SPIKE LEE

JUNE 2020

Jonny Diaz

An Auteur for the MTV Age: The Music of Spike Lee

A list of some of the most memorable musical sequences, dance scenes, and music videos in the filmography of Spike Lee.

Jonny Diaz

The Four New Yorks of Marty, Sidney, Woody, and Spike

A summary of New York City as depicted on film by its four greatest auteurs: Martin Scorsese, Sidney Lumet, Woody Allen, and Spike Lee.

Carson Cook

Reflections of America: A Brief Vietnam War Film Primer

A starting place for examining America, as both a country and an idea, through the lens of films about the Vietnam War.

Rough Cut Staff

Spike Lee's Filmmaking Tree

The branches of Spike Lee's filmmaking tree include some of the greatest cinematic discoveries.

Carson Cook

The Remake Spectrum

Spike Lee's two remakes found little critical or commercial love: can categorizing the various types of remakes help illuminate why?

Jonny Diaz

Spike Lee and the Ambivalent Academy

A history of Spike Lee's ambivalent (and often contentious) relationship with the Oscars, from Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop to BlacKkKlansman.

Rough Cut Staff

Spike Lee and the Coded Racism of "Controversy"

The "controversies" of Spike Lee are part of a uniquely American - and racist - tradition.

Carson Cook

Working Within the System: Spike Lee and the Hollywood Idealization of the Police

As we reconsider the role of the police in film and TV, Spike Lee's crime dramas help contextualize the entrenchment of certain depictions.

Rough Cut Staff

Da 5 Bloods Offers A Vision of Black Autonomy

Spike Lee's latest places past next to present to recontexualize history.

Rough Cut Staff

The Rough Cut Fictional Athlete Draft

In honor of He Got Game's Jesus Shuttlesworth, the Rough Cut staff conduct a draft of their top fictional movie athletes.

Rough Cut Staff

Mailbag: The Inimitable Spike Lee

A Q&A on one of the most important filmmakers of the last 35 years.