Spike Lee Overview

"Waaaake up!" yells DJ Mister Senor Love Daddy at the start of Spike Lee's "Do the Right Thing" -- a call to awareness that seems to be the message of all Lee's movies. Lee isn't interested in forcing any one ideology... [more]

"Waaaake up!" yells DJ Mister Senor Love Daddy at the start of Spike Lee's "Do the Right Thing" -- a call to awareness that seems to be the message of all Lee's movies. Lee isn't interested in forcing any one ideology down his audience's throat; instead, he wants to expose us to the issues that preoccupy him and let us come to our own conclusions. Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Lee moved to Brooklyn, New York, with his family when he was three. New York City became Lee's spiritual home: its neighborhoods serve as the settings of his films and its sports teams are adoringly invoked. During his college years at Atlanta's Morehouse College, Lee conceived of making films that would "speak to black Americans." In his career to date, he has made a series of films that have spoken to all Americans, sounding a singularly powerful note in the perennial debate regarding race issues in America. Though forceful, Lee's voice is controversial, and he has often criticized the attitudes of the Hollywood establishment toward black filmmakers. Thanks to his activism and the influence of his films, the movie industry's purse strings have loosened so that other, lesser-known black filmmakers, such as the Hughes brothers and John Singleton, have found opportunities. Lee's films include "School Daze" (1988), "Do the Right Thing" (1989), "Jungle Fever" (1991), "Malcolm X" (1992), "Clockers" (1995), and several more. [show less]