I don't think anybody on here has any hate issues about Spike. I've liked most of his movies and loved Malcolm X, Clockers and Summer Of Sam. Others like Red Hook Summer I thought were straight up doodoo though.
If the designer in his open letter (which curiously has been taken offline a couple of days ago just at around the same time as his poster designs with the Spike Lee copyright claim have disappeared from Spike's facebook timeline) gave a correct account of how he was treated by Spike's agency then they're definitely a shady outfit and exposing them has hopefully done a service to others who might now treat them with the utmost care or avoid them altogether. Spike himself has delivered a smooth performance by crossing the line from righteous to self-righteous with two short albeit hard to read and cringe-inducing twitter posts.
Remakes of cult classic are always problematic. Often a cheap shot for those in a creative slump, artistically very rarely successful and commercially quite risky. Maybe stealing the idea to the poster was part of the concept and meant to add another layer of "re-made". Well, evidently the flick bombed and the artists might have been better off not having his name associated with this failed venture after all.
How race should factor into this all is beyond me but on the other hand I also don't understand how one would go mental on da vinyl.
E-friend, I think you are having an argument with yourself on this.
DocMccoy said Spike gets granted a pass. I really like to know what he means by this.
Frank said:
How race should factor into this all is beyond me but on the other hand I also don't understand how one would go mental on da vinyl.
Unfortunately many people don't like Spike because of his views on race. They think he's too provocative or a reverse-racist. Many people here on SS apparently also don't like Spike, and I'm simply wondering if it's for the same reasons as I just mentioned, that's all.
PS I don't go mental on da vinyl, I go mental FOR da vinyl.
DocMcCoy"Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,917 Posts
Da Vinylmentalist said:
DocMcCoy said:
Da Vinylmentalist said:
SIRUS said:
never realized how much hate the strut had for spike.
Yeah I think it might have to do with the fact that the majority here -who are white- view Spike Lee as a 'reverse racist' (lol I always crack up when I see or hear that word).
FWIW, I don't hate Spike at all. He's made a bunch of great movies (a few outright dogs, too) but I've always believed he gets granted a pass on quite a lot of shady shit because he's Spike. If white folks call him on it, they're waved away as racists, and if black folks call him on it (Samuel L siding with Tarantino in the n-bomb debate), they're Uncle Tomming for the white power structure.
He gets granted a pass you say hmm. Do you think this 'privilege' Spike has might have something to do with him being black? Because we all know how outspoken black people in America always get 'granted a pass' on everything, right?
Dude, that's an argument you're having with the voices in your own head. Leave me out of it.
The broader point I was making is this; people who are or have been supportive of Spike, and of black artists who are trying to get around or from underneath the existing structures and carve out a place of their own, may perhaps have let him slide from time to time on some of the cutting-corners moves he favours that might take money out of other people's pockets (but perhaps not his own). I believe this is in recognition of the fact that we really need more, rather than fewer, black creatives operating in Spike's chosen idiom (and in others, too - see also; West, Kanye Omari), and therefore the fewer impediments they face, the better. If in the past that has involved Respecting The Hustle in a broader sense, and overlooking some of the less savoury details of that hustle...well, Spike has definitely benefitted from people doing that. When it looked as if he wouldn't be able to finish Malcolm X without a little extra investment, Spike passed the hat around and sold it to the likes of Oprah and Cos and others as a vital artistic statement and something worth supporting on general principle - "by any means necessary" and all that. Twenty years on from that, should someone as skilful at marketing themselves as Spike still be defaulting to the "you should be honoured to work for Spike and be part of his vision" method if the people his agency (and by extension, Spike himself) are commissioning can barely make rent? That's what's at issue here.
never realized how much hate the strut had for spike.
Yeah I think it might have to do with the fact that the majority here -who are white- view Spike Lee as a 'reverse racist' (lol I always crack up when I see or hear that word).
FWIW, I don't hate Spike at all. He's made a bunch of great movies (a few outright dogs, too) but I've always believed he gets granted a pass on quite a lot of shady shit because he's Spike. If white folks call him on it, they're waved away as racists, and if black folks call him on it (Samuel L siding with Tarantino in the n-bomb debate), they're Uncle Tomming for the white power structure.
He gets granted a pass you say hmm. Do you think this 'privilege' Spike has might have something to do with him being black? Because we all know how outspoken black people in America always get 'granted a pass' on everything, right?
Dude, that's an argument you're having with the voices in your own head. Leave me out of it.
