Spike Lee names his biggest weakness as a filmmaker: “Something I’ve known all along”
Spike Lee is one of the most explosively influential filmmakers of all time, with his 1989 film Do The Right Thing sending ripples throughout cinematic history that can still be felt today. The director defined himself as a creative anarchist from the very beginning, with his films exploring complex subject matter relating to racial inequality and discrimination in the United States, as well as looking at a myriad of experiences of the Black community.
Through this, Lee created mainstream awareness and brought historically unseen characters and experiences to the big screen, highlighting the disparity between these stories and Hollywood’s bias towards sharing them. However, while his influence can be felt through films such as Malcolm X, BlacKKKlansman and She’s Gotta Have It, he has also been criticised for his questionable portrayal of women, with some taking great offence at one film of his in particular.
While many filmmakers would shy away from their flaws and pretend they don’t exist, with the likes of Christopher Nolan pretending that he can write women despite consistently churning out insulting female characters with no substance, Lee has been very open about acknowledging his weak points as a filmmaker. His 1986 film She’s Gotta Have It came under scrutiny after the first cut included a scene in which the main character, Nola, is sexually assaulted.
This was extremely controversial given her romantic partner’s reaction to the assault and her subsequent scene in which she accepts blame for it as a consequence of her ‘sexual promiscuity’. The scene was endlessly discussed by feminist writers and thinkers who explored the wider ramifications of such a scene, looking at the subtext behind this and what was being said by linking her sexual freedom to sexual violence.
However, Lee has since apologized for this scene and removed it from later releases of the film. When he was asked about his weaknesses as a filmmaker, he said, “Every filmmaker has a weakness, just like athletes… I’m saying every filmmaker, every athlete has weaknesses. If you come into the league hitting 50 percent at the free-throw line, you’ve got to do something about your foul shooting if you want to be a complete ballplayer. My female characters were something I needed to work on. It was lacking. It’s something I’ve tried to concentrate on”.
While Lee was met with extreme backlash for his portrayal of Nola Darling and the implications of her story arc, he has since discussed his conscious effort to create more authentic and layered female characters that are more considered in their approach to subjects relating to patriarchal issues and gender oppression, something that Black women have an entirely different experience of due to the merging of racial and gender identity.
But it is ultimately admirable that Lee is open in discussing his creative flaws, something that other filmmakers incorporate into their trademark and build an entire identity from, with Tarantino shitting on claims about portraying women in a misogynistic way and instead leaning into this, almost as a fuck you to critics who have dared to criticise him. We could do with more filmmakers like Lee who instead listen to critics and audiences and blend their feedback into future films to improve on their work.
