#105: By Any Means Necessary
Inspired by his new film Da 5 Bloods, a look at Spike Lee’s lessons for creatives.
CULTURE THING:
Last Friday, Netflix released Da 5 Bloods, the 24th feature film from director Spike Lee.
Starting in 1987, Lee published his journals from the production of his iconic films. The journals were a mix of original commentary, production notes, and the full screenplay for the movie. Earlier this year for Black History Month, I purchased and read the four journals for the films I consider to be his essential works:
Spike Lee’s Gotta Have It: Inside Guerrilla Filmmaking
Uplift The Race: The Construction of School Daze
By Any Means Necessary: The Trials and Tribulations of the Making of Malcolm X
To commemorate the new movie, here’s an excerpt from tomorrow’s paid subscriber-only newsletter: A deep dive into 4 key lessons for creatives from from these books from Lee’s mouth himself.
Lesson from Malcolm X: The Game is Rigged.
Before doing the press run for "Malcolm X,” Lee set off controversy without giving a single interview. He requested that he would prefer that black journalists interview him about the movie.
When asked by the New York Times why he made this request, his response was telling. "I'm doing what every other person in Hollywood does: they dictate who they want to do interviews with," he said. "Tom Cruise, Robert Redford, whoever. People throw their weight around. Well, I get many requests now for interviews, and I would like African-Americans to interview me. What I'm doing is using whatever clout I have to get qualified African-Americans assignments.”
Lee’s request came at the heels of a 1992 Esquire cover story that looks frankly embarrassing now.
"I was asked in that interview, 'Spike, do you have any white friends?' There was no irony in that question. That headline over the cover made it sound like I said it. Most white people think I said it. It cements in their mind that Spike Lee is a racist and hates white people which is bull. The real crime is white publications don't have black writers, that's the crime.” Lee said.
"If newspapers or magazines can't find a black writer to write about 'Malcolm X,' then what's the point? Don't tell me black writers don't have more insight about Malcolm than white writers.”
Given the events of the last few weeks, doesn’t this story sound familiar?
Let’s not bullshit here: Spike Lee’s Malcolm X is one of the best films of all-time.
The film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” Despite this historic accolade, the movie was snubbed by every major film award from the Golden Globes to the Academy Awards.
In sports, if an achievement occurs within the context in a rigged game, we give that achievement an asterisk. You know, like when you win a World Series because you stole signs or set a record while on performance-enhancing drugs.
I believe most award shows and pop culture lists should have the same asterisks, including the whole EGOT.
To me, these awards (and the subsequent greatest of all-time arguments that come from them) have inherent flaws because the people who make them are flawed.
Spike tried to tell us: The game is rigged. To flip that old Jay-Z lyric, If men lie and women lie, then numbers lie, too.
MARKETING THING:
MUSIC THINGS:
A few playlists to help you get through the week:
COOL MEN’S BOUTIQUE HAS BEEN UPDATED FOR JUNE:
Added tunes from: Iron Maiden, Project Pat, Wings, Yaz, RMR, White Town, Freddie Gibbs, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, D Savage, Westside Gunn, Big Moe, and that crazy Sir Michael Rocks/Boldy James/Payroll Giovanni song I forgot about from 2011.
A Guide to Post-Yacht (modern yacht rock/variations of yacht rock)
Black Pop Excellence - 90s/2000s (working title)
BULLETIN BOARD:
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
This Friday is Juneteenth! To celebrate, I’m guest-curating a special media project over at Locally Grown TV on the Plug Tunnin’ channel.
Not familiar with Locally Grown TV? Wired calls it the “PBS for the Streaming Age”.
Excited for you to see what we’re working on!
Next week, I’ll be doing a newsletter swap with Dan Runcie of Trapital. That means I’ll be writing an original piece over on his newsletter and Office Hours readers will receive an original article from Dan here. If you want to see my piece next week, subscribe to Trapital.
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Office Hours is written by Ernest Wilkins. Follow me on Twitter/IG @ErnestWilkins.
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