The broader point I was making is this; people who are or have been supportive of Spike, and of black artists who are trying to get around or from underneath the existing structures and carve out a place of their own, may perhaps have let him slide from time to time on some of the cutting-corners moves he favours that might take money out of other people's pockets (but perhaps not his own). I believe this is in recognition of the fact that we really need more, rather than fewer, black creatives operating in Spike's chosen idiom (and in others, too - see also; West, Kanye Omari), and therefore the fewer impediments they face, the better. If in the past that has involved Respecting The Hustle in a broader sense, and overlooking some of the less savoury details of that hustle...well, Spike has definitely benefitted from people doing that. When it looked as if he wouldn't be able to finish Malcolm X without a little extra investment, Spike passed the hat around and sold it to the likes of Oprah and Cos and others as a vital artistic statement and something worth supporting on general principle - "by any means necessary" and all that. Twenty years on from that, should someone as skilful at marketing themselves as Spike still be defaulting to the "you should be honoured to work for Spike and be part of his vision" method if the people his agency (and by extension, Spike himself) are commissioning can barely make rent? That's what's at issue here.
Oh, and by the way, fuck you. Sincerely.
Everybody in the movie business (and the music industry for that matter) plays dirty, why single out Spike Lee?
DocMcCoy"Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,917 Posts
Another idiot who thinks it's a race to the bottom.
You do realise you just granted Spike a pass for some of his shady shit, right? Thanks for making my argument for me.
I've seen every spike lee film, and in most cases ive seen them in the theaters on opening weekends. the reason why ive been [davinylmentalist] hatin the player [/davinylmentalist] in this scenario is that i definitely think he's re-using someone else's material to compensate for a lack of inspiration and creativity at this point in his career. i think a majority of his appeal is his originality and his fresh voice on subjects; so i can't see the appeal in him remaking a movie almost note for note, let alone a movie that didnt need improving on. i won't call any of it 'reverse racism', but I think we can certainly call it gentrification, something i previously thought spike opposed.
and on top of all that, he chose to show his ass in a very public way a couple times now, and been served with very immediate karmic repayment on both.
About movie remakes.
Van Sant did a shot for shot version of Psycho and other slavish remakes have been mentioned here, including Oldboy apparently.
Musicians often cover other musicians. It is a basic part of learning the craft. Also artistically satisfying and entertaining.
For film makers you can't learn by doing covers, too expensive.
I think one reason people like Lee and Van Sant do it is for the insight they gain and the joy of paying homage.
never realized how much hate the strut had for spike.
Yeah I think it might have to do with the fact that he is successful and politically out spoken. 2 things that the strut can't tolerate.
Normally yes, but in this case it's the hypocrisy. He wants everyone accountable but then isn't accountable himself. I hold the owners of Wal- Mart accountable for the poor conditions for their workers even if they didn't hire every employee or even visit a warehouse. It's Spikes company, he should want to know wants going on and take responsibility even if he didn't know this exact situation was happeing. He should have wanted to look into it, not blow it off.
Isn't it obvious at this point that Spike Lee is insanely jealous of Tarantino?
This Oldboy remake was his attempt at going Asian, a la Quentin. It didn't work out.
DocMcCoy"Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,917 Posts
rootlesscosmo said:
Isn't it obvious at this point that Spike Lee is insanely jealous of Tarantino?
This Oldboy remake was his attempt at going Asian, a la Quentin. It didn't work out.
Something else I recall from Sam Jackson's beef with him was Sam suggesting that Tarantino made more interesting "black" movies than Spike nowadays. I can't imagine that went down too well with Spike.
In any case, 2013 is not the first ???breakout??? year for black filmmakers. There have been several years that featured a multitude of successful, acclaimed films starring and/or created by black people ??? Boomerang and Malcolm X and Juice in 1992; Hitch and Hustle & Flow and Are We There Yet in 2005.
And before that, 1984. And 1985.
Oh I know. I was mainly referring to the people insinuating this is just hate when there is good reason for criticism. There is plenty of pointless "hating" on any internet forum like you are saying.
I like Spike in general, run between hot and cold on his movies, but really enjoy his involvement in sports. Loved his admission that he was nervous during the Best Thing That Ever Happened. (Red Sox Execution Of Yankees 2004)
If I met him I'd happily shake his hand. He's been a force for good in the universe, unlike some other Yankee fans.
OLD BOY is the worst movie of 2013. no contest. it is hilariously bad.
when the korean version makes more sense than your remake, you have SERIOUS script issues.
