(ThyBlackMan.com) I like Spike Lee. I really can’t believe that it’s been 27 years since his breakthrough flick “She’s Gotta Have It” flooded the consciousness of the masses.
He’s gone on to make some real classics, Malcolm X of course being my lead favorite from his vast body of work.
But I have to say that Spike Lee is one of those Black pioneers that is definitely part of the fabric of American Film even if the so called mainstream powers that be refuse to acknowledge his brilliance.
And I think that all persons of color in the independent creative fields should take note of this because there will be definite obstacles placed in their paths to quell their drive to excel and improve their craft.
Why do I say this? Well, you have to understand how powerful these images are that are placed in front of us on the television and big screens as they shape and form how we react, absorb and understand the world around us.
This can be a good or a bad thing if used properly or misused for a sinister agenda.
Not to get too deep, but many historic dictators like Joseph Stalin, Adolph Hitler and Mussolini have used the engineered imagery on the subconscious minds of the people they ruled over to do their bidding and think the way that they wanted them to think.
And although the aforementioned individuals never knew what the future of mind control would be at the present time many years after their passing, the principles are all one and the same regardless as to the preferred technological platform used to achieve the desired results.
In the modern day movie industry, it’s about how many people can be influenced to spend even more money on the spinoff products that one is influenced to purchase after watching that one big commercial advertisement spot that we now call movies.
So now movies on the big screen are not about telling a story and giving the viewer a great experience that will help them gain a greater depth of understanding in the world that they live in, but giving them some type of excitement while reenforcing a need for them to purchase those items that were created in the branding of that film.
Spider Man dolls? Iron Man Halloween costumes? Fast & Furious Video games? That’s for the youngsters and it works every time! Movies release dates are calculated to coincide with the holidays so that the imagery is so strong that the kids will literally harass you to the point of a nervous breakdown to purchase the products sold that were spawned from a particular big screen blockbuster film.
Look at Disney! They might be the best at this as their reach is worldwide on so many levels and the people have bought into their illusion hook line and sinker.
So what does all of this have to do with Spike Lee and all aspiring independent film makers of color?
It has everything to do with him! The reason being is that when you are NOT a part of a controlling industry like the movie business, you are a threat to their total dominance on the minds of the people and just might influence some if not potentially all to see beyond their paper thin agenda of exploitation.
You think I’m going deeper into this topic that I should?
Well understand that to defeat an opponent you must first defeat them in their mind. Once you can make them believe that they are going to fail, then the actual action of executing them has gotten that much easier for you because if your buttering up of their mind to accept your projected reality.
So notice the images that are put out there by these big movie conglomerates about Black people. While a modicum of improvement has been made from the days of the minstrel man, the covert agenda is still there if you take the time to peel behind the paper thin surface of the glitter and glitz of the external imagery and into the core message that we so easily absorb.
Bitches, hoes, thugs and effeminate men who would rather shun responsibility and live in transgression to what God wanted a man to be.
So after absorbing this for a lifetime, why do you think that we are beginning to manifest this mindset in our communities?
Does it shock you when after eating corn all day that you see a piece floating in the toilet behind you right before you flush? Why should it? You’ve been CONSUMING it all day long!
So we have allowed someone else from outside of our community to dictate the drumbeat of what is hot and hip in our neighborhoods. It’s a very dangerous position for us to be in indeed.
So who are the people in the film industry who think like us and have our best interests at hand? Yes there are many on the come up but no one can deny the iconic position of a man like Spike Lee. But bear with me because I’m using Spike to represent all to whom I haven’t mentioned or don’t know about who are up and coming.
Spike Lee is a threat to an industry that will soon most definitely topple over in on itself. Social Media and the internet has cut out the middleman when it comes to an independent creator like Spike Lee because now the raising of funds to finance a film project just got easier.
You have funding programs like Kickstarter that allow you to get in direct contact with your fan base and beyond to get the money up to create a film – as in Spike’s case – so that the grip of the mega Studio’s are loosened from the neck of those who would be compromised in their artistry to the one who is funding the project.
What does this do? Well, you can express what you want in your film and say anything you wish in speaking truth to power without someone red lighting your project because they do not approve of your message.
