Spike Lee
Spike Lee on the State of African-American Cinema
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Spike Lee on the State of African-American Cinema
In
an article for the New York Times
(May 2, 1999), director Spike Lee gave
his views on the state of African-
American cinema and the problems it
faces for the future.
Although African-Americans are making more films than ever, this is not as good as it seems. Lee writes: "The reason is that studios make only a certain type of black film. It's truly a ghetto: these movies are treated as second-class films. Boyz N the Hood, by John Singleton was a breakthrough that spawned a slew of urban hip-hop-gangster, shot-'em ups. The genre was milked dry until they came up with something else - the urban romantic comedy, e.g., Booty Call and How to Be a Player."
Spike explains that part of the problem lies with studio executives' perceptions of the black audience. "Studio executives seem to think that 35 million African-Americans will all like the same films. So the magnitude of our experience is not allowed on screen; we get to see only a narrow slice of black life." He adds: "These executives do not come into regular contact with black people, they do not live around us, they definitely do not see us at work, because we do not have any top studio jobs."
However, he does not only blame studio executives: "But even when an independent black filmmaker tries to correct the record with a serious film, don't count on the fickle black audience to come. That is the most disturbing thing about the prospect for black film. Black people complain about black films, but nobody shows up to support a different type of film. Where was the black audience for Daughters of the Dust, Rosewood, Eve's Bayou and Beloved? Where? Packing theaters to see Set It Off and Booty Call. It is sometimes hard to blame studios for not wanting to make these films."
Concluding Spike writes "The future of black cinema will be dependent on everybody working in front of and behind the camera, dedicating ourselves to building a strong body of work."
