Spike Lee: Racism and Film

Well Spike Lee has a new "joint" coming out named "Miracle at St. Anna" and I'll probable catch it. However I am by no means a fan of Mr. Lee. The only film I have enjoyed of his was Inside Man by far the most mainstream and watered down version of Spike Lee that there is.

But what really gets me is his film "Do the Right Thing." I don't understand why people like it so much and feel that it tackles racism at a very unique angle. I don't think that at all. Movies are made to tell a story whether plot or character based, but "Do the Right Thing" does nothing for me but shove Spike Lee's message down my throat so hard I feel like I'm choking on an ostrich egg. For example there is the sequence in which all the characters in the film look at the camera and spew out racial profanities. After I watched that sequence all I could think was "Yeah, so. Congratulations people don't like each other and found interesting ways to express it." Never in the film did I feel that any of the characters really felt the way the acted as or understood what it meant to be a racist.

Of course this is just a small little rant on a film I believe is full of problems and is way overhyped by the indie crowd that think Spike Lee is the next Orson Welles. In the end I think Spike Lee is full of himself and if anyone is racist its him. Just look up the argument he tried to have with Clint Eastwood for no apparent reason.