Spike Lee was born Shelton Jackson Lee in 1957, Atlanta. At a very young age, he moved from a segregated Georgia to Brooklyn, New York. This early experience clearly influenced his outlook on race, which was to become one of the most noticeable themes in his films.

 

 

Throughout the course of his career, Lee has given the world an insight into African-American culture and can well be seen as one of the pioneers of African American filmmaking.

 

Throughout the 20th century, audiences were given incorrect and many a times negative portrayals of Black culture: television shows such as The Black and White Minstrel Show, for example, presented stereotypical depictions of blacks through their comic routines.

 

Debut

In 1986, Lee arguably offered a much more authentic African American lifestyle with his début feature She’s Gotta Have It (1986), an African-American comedy about relationships.

 

The movie, made for only $175000, explored the life of an independent black artist, Nola Darling (Tracy Camilla Jones). This feature was provocative as it presented a reversal of gender roles: Lee made males the vulnerable characters that revolve around the central female protagonist.

 

 

After the financial success of She’s Gotta Have It and School Daze (1988), Lee went on to make the acclaimed Do The Right Thing (1989). The movie portrayed a neighbourhood on a hot day and the racial conflicts that emerge.

 

Just as Martin Scorsese’s personal interest with his Italian-American culture influenced his early films such as Mean Streets’ setting of Little Italy, Lee sets his film in his hometown of Brooklyn, New York.

 

Success

Do The Right thing deals with tension amongst a multicultural community. Lee explains in an interview with Michael Kaufman for New York Times:

 

“Essentially, what I hoped was that it would provoke everybody, from white to black” Tensions between different groups sizzle in this dark comedy before reaching a tragic climax.

 

 

Lee’s gritty view of racial relations was taken to an extreme when he made Bamboozled (2000). It tells the story of a Television producer Pierre Delacroix (Damon Wayans) who re-invents the Minstrel Shows.

 

Racial controversy is exactly where Lee was taking the film as he explained in a later interview with Kaufman: “I wanted to generate discussion about racism because too many people have their head in the sand about the issue.”

 

 

Lee’s failure to impress audiences during this period forced him to distance himself from his thought-provoking vision of African-Americanism.

 

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Post 9/11: New theme

Shortly after the September 11th terrorist attacks, American mainstream entertainment hesitated from incorporating the event in its narratives. However, several references to the event were noticeable in Lee’s thrillers, 25th hour (2002) and Inside Man (2006).

 

Just as suspense surrounded American intelligence on the suspects of the attack, these films employ a sense of ambiguity. Inside Man in particular has the villains and victims dressed alike. The film opens with the thieves’ vehicle making its way towards a major Manhattan bank. Unlike Lee’s regular use of Hip-Hop, this opening scene is accompanied with the Bollywood theme, Chaiyya Chaiyya.

 

The criminals aren’t Middle-Eastern; rather the constant finger a Post 9/11 society points at this community is emphasised through this.

 

 

Lee has successfully re-invented himself as an auteur by changing his themes in order to produce work which is more relevant to modern society.

 

Since his debut feature, Lee has become a well-known auteur presenting yet re-inventing recurring themes of Gender, Multiculturalism and Race within a New York environment.