Spike Lee was introduced to art at a young age with his mother being an art educator and his father being a jazz musician. Lee earned a master in fine arts in film and television from the New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. As an independent black filmmaker Lee has always been willing to share his passion for sociopolitical causes by any means necessary throughout his films. From his first feature film, She's Gotta Have It, a black and white drama about a Brooklyn woman juggling relationships with three different men.. New York Times film critic A.O. Scott wrote that the film "ushered in (along with Jim Jarmusch's Stranger Than Paradise) the American independent film movement of the 1980s. It was also a groundbreaking film for African-American filmmakers and a welcome change in the representation of blacks in American cinema, depicting men and women of color not as pimps and whores, but as intelligent, upscale urbanites." As his film career has succeeded time and time again with other films like, Do The Right Thing (1989), Malcolm X (1992), as well as exploring racial issues through jazz in Mo Better Blues (1990) and romance in Jungle Fever (1991), Spike Lee made politically and socially relevant films that were important during the time and still today. In Lee’s 1998 film, He’s Got Game, Ray Allen, a professional basketball player, played Jesus Shuttlesworth. After his father is sent to prison for allegedly murdering his wife/Jesus’s mom, he is left to be raised by everyone else surrounding. From his uncle who raised him to his coach Jesus is deemed as a basketball idol in his community and faces pressure from the people in his life not because they care but because they want to be around for his inheritance for his talents, dedication, and hard work. Even Jesus’s girlfriend is pretending to like him in order to convince him to sign a deal with a sports agent/family friend. Essentially a coming of age story, Jesus is left without honest guidance, no one loyal around him (except his cousin and sister): left alone to figure out the process and although scared, he attempts not to show it. Unlike an intense sports movie, where the entire time you're waiting for the big game, followed by the big win. In He’s Got Game, there is no big game or big shot moment. Roger Egerbert writes, “This is not so much a movie about sports as about capitalism. It doesn't end, as the formula requires, with a big game. In fact, it never creates artificial drama with game sequences, even though Ray Allen, who plays for the Milwaukee Bucks, is that rarity, an athlete who can act. It's about the real stakes, which involve money more than final scores, and showmanship as much as athletics.” Throughout the film, Lee offers an intimate perspective of the game and the stakes of what ordinary kids experience when going down a path of an athletic career as well as the difficulties of growing up as Jesus Shuttlesworth did. The opening scenes of the film shows children of all economical and racial backgrounds playing a game of basketball, the simplicity of the scene offers a larger meaning. From the article titled, A Look at Spike Lee's 'He Got Game' 20 Years Later, author Will DiGravio, writes, “though the film is an effective critique of capitalism, it is also a celebration of its purest form: athletic competition. Unlike the cheating and inequality that defines big business, two things define basketball: how good you are and how hard you are willing to work to be that good.” He’s got Game, is a perspective of pure talent and passion for the game and all that matters is what you put out onto the court. Throughout the film, Lee offers an intimate perspective of the game and the stakes of what ordinary kids experience when going down a path of an athletic career as well as the difficulties of growing up as Jesus Shuttlesworth did. The opening scenes of the film shows children of all economical and racial backgrounds playing a game of basketball, the simplicity of the scene offers a larger meaning. From the article titled, A Look at Spike Lee's 'He Got Game' 20 Years Later, author Will DiGravio, writes, “though the film is an effective critique of capitalism, it is also a celebration of its purest form: athletic competition. Unlike the cheating and inequality that defines big business, two things define basketball: how good you are and how hard you are willing to work to be that good.” He’s got Game, is a perspective of pure talent and passion for the game and all that matters is what you put out onto the court. Sources: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/he-got-game-1998 https://filmschoolrejects.com/a-look-at-spike-lees-he-got-game-20-years-later/ http://thelastdetailfilm.weebly.com/he-got-game-19981.html Death By Hanging [1968]Director Nagisa Oshima was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. a pioneer of the Japanese New Wave in the 1960s, The new wave was a movement was a loosely connected group of filmmakers inspired by national social change and unrest that were motivated by taboo subject matter, including sexual violence, radicalism, youth culture and deliquency, Korean discrimination, queerness, and the aftermath of World War II. Oshima, being one of these filmmakers, created one of his most confrontational works, Death By Hanging, released in Japan in 1968. Ōshima's key themes, most notably are a need to question social constraints, mortality, capital punishment, racism, and to similarly deconstruct received political doctrines of Japan in the 20th century. Set in Japan, a korean victim named, R, is set to excuted by hanging for a murder by Japanese officials. The opening scenes take the audience through the ‘gates of hell’ into the western style home-like chamber which is offset from the rest of the prison. Through narration we learn that R is given