Funny, I just watched it last night and while it certainly was shockingly bad I think I've seen a handful of 2013 movies that were worse... but then we watch 2 movies every evening we're home and during the rainy season op to 4 or 5 a day... so basically we watch everything that comes out and doesn't look completely retarded -although sometimes we watch those as well...
Spontaneously these 2013 movies come to mind for being even worse: Girl Most Likely (we had to abort after 15 minutes), Movie 43 (first episode was a little bit funny so we made the mistake of sitting it out...) there were more but I'm blessed with exceptionally bad memory.
Still, Oldboy sucked really, really bad: Lousy acting. Terrible, terrible set designs. Super boring dialogues. The action sequences are so poorly done it's flat out laughable but yeah, directly after fighting of a couple dozen attackers hero gets diagnosed as being malnourished so maybe that's why shit was so lame. I didn't expect much but still felt disappointed. At least I stole it.
Movie 43 (first episode was a little bit funny so we made the mistake of sitting it out...)
I still have no idea why I sat through that entire movie. It was on Netflix streaming, too--it's not like there was some sort of stupid "I paid for a ticket, so I'm gonna watch the whole thing" pride going on. It was just terrible and never rose above that level.
People always talmbout "that was the worst movie evar!!!" (someone recently posted this with regards to "Oblivion").
Oblivion was complete shit, though. It could have been soooooo good. Instead they chose to make a music video with dialog.
I thought Oblivion *looked* awesome but that evil round robot was difficult to take seriously. Funny you mention it being a "music video" - I read some interview with the director who said he decided to work with M83 because Daft Punk, whom he worked with on the Tron sequel, "couldn't do" what he was trying to do - and yet the soundtrack sounded totally derivative of the Daft Punk score (which had its own problems of being kinda boring).
Agree on Inside Man but don't agree that it's slept on; it was well reviewed as a well done genre flick. I'd be OK if Spike did nothing but documentaries. But who knows where his mind is at - look how seriously he takes the Knicks?
ItÔÇÖs interesting that the director of the richest oeuvre of black films in the history of the medium doesnÔÇÖt understand what the Civil Rights revolution was for. In his expletive-laced comments about the gentrification of Fort Greene during an interview at the Pratt Institute, Spike Lee seemed to think that what we Overcame for was to be grouchy bigots.
Basically, black people are getting paid more money than theyve ever seen in their lives for their houses, and a once sketchy neighborhood is now quiet and pleasant. And this is a bad thing why?
Lee seems to think itÔÇÖs somehow an injustice whenever black people pick up stakes. But I doubt many of the blacks now set to pass fat inheritances on to their kids feel that way. This is not the old story of poor blacks being pushed out of neighborhoods razed down for highway construction. Lee isnÔÇÖt making sense.
ÔÇ£Respect the cultureÔÇØ when you move in, Lee growls. But again, he isnÔÇÖt making sense. We can be quite sure that if whites ÔÇ£respectedÔÇØ the culture by trying to participate in it, Lee would be one of the first in line to call it ÔÇ£appropriation.ÔÇØ So, no whites better open up barbecue joints or spoken word cafes or try to be rappers. Yet if whites walk on by the culture in ÔÇ£respectfulÔÇØ silence, then the word on the street becomes that they want to keep blacks at a distance.
In his interview with Anderson Cooper on Wednesday to clarify, Lee mentioned the controversy in Harlem some years ago over park drumming, which new white residents protested. Lee thinks whites were supposed to put up with being woken up on weekend mornings by the drums. That was a subtle issue. I refer to it in my Western Civilization class as a difficult judgment ÔÇö the kind that shows that real life offers few easy answers.
Lee seems to think it was an open-and-shut case ÔÇô but then how would he feel if it were whites drumming and blacks moving into the neighborhood and complaining? Maybe he thinks blacks are supposed to be accommodated as payback for the past. But for how long? Pity is not respect. W.E.B. DuBois once said that ÔÇ£Black America needs justice and is given charity.ÔÇØ
But on gentrification Lee doesnÔÇÖt have time for making sense or trying to, despite the nuance he so brilliantly displays in his films. His comments are instead a tantrum, and an ugly one. WhatÔÇÖs really bothering Lee is that he doesnÔÇÖt like seeing his old neighborhood full of white people.
