Transistor (https://transistor.fm) https://feeds.transistor.fm/spike-lees-joints 20-30 minute reflections on particular Spike Lee films, from School Daze up through Black KkKlansman - précis for a book-length study of Lee's cinema, reflections on a course I've taught a number of times at Amherst College and University of Maryland. In these podcast pieces, I pay particular attention to issues of race, class, gender, and sexuality as they emerge inside particular films and in the history-memory of African American life. How does Lee's cinema think? How does sound and image help us understand representation of Black bodies, Black people, and Black life? What are Lee's innovations, what challenges does he present us with in sound and image? And how can we see questions of masculinity, gender and racial formation, historical violence, and institutional violence evolve across his decades of filmmaking? 2022 John E. Drabinski 93c78c05-4835-52e4-979a-6c091a413897 no en Fri, 09 Feb 2024 15:07:18 -0500 Tue, 02 Dec 2025 20:07:55 -0500 https://img.transistor.fm/-r9l6mquwCA8fnZiuwcGOb7tbqPpPfDE7SEmw57jW4k/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:1400/h:1400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9zaG93/LzM2ODIwLzE2NzAx/MTAzMjAtYXJ0d29y/ay5qcGc.jpg episodic John E. Drabinski 20-30 minute reflections on particular Spike Lee films, from School Daze up through Black KkKlansman - précis for a book-length study of Lee's cinema, reflections on a course I've taught a number of times at Amherst College and University of Maryland. In these podcast pieces, I pay particular attention to issues of race, class, gender, and sexuality as they emerge inside particular films and in the history-memory of African American life. How does Lee's cinema think? How does sound and image help us understand representation of Black bodies, Black people, and Black life? What are Lee's innovations, what challenges does he present us with in sound and image? And how can we see questions of masculinity, gender and racial formation, historical violence, and institutional violence evolve across his decades of filmmaking? 20-30 minute reflections on particular Spike Lee films, from School Daze up through Black KkKlansman - précis for a book-length study of Lee's cinema, reflections on a course I've taught a number of times at Amherst College and University of Maryland. Spike Lee, film, cinema, Black Studies, film theory, African American Studies John E. Drabinski No No 27 27 27 - Supplement 1: Spike Lee's Musical Conscience full 9dbc744c-ca08-4da5-a12f-9254041c8a8d https://share.transistor.fm/s/f87f3197 A discussion of the role of music in Spike Lee's cinema, examining the function of music as atmospheric, iconic, and moral conscience. In particular, I am interested in how jazz forms the atmospheric or ambient sound in his work, reminding us of Bleek's drunken defense of jazz as African American affect, tradition, and mood in Mo' Better Blues. As well, I am interested in how Lee uses key songs by Stevie Wonder and related figures to indicate the moral frame of a given film, an entry ramp into the meaning of the film an d composed of sound embedded in Black cultural life.

]]> A discussion of the role of music in Spike Lee's cinema, examining the function of music as atmospheric, iconic, and moral conscience. In particular, I am interested in how jazz forms the atmospheric or ambient sound in his work, reminding us of Bleek's drunken defense of jazz as African American affect, tradition, and mood in Mo' Better Blues. As well, I am interested in how Lee uses key songs by Stevie Wonder and related figures to indicate the moral frame of a given film, an entry ramp into the meaning of the film an d composed of sound embedded in Black cultural life.

]]> Tue, 03 Jan 2023 18:45:44 -0500 John E. Drabinski John E. Drabinski 1450 A discussion of the role of music in Spike Lee's cinema, examining the function of music as atmospheric, iconic, and moral conscience. A discussion of the role of music in Spike Lee's cinema, examining the function of music as atmospheric, iconic, and moral conscience. Spike Lee, film, cinema, Black Studies, film theory, African American Studies No 26 26 26 - BlacKkKlansman as Retrospective and Militant Memory full 5ee4eb92-1c0d-48d2-b995-ced8ff1c2507 https://share.transistor.fm/s/36e7006b A reckoning with Spike Lee's 2018 film BlacKkKlansman as a retrospective on his previous films on race, racism, and U.S. history, as well as his treatment of memory of atrocity as the basis for real militancy. Lee revisits his ontology of antiblack racism, embedding it in political institutions and social-cultural practices, here linking those institutions and practices to the history of lynching, policing, and the alt-right riots in Charlottesville, Virginia. That series of links ends with an evocation of militancy: we have to confront the past, present, and future with both vigilance and the capacity for violence against the present, in the name of and toward a different - forever in the interrogative for Lee - kind of future.

]]> A reckoning with Spike Lee's 2018 film BlacKkKlansman as a retrospective on his previous films on race, racism, and U.S. history, as well as his treatment of memory of atrocity as the basis for real militancy. Lee revisits his ontology of antiblack racism, embedding it in political institutions and social-cultural practices, here linking those institutions and practices to the history of lynching, policing, and the alt-right riots in Charlottesville, Virginia. That series of links ends with an evocation of militancy: we have to confront the past, present, and future with both vigilance and the capacity for violence against the present, in the name of and toward a different - forever in the interrogative for Lee - kind of future.

