Despite the more commercial and thrilling aspect of this film, Lee retains his trademarks, from close-up shots to his signature floating shot and infusion of music and athletic iconography.
Lee continues to infuse his films with social and political commentary. Although he has not made as many feature films in recent years as he did in the past, he continues to produce and direct works that focus on social issues, as well as the black experience. Although Lee may be outspoken at times, his viewpoints and socio-political beliefs have not changed during the course of his career. His ability to retain his identity in an ever changing world have made Lee a truly unique director.
Annotated Filmography
Jungle Fever. Dir. Spike Lee. United States: 40 Acres & a Mule Studios, 1991.
Jungle Fever explores the concept of interracial relationships and how they are viewed by the community. The film, like much of Lee's cinematic cannon, comments on limitations that are imposed on an individual because of their race or social status. As is seen in other films, Lee highlights the drug abuse and problems that have infiltrated the community, which Lee contends are ruining the integrity of society.
Malcolm X Dir. Spike Lee. United States: 40 Acres & a Mule Studios, 1992.
Malcolm X is a seminal work in Lee's cinematic cannon. The film is a biographical sketch of civil rights activist Malcolm X and follows him through the course of his political career, up to his assassination. Lee's intention is to raise awareness of Malcolm
X's contribution to the civil rights movement of the 1960s to the present. Like many of this other films, Malcolm X is full of militant undertones, which support the film's purpose. Lee gives the film a sense of realism by intersplicing archival footage and having people that marched with Malcolm X participate in the making of the film.
Kobe Doin' Work. Dir. Spike Lee. United States: 40 Acres & a Mule Studios, 2009.
This film is a documentary that Lee did in conjunction with ESPN and follows LA
Lakers shooting guard Kobe Bryant during the course of a day. The film focuses solely on athletic iconography and provides insight into the life of one of the most successful basketball players of our generation.
Works Cited
Bollag, Brenda. "NY Independent Cinema at Cannes: Jim Jarmusch's "Down by Law" and Spike
Lee's "She's Gotta Have it." Film Quarterly, Vol. 40, No. 2 (Winter, 1986-1987), pp. 11-
13. JSTOR. 21 April 2012.
Diawara, Manthia and Kolbowski, Silvia. "Homeboy Cosmopolitan." October, Vol. 83 (Winter,
1998), pp. 51-70. JSTOR. 21 April 2012.
Flory, Dan. "Spike Lee and the Sympathetic Racist." The Journal of Aesthetics and Art
Criticism, Vol. 64, No. 1, Special Issue: Thinking through Cinema: Film as Philosophy
(Winter, 2006), pp. 67-79. JSTOR. 21 April 2012.
Hanson, Phillip. "The Politics of Inner City Identity in "Do the Right Thing." South Central
Review, Vol. 20, No. 2/4 (Summer-Winter, 2003), pp. 47-66. JSTOR. 21 April 2012.
Houston, Kerr. "Athletic Iconography in Spike Lee's Early Feature Films." African-American
Review, Vol. 38, No. 4 (Winter, 2004), pp. 637-649. JSTOR. 21 April 2012.
Lubiano, Wahneema. "But Compared to what?: Reading Realism, Representation, and Essentialism in School Daze, Do the Right Thing, and the Spike Lee Discourse." Black
American Literature Forum, Vol. 25, No. 2, Black Film Issue (Summer, 1991), pp.253-
282. JSTOR. 21 April 2012.
Levy, Ariel. "The Angriest Auteur." New York Movies. 13 August 2006. Web. 21 April 2012.
Filmography -- Only includes films, documentaries, series that were directed by Spike Lee
Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads
Director
Writer
Producer
1983
She's Gotta Have it
Director
Writer
Producer
Actor
1986
School Daze
Director
Writer
Producer
Actor
1988
Do the Right Thing
Director
Writer
Producer
"They Don't Care About Us"
Director
1997
4 Little Girls
Documentary
Director
Producer
1997
He Got Game
Director
Writer
Producer
1998
Freak
TV Movie
Director
1998
Pavorotti & Friends 99 for Guatemala and Kosovo
TV Documentary
Director
1999
Summer of Sam
Director
Writer
Producer
Actor
1999
And Ya Don't Stop: Hip Hop's Greatest Videos, Vol. 1
"Fight the Power"
Director
2000
The Original Kings of Comedy
Documentary
Director
Producer
2000
Bamboozled
Director
Writer
Producer
2000
The Making of 'Bamboozled'
Video Documentary
Director
2001
A Huey P. Newton Story
TV Documentary
Director
2001
The Concert for New York City
"Come Rain or Come Shine"
Director
2001
Jim Brown: All American
TV Documentary
Director
Writer
2002
Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet
"We Wuz Robbed"
Director
Producer
2002
25th Hour
Director
Producer
2002
She Hate Me
Director
Writer
Producer
2004
Sucker Free City
TV Movie
Director
Producer
2004
Miracle's Boys
"Bond of Brothers"
"New Charlie"
Director
2005
All the Invisible Children
"Jesus Children of America"
Director
Producer
2005
Inside Man
Director
2006
When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts
"Part One"
"Part Two"
Director
Writer
Producer
2006
Shark
TV Series, "Pilot"
Director
2006
M.O.N.Y.
TV Movie
Director
2007
Lovers & Haters
Short
Director
2007
Miracle at St. Anna
Director
Producer
2008
Great Performances
"Passing Strange"
"Pavarotti & Friends for the Children of Liberia"
Director
Producer
1998-2009
Kobe Doin' Work
TV Documentary
Director
Producer
2009
If God is Willing and Da Creek Don't Rise
TV Series Documentary
"Episode #1.2"
Director
Writer
Producer
2010
Da Brick
TV Movie
Director
2011
Red Hook Summer
Director
Writer
Producer
Actor
2012
*Filmography from IMDB
" The Aftermath Uncle Tom characters were common in both white and black productions of the time, yet no director before Micheaux had so much as dared to shine a light on the psychology that ravages such characters. By essentially bowing to the two white men, Micheaux implied that Old Ned was less than a man; an individual whittled down to nothing more than yes-man and wholly deprived of self-worth. At this
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