Or whitey, perhaps. Just as ÔÇ£thugÔÇØ is a new way of saying the N-word in polite society, LeeÔÇÖs ÔÇ£mÔÇöÔÇôfÔÇöÔÇô hipsterÔÇØ epithet for the new whites of Fort Greene is a sneaky way of saying ÔÇ£honkey.ÔÇØ Lee is less a social analyst than a reincarnation of George Jefferson with his open hostility to whites.
But George had grown up in Jim Crow America. We let his bigotry pass as ÔÇ£cuteÔÇØ because it was just desserts for a nasty past that was barely even past. But itÔÇÖs been 40 years.
Surely what bothers Lee is not that Fort Greene is now a cushy neighborhood. He just wishes it had gotten that way with all black faces. HeÔÇÖs yearning for the multi-class black communities that people of his generation regret the dissolutions of after the end of institutionalized segregation (when black people like my parents, for example, moved out to mixed or white neighborhoods).
But letÔÇÖs face it: The reason there were black communities like that was because of segregation. If there still were black communities like that, no matter how beautiful they would look when shot lovingly in films like LeeÔÇÖs, it would signify racial barriers. The neighborhood would be prime fodder for people like Lee to intone with smug indignation about how non-post-racial America is. ÔÇ£You barely see a white face on the streets. WhatÔÇÖs that about? What are they afraid of?ÔÇØ
Enough, Mr. Lee. Enough.
When racial barriers come down, people mingle, cohabitate, and mate. People grumbling on the sidelines about the losses and appropriations and whatnot that this involves are historical detritus. That becomes ringingly clear in how impossible it is to scorn the multiracial children who grow from processes like this, who grow up to be perfectly normal adults ÔÇö and life goes on.
And black will go on ÔÇö but hopefully not the way people like Lee would prefer. There are those who think recreational contrarianism is the soul of blackness ÔÇö surely, if we arenÔÇÖt mad, we arenÔÇÖt truly black.
But history records no human group whose core essence was eternal indignation. LeeÔÇÖs films, ironically, teach much about what black is and what it will be. Odd that in real life he thinks hearkening back to the social politics of Fred Sanford is moving on up.
Comments
If the designer in his open letter (which curiously has been taken offline a couple of days ago just at around the same time as his poster designs with the Spike Lee copyright claim have disappeared from Spike's facebook timeline) gave a correct account of how he was treated by Spike's agency then they're definitely a shady outfit and exposing them has hopefully done a service to others who might now treat them with the utmost care or avoid them altogether. Spike himself has delivered a smooth performance by crossing the line from righteous to self-righteous with two short albeit hard to read and cringe-inducing twitter posts.
Remakes of cult classic are always problematic. Often a cheap shot for those in a creative slump, artistically very rarely successful and commercially quite risky. Maybe stealing the idea to the poster was part of the concept and meant to add another layer of "re-made". Well, evidently the flick bombed and the artists might have been better off not having his name associated with this failed venture after all.
How race should factor into this all is beyond me but on the other hand I also don't understand how one would go mental on da vinyl.
DocMccoy said Spike gets granted a pass. I really like to know what he means by this.
Unfortunately many people don't like Spike because of his views on race. They think he's too provocative or a reverse-racist. Many people here on SS apparently also don't like Spike, and I'm simply wondering if it's for the same reasons as I just mentioned, that's all.
PS I don't go mental on da vinyl, I go mental FOR da vinyl.
Dude, that's an argument you're having with the voices in your own head. Leave me out of it.
The broader point I was making is this; people who are or have been supportive of Spike, and of black artists who are trying to get around or from underneath the existing structures and carve out a place of their own, may perhaps have let him slide from time to time on some of the cutting-corners moves he favours that might take money out of other people's pockets (but perhaps not his own). I believe this is in recognition of the fact that we really need more, rather than fewer, black creatives operating in Spike's chosen idiom (and in others, too - see also; West, Kanye Omari), and therefore the fewer impediments they face, the better. If in the past that has involved Respecting The Hustle in a broader sense, and overlooking some of the less savoury details of that hustle...well, Spike has definitely benefitted from people doing that. When it looked as if he wouldn't be able to finish Malcolm X without a little extra investment, Spike passed the hat around and sold it to the likes of Oprah and Cos and others as a vital artistic statement and something worth supporting on general principle - "by any means necessary" and all that. Twenty years on from that, should someone as skilful at marketing themselves as Spike still be defaulting to the "you should be honoured to work for Spike and be part of his vision" method if the people his agency (and by extension, Spike himself) are commissioning can barely make rent? That's what's at issue here.
Oh, and by the way, fuck you. Sincerely.