But Spike lee never had to wait until 2013 to utilize the principles behind Kickstarter, he was using crowd funding and donations to fund his project long before Kickstarter came into fruition.
Spike is a pioneer that really doesn’t get his just due. Spike is now overlooked by the masses to a great degree because of the buffoonery that is put out there by Tyler Perry. Now while I watch his movies too and enjoy what I can out of them, i do not see Black men displayed in a good light most of the time.
But who am I to complain, those are his films and he can do whatever he wants with them.
This is why we need a more wider variety film makers to rise up and express what we feel as a community and as a people.
Our culture is being compromised by the big money production studios and it not out of a love for us, but for a profit for them. Spike Lee laces his movies with a lesson and reflects realistically from his eyes what the world is like in a way that I can relate. This man is strengthening our culture, the major studios and their commercial off track offerings only weaken us.
Spike Lee is our Woody Allen.
Spike Lee is our storyteller who has not been compromised. Spike Lee is not looked upon by Hollywood as a friend, but as somewhat of an annoyance because HE shows that success can be achieved as a Black man without having to compromise your fire, passion and warrior spirit to get to a level of being greatly respected by your peers and targeted audience.
So I thank and praise Spike Lee for all he has done for Black Culture and the sacrifice he has made to create an awesome body of work that represents us to the world in a manner that we can hold our heads high.
…….but as always, there will be someone who just doesn’t like it!
Fast forward to the recent interview of Spike Lee on Bloomberg television’s “Street Smart” by host Trish Regan, this woman went in on Spike Lee from the very beginning of the exchange in a manner that was uncalled for!
She started out the interview with an introduction that said how many are asking Spike Lee to do the right thing and end his new 1.5 million dollar Kickstarter campaign because it is choking off the money flow from the young upstarts who need it and Spike immediately put this woman in her place!
To see Spike stand up for himself in a righteous manner to shut down the character assassination by this woman was better than seeing Floyd Mayweather defeat an opponent with his superior moves, style and footwork.
What was her agenda here? It was obvious from the beginning, and I most definitely understand what it was because most Black people who aspire to a higher level in ANY field are usually met with the snide remarks and indirect putdowns of any effort put forth when you are not in the subservient mode of thinking that will have you begging THEM for a piece of their power and influence to manifest your dreams!
SCREW THEM!
An independent Black voice in a world that usually finds a way to shut you down or compromise you after a while to benefit their agenda to bring more of your people into a state of mental enslavement? UNACCEPTABLE!
So Spike so beautifully snatched the noose of a public hanging from the grasp of the condescending host and hung HER with it to expose her for what she was…….a damn hater!
[youtube t38bi5dAxZY]
How many times have we seen our accomplished champions in the vast areas of expertise spoken down to by some relatively unknown white upstart, who will probably never reach the level of the genius they’re looking down on but because of the intoxicant called White supremacy, they plod forward making a fool of themselves in the process.
I’ve placed the video here so that you can view it for yourself and remember, what Spike Lee so excellently handled in this interview in the form of a character assassination attempt is something that we as Black people must endure on a daily basis as we walk our streets in the presence of these wayward police, and these jobs that we must do where we must constantly validate ourselves to a sick racist who will never see the good in us.
It’s a tactic that many Caucasians use on Black people up until this day and you will notice it as you watch this video, she used her subliminally incendiary rhetoric to piss Spike Lee off to later play coy as though she didn’t do a thing to him while his inevitable explosion happens to make him appear to be the Angry “for no reason” Black man!
But I applaud you Spike for putting this interchangeable media puppet in her place and holding on to your cool. Others are to take notes on how to handle those like this because this isn’t the last time it will happen.
Somewhere down the line whether it’s on a job, the bank, on the phone or in the supermarket, SOMEONE will approach you in a manner that speaks volumes about their mindset but don’t fall for the traps and call it out on the spot for what it is!
Why have to stop allowing these types to walk all over us as we must strive for independence in our chosen fields so that we will always be empowered to tell these twisted people to go and KISS OUR ASSES real quick!
Need I say more?