his being given his last rights to one last meal and last cigarette. After this moment, R is taken to the back chamber, where he is hanged but a problem occurs, his heart continues to beat. The narrator explains that this can sometimes last for up to 15 minutes. The film continues with what the guards will do with a condemned person who will not die. Based on the historical background of Japan and Korea between 1910-1945 where japan occupied the korean peninsula extorting Korean citizens and creating generational friction. Death by hanging exmaines the historical background of Japan's record of racial discrimination against its Korean minority. Throughout the 20th century Japan had banned importing Japanese media into Korea and stereotyping the Korean citizens as an inferior race after colonizing the country. These stereotypes were common enough that Oshima utilized his cinematic position to enlighten and question the social constraints as well as political doctrines. In the article, Death By Hanging [1968]: A Brillaint, Provocative Work Of A Anti-Authoritarian, author Arun Kumar writes, “The thematic pursuits and heavy-handed social realist messages might make viewers to consider“Death by Hanging” a film that only relies on dialogue. Yes, there’s a heavy emphasis on dialogue, but Oshima’s film-making style (cinematographer: Yasuhiro Yoshioka) plays a vital role in staging the situation’s intricacies as much as the earnest speeches. The tight compositions of the chamber at times give an uncomfortable feeling – an element that defined Oshima’s visual language. In the re-enactment scenes of R’s family, the frames zeroes-in on R’s in-actions so as to indicate his powerless nature in the hostile socioeconomic structure.” Kumar continues, “The big, blazing image of Japanese flag is a recurrent visual motif. In front of the sun-mark flag of Japan (commonly known as ‘Hinomaru’) the impassive District Attorney sits, gazing at the enacted familial tribulation of R. It indicates how much the establishment and the national identity burdens R’s position. When R opens up his thoughts, the flag drapes his body as if it is trying to bear his inner burdens. Finally, we once again see the white empty space adorned by the flag and poker-faced attorney, symbolizing the obliterative image of those identities. The performances are delivered with astounding spontaneity and zestfulness, especially that of the Education officer character, played by Fumio Watanabe.” Through Oshima’s use of non-realistic "distancing" techniques inspired by other art forms of responses to political and climate change like theater practitioner Bertold Brecht or Jean-Luc Godard, a french filmmaker rejecting nuances of traditional french films. Oshima specifically examines Japan's record of racial discrimination against its Korean minority, by including elements of absurd political satire and distant visual techniques associated with the cinematic new wave in a densely layered narrative.
9 Comments
Tymoteusz Szylak
5/9/2021 06:16:23 am
Your introduction of both directors is great, as well as the gifs you used from the movie. Same goes with the visual motifs in Death by Hanging, when I was watching it during the film I was confused with why it was constantly on screen.
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Haya Fahim
5/9/2021 11:04:38 am
I love how you go into detail about both directors and the use of their style. Oshima's use of distancing technique detaches the audience from their emotions and allow them to think intellectually. Lee's use of techniques creates both personal and political sides to the film
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Justin Samborski
5/9/2021 03:11:56 pm
I think you did a good job at explaining the themes both directors put in their movies. When Lee was focusing more on a becoming of age story, Oshima was focusing more on a political story about the death sentence and why it should be abolished and how Japan has effected its Korean neighbors after the conflicts they had in the past.
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Ngoc Ngo
5/9/2021 07:21:14 pm
i did not understand the opening scenes until i read your blog. well done as always. it is my pleasure to read your post.
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Ben Vena
5/9/2021 07:37:20 pm
Loved the introduction of both of the directors and I like to point out that even though these films are talking about are different, the subject matter and importance is the same.
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Kayla Tomaszkiewicz
5/9/2021 09:30:32 pm
you did a great job explaining each film and their director's style. Each film is different I agree that the different angles used detaches the audience from the characters in Oshima's film.
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Aidan Geoffroy
5/9/2021 09:49:14 pm
I really enjoyed reading your blogpost for the week. I really liked how you wrote about Death By Hanging. I found myself having a difficult time watching this film and it gave me a difficult time to write about it.
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Ryan Lefever
5/14/2021 06:13:45 pm
I enjoyed your explanation of the themes of both films, very detailed with supportive evidence. I agree with how you basically are pointing out that the tone of the films are very different, but both film makers do a nice job of emphasize the importance of the themes. He Got Game is more of a emotionally depth film, while Death by Hanging isn't as emotionally attached.
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Film As Art:
From a college film course. Note: I haven't had time to write but I've seen many new movies since taking the class and hope to find spare time to continue writing reviews based on my interests rather than parameters of a class. THANK YOU! |