Spike Lee Analysis Essay -- essays research papers

The thread of African American history is spun from two sources: the struggle to define a place in the wider American life and the effort to maintain an authentic black presence in the larger American culture. This duality has meaning in the realm of filmmaking because the tools of cinema, film and cameras, cost more than the paper and pencil tools of writers. It is the cost of doing business that affects, indeed, threatens the black presence on the screen. The costly collaborative nature of filmmaking has blurred the definition of a "black" movie. Is it black if it is merely angled toward blacks, or must it be made by blacks, or both? Spike Lee has established himself as one of Hollywood's most important and influential filmmakers in the past decade. In the critically acclaimed...