Best Director in 2007. He produced Love and Basketball which won for Best Film in 2001. He has received awards such as the Time Warner Innovator Award in 2004, the Ossie Davis Award in 2005 and a special award at the BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) Awards in 2002. The Innovator has been very successful and his portfolio proves it. Spike is worth $40,000,000 dollars according to celebritynetworth.com.  Lee was due to helm the director seat again for the sequel to Inside Man with Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Jodie Foster and Chiwetel Ejofor reprising their roles but they couldn’t secure funding for the project so the project has been cancelled. His latest project was Da Sweet Blood of Jesus that had a low budget and was completed in 16 days. The film was released on VOD February 13, 2015 to mostly negative reviews.  However on Metacritic the film holds a rating of 52 out of 100 out based on 19 critics. 

It is unclear at the time of what is in store for Spike Lee in the future as evident in the low funding for his latest movie and the lack of funding for a potential sequel, it appears Hollywood may be leaning to a more less controversial route such as Tyler Perry whose movies usually depicts a water down image of Blacks and teeters upon the same storyline and becoming more predictable and less entertaining.  Spike Lee as a writer and director has shown and proved  that he is not afraid to talk about certain social issues in America in his films while pushing everyone’s boundaries while testing the fine line of what is socially acceptable and not. I myself praise Spike Lee for showing how things are in his films despite how the public feels and rather they want to accept truth as truth or not. Whatever Spike Lee’s new joint may be and when it might come, I’m pretty sure it will be innovative and groundbreaking.