Spike Lee: finding the story and forcing the issue

384 Pages·2014·1.355 MB·English

by  Lee, Spike;Vest, Jason P

Spike Lee
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SPIKE LEE
Finding the Story and
Forcing the Issue
JASON P. VEST
Modern Filmmakers
Vincent LoBrutto, Series Editor
Copyright © 2014 by Jason P. Vest
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored
in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except for the inclusion
of brief quotations in a review, without prior permission in writing from the
publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Vest, Jason P., 1972–
Spike Lee : fi nding the story and forcing the issue / Jason P. Vest.
pages cm. — (Modern fi lmmakers)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-313-39226-9 (hard copy : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-313-39227-6
(ebook) 1. Lee, Spike—Criticism and interpretation. I. Title.
PN1998.3.L44V47 2014
791.4302'33092—dc23 2014019180
ISBN: 978-0-313-39226-9
EISBN: 978-0-313-39227-6
18 17 16 15 14 1 2 3 4 5
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This book is printed on acid-free paper
Manufactured in the United States of America
For Patricia Thomas
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Contents
Series Foreword ix
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction: “Still a Motherfucker”—Spike Lee in the
Twenty-First Century xiii
1. Men at Work 1
2. The Right Stuff 29
3. Dancing with Denzel 55
4. Black Magic Women 85
5. Brooklyn’s Finest 111
6. Documentary Evidence 137
7. Crime and Punishment 159
8. Facing Back, Facing Black 177
9. All Night Long 199
10. A Good Man Goes to War 219
Conclusion: Spike’s Place 239
Notes 245
Bibliography 291
Filmography 307
Index 319
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Series Foreword
The Modern Filmmakers series focuses on a diverse group of motion picture
directors who collectively demonstrate how the fi lmmaking process has be-
come the defi nitive art and craft of the twentieth century. As we advance into
the twenty-fi rst century, we begin to examine the impact these artists have
had on this infl uential medium.
What is a modern fi lmmaker? The phrase connotes a motion picture maker
who is au courant—they make movies currently. The choices in this series
are also varied to refl ect the enormous potential of the cinema. Some of
the directors make action movies, some entertain, some are on the cutting
edge, others are political, some make us think, some are fantasists. The mo-
tion picture directors in this collection will range from highly commercial,
mega-budget blockbuster directors to those who toil in the independent,
low-budget fi eld.
Gus Van Sant, Tim Burton, Charlie Kaufman, and Terry Gilliam are here,
and so are Clint Eastwood and Steven Spielberg—all for many and for various
reasons, but primarily because their directing skills have transitioned from
the twentieth century to the fi rst decade of the twenty-fi rst century. East-
wood and Spielberg worked during the 1960s and 1970s and have grown
and matured as the medium transitioned from mechanical to digital. The
younger directors here may not have experienced all of those cinematic ep-
ochs themselves, but nonetheless they remained concerned with the limits of
fi lmmaking: Charlie Kaufman disintegrates personal and narrative boundaries
in the course of his scripts, for example, while Tim Burton probes the limits
of technology to fi nd the most successful way of bringing his intensely visual
fantasies and nightmares to life.
The Modern Filmmakers series will celebrate modernity and postmod-
ernism through each creator’s vision, style of storytelling, and character
presentation. The directors’ personal beliefs and worldviews will be re-
vealed through in-depth examinations of the art they have created, but brief