Everybody in the movie business (and the music industry for that matter) plays dirty, why single out Spike Lee?
You do realise you just granted Spike a pass for some of his shady shit, right? Thanks for making my argument for me.
Once again, fuck you.
Not really no. If Spike Lee fully knew about this graphic designer being screwed over, then Spike's an ass (pause) for letting this all slide.
Much worse happens in the film industry, especially as far as big studios and movie companies are concerned. Why single out Spike Lee?
But don't worry, I won't try giving any succesful black people a pass anymore.
and on top of all that, he chose to show his ass in a very public way a couple times now, and been served with very immediate karmic repayment on both.
Yeah I think it might have to do with the fact that he is successful and politically out spoken. 2 things that the strut can't tolerate.
Van Sant did a shot for shot version of Psycho and other slavish remakes have been mentioned here, including Oldboy apparently.
Musicians often cover other musicians. It is a basic part of learning the craft. Also artistically satisfying and entertaining.
For film makers you can't learn by doing covers, too expensive.
I think one reason people like Lee and Van Sant do it is for the insight they gain and the joy of paying homage.
Normally yes, but in this case it's the hypocrisy. He wants everyone accountable but then isn't accountable himself. I hold the owners of Wal- Mart accountable for the poor conditions for their workers even if they didn't hire every employee or even visit a warehouse. It's Spikes company, he should want to know wants going on and take responsibility even if he didn't know this exact situation was happeing. He should have wanted to look into it, not blow it off.
This Oldboy remake was his attempt at going Asian, a la Quentin. It didn't work out.
Something else I recall from Sam Jackson's beef with him was Sam suggesting that Tarantino made more interesting "black" movies than Spike nowadays. I can't imagine that went down too well with Spike.
No, 2013 Was Not The Year Of ???The Black Movie???
Oh I know. I was mainly referring to the people insinuating this is just hate when there is good reason for criticism. There is plenty of pointless "hating" on any internet forum like you are saying.
If I met him I'd happily shake his hand. He's been a force for good in the universe, unlike some other Yankee fans.
when the korean version makes more sense than your remake, you have SERIOUS script issues.
Funny, I just watched it last night and while it certainly was shockingly bad I think I've seen a handful of 2013 movies that were worse... but then we watch 2 movies every evening we're home and during the rainy season op to 4 or 5 a day... so basically we watch everything that comes out and doesn't look completely retarded -although sometimes we watch those as well...
Spontaneously these 2013 movies come to mind for being even worse: Girl Most Likely (we had to abort after 15 minutes), Movie 43 (first episode was a little bit funny so we made the mistake of sitting it out...) there were more but I'm blessed with exceptionally bad memory.
Still, Oldboy sucked really, really bad: Lousy acting. Terrible, terrible set designs. Super boring dialogues. The action sequences are so poorly done it's flat out laughable but yeah, directly after fighting of a couple dozen attackers hero gets diagnosed as being malnourished so maybe that's why shit was so lame. I didn't expect much but still felt disappointed. At least I stole it.
I still have no idea why I sat through that entire movie. It was on Netflix streaming, too--it's not like there was some sort of stupid "I paid for a ticket, so I'm gonna watch the whole thing" pride going on. It was just terrible and never rose above that level.
People always talmbout "that was the worst movie evar!!!" (someone recently posted this with regards to "Oblivion").
nah man. hop on Netflix and see what's streaming any given month. there's almost no floor to how bad some of this shit is.
Oblivion was complete shit, though. It could have been soooooo good. Instead they chose to make a music video with dialog.
Slept-on minor classic. Dunno why he doesn't do more movies like this. I'd definitely be down for a Spike actioner or sci-fi flick.
I thought Oblivion *looked* awesome but that evil round robot was difficult to take seriously. Funny you mention it being a "music video" - I read some interview with the director who said he decided to work with M83 because Daft Punk, whom he worked with on the Tron sequel, "couldn't do" what he was trying to do - and yet the soundtrack sounded totally derivative of the Daft Punk score (which had its own problems of being kinda boring).
Agree on Inside Man but don't agree that it's slept on; it was well reviewed as a well done genre flick. I'd be OK if Spike did nothing but documentaries. But who knows where his mind is at - look how seriously he takes the Knicks?
ItÔÇÖs interesting that the director of the richest oeuvre of black films in the history of the medium doesnÔÇÖt understand what the Civil Rights revolution was for. In his expletive-laced comments about the gentrification of Fort Greene during an interview at the Pratt Institute, Spike Lee seemed to think that what we Overcame for was to be grouchy bigots.
Basically, black people are getting paid more money than theyve ever seen in their lives for their houses, and a once sketchy neighborhood is now quiet and pleasant. And this is a bad thing why?
Lee seems to think itÔÇÖs somehow an injustice whenever black people pick up stakes. But I doubt many of the blacks now set to pass fat inheritances on to their kids feel that way. This is not the old story of poor blacks being pushed out of neighborhoods razed down for highway construction. Lee isnÔÇÖt making sense.
ÔÇ£Respect the cultureÔÇØ when you move in, Lee growls. But again, he isnÔÇÖt making sense. We can be quite sure that if whites ÔÇ£respectedÔÇØ the culture by trying to participate in it, Lee would be one of the first in line to call it ÔÇ£appropriation.ÔÇØ So, no whites better open up barbecue joints or spoken word cafes or try to be rappers. Yet if whites walk on by the culture in ÔÇ£respectfulÔÇØ silence, then the word on the street becomes that they want to keep blacks at a distance.
In his interview with Anderson Cooper on Wednesday to clarify, Lee mentioned the controversy in Harlem some years ago over park drumming, which new white residents protested. Lee thinks whites were supposed to put up with being woken up on weekend mornings by the drums. That was a subtle issue. I refer to it in my Western Civilization class as a difficult judgment ÔÇö the kind that shows that real life offers few easy answers.
Lee seems to think it was an open-and-shut case ÔÇô but then how would he feel if it were whites drumming and blacks moving into the neighborhood and complaining? Maybe he thinks blacks are supposed to be accommodated as payback for the past. But for how long? Pity is not respect. W.E.B. DuBois once said that ÔÇ£Black America needs justice and is given charity.ÔÇØ
But on gentrification Lee doesnÔÇÖt have time for making sense or trying to, despite the nuance he so brilliantly displays in his films. His comments are instead a tantrum, and an ugly one. WhatÔÇÖs really bothering Lee is that he doesnÔÇÖt like seeing his old neighborhood full of white people.
Or whitey, perhaps. Just as ÔÇ£thugÔÇØ is a new way of saying the N-word in polite society, LeeÔÇÖs ÔÇ£mÔÇöÔÇôfÔÇöÔÇô hipsterÔÇØ epithet for the new whites of Fort Greene is a sneaky way of saying ÔÇ£honkey.ÔÇØ Lee is less a social analyst than a reincarnation of George Jefferson with his open hostility to whites.
But George had grown up in Jim Crow America. We let his bigotry pass as ÔÇ£cuteÔÇØ because it was just desserts for a nasty past that was barely even past. But itÔÇÖs been 40 years.
Surely what bothers Lee is not that Fort Greene is now a cushy neighborhood. He just wishes it had gotten that way with all black faces. HeÔÇÖs yearning for the multi-class black communities that people of his generation regret the dissolutions of after the end of institutionalized segregation (when black people like my parents, for example, moved out to mixed or white neighborhoods).
But letÔÇÖs face it: The reason there were black communities like that was because of segregation. If there still were black communities like that, no matter how beautiful they would look when shot lovingly in films like LeeÔÇÖs, it would signify racial barriers. The neighborhood would be prime fodder for people like Lee to intone with smug indignation about how non-post-racial America is. ÔÇ£You barely see a white face on the streets. WhatÔÇÖs that about? What are they afraid of?ÔÇØ
Enough, Mr. Lee. Enough.
When racial barriers come down, people mingle, cohabitate, and mate. People grumbling on the sidelines about the losses and appropriations and whatnot that this involves are historical detritus. That becomes ringingly clear in how impossible it is to scorn the multiracial children who grow from processes like this, who grow up to be perfectly normal adults ÔÇö and life goes on.
And black will go on ÔÇö but hopefully not the way people like Lee would prefer. There are those who think recreational contrarianism is the soul of blackness ÔÇö surely, if we arenÔÇÖt mad, we arenÔÇÖt truly black.
But history records no human group whose core essence was eternal indignation. LeeÔÇÖs films, ironically, teach much about what black is and what it will be. Odd that in real life he thinks hearkening back to the social politics of Fred Sanford is moving on up.
Read more: Spike Lee Gentrification Controversy: Hipster Is the New Honkey | TIME.com http://ideas.time.com/2014/02/28/spike-lees-racism-isnt-cute-m-f-hipster-is-the-new-honkey/#ixzz2uduq8Gtp
*closes tab*
lmho - my thoughts exactly