]]> Mon, 02 Jan 2023 14:40:44 -0500 John E. Drabinski John E. Drabinski 1818 A reckoning with Spike Lee's 2018 film BlacKkKlansman as a retrospective on his previous films on race, racism, and U.S. history, as well as his treatment of memory of atrocity as the basis for real militancy. A reckoning with Spike Lee's 2018 film BlacKkKlansman as a retrospective on his previous films on race, racism, and U.S. history, as well as his treatment of memory of atrocity as the basis for real militancy. Spike Lee, film, cinema, Black Studies, film theory, African American Studies No 25 25 25 - Memory, Rage, and Death in When the Levees Broke full e494deb6-76dc-442f-8c22-be7a85d36cbd https://share.transistor.fm/s/21beb6f0 A second reflection piece on Spike Lee's multi-volume documentary When the Levees Broke, focusing on questions of memory, mourning, melancholia, and rage. I'm particularly interested in how death and displacement function in the memory-work of the film, and how Lee's crafting of context to show dead Black bodies on the screen is a story about the extent of antiblack racism and cruelty: removing not only the right to live and right to not be killed, but also, and most emphatically, the erasure of dignity in and after death.

]]> A second reflection piece on Spike Lee's multi-volume documentary When the Levees Broke, focusing on questions of memory, mourning, melancholia, and rage. I'm particularly interested in how death and displacement function in the memory-work of the film, and how Lee's crafting of context to show dead Black bodies on the screen is a story about the extent of antiblack racism and cruelty: removing not only the right to live and right to not be killed, but also, and most emphatically, the erasure of dignity in and after death.

]]> Sat, 31 Dec 2022 22:16:15 -0500 John E. Drabinski John E. Drabinski 1994 A second reflection piece on Spike Lee's multi-volume documentary When the Levees Broke, focusing on questions of memory, mourning, melancholia, and rage. A second reflection piece on Spike Lee's multi-volume documentary When the Levees Broke, focusing on questions of memory, mourning, melancholia, and rage. Spike Lee, film, cinema, Black Studies, film theory, African American Studies No 24 24 24 - History, Culture, and Antiblackness in When the Levees Broke full d884a496-c915-4f1d-8882-49c52c441c99 https://share.transistor.fm/s/762139ca An examination of how Spike Lee builds an account of antiblackness into his documentary film When the Levees Broke. In particular, I am interested in how that account attends to the specificity of New Orleans as a Black city, the embeddedness of forms and figures of slavery in antiblack practices, and how Lee draws these out of the experiences and reflections of common people who survived the catastrophe we call "Hurricane Katrina."

]]> An examination of how Spike Lee builds an account of antiblackness into his documentary film When the Levees Broke. In particular, I am interested in how that account attends to the specificity of New Orleans as a Black city, the embeddedness of forms and figures of slavery in antiblack practices, and how Lee draws these out of the experiences and reflections of common people who survived the catastrophe we call "Hurricane Katrina."

]]> Sat, 31 Dec 2022 13:41:04 -0500 John E. Drabinski John E. Drabinski 1816 An examination of how Spike Lee builds an account of antiblackness into his documentary film When the Levees Broke. An examination of how Spike Lee builds an account of antiblackness into his documentary film When the Levees Broke. Spike Lee, film, cinema, Black Studies, film theory, African American Studies No 23 23 23 - Mourning, Childhood, and the Body in 4 Little Girls full 17d0cb9b-5e07-4f86-98fa-9d5522aa7f5d https://share.transistor.fm/s/c40a0dac An examination of four key elements in Spike Lee's 1997 documentary 4 Little Girls, focused on the process of mourning, childhood, and Lee's decision to show autopsy photos of the four murdered girls. The closing witness of Chris McNair (inaccurately called "Ron" in the comments, apologies for the misspeak!) reflects the refinement of memory in the film, Alpha Robertson extends the meaning of witness to the expanse of life, the closing credits scene with home video footage of two children set memory in childhood, and Lee's attempt to ethically stage the revelation of autopsy photos in order to remind us of the materiality of the bombing sets memory in the physicality of atrocity.

]]> An examination of four key elements in Spike Lee's 1997 documentary 4 Little Girls, focused on the process of mourning, childhood, and Lee's decision to show autopsy photos of the four murdered girls. The closing witness of Chris McNair (inaccurately called "Ron" in the comments, apologies for the misspeak!) reflects the refinement of memory in the film, Alpha Robertson extends the meaning of witness to the expanse of life, the closing credits scene with home video footage of two children set memory in childhood, and Lee's attempt to ethically stage the revelation of autopsy photos in order to remind us of the materiality of the bombing sets memory in the physicality of atrocity.

]]> Fri, 30 Dec 2022 17:22:43 -0500 John E. Drabinski John E. Drabinski 1752 An examination of four key elements in Spike Lee's 1997 documentary 4 Little Girls, focused on the process of mourning, childhood, and Lee's decision to show autopsy photos of the four murdered girls. An examination of four key elements in Spike Lee's 1997 documentary 4 Little Girls, focused on the process of mourning, childhood, and Lee's decision to show autopsy photos of the four murdered girls. Spike Lee, film, cinema, Black Studies, film theory, African American Studies No 22 22 22 - Witness and Crafting Knowledge in 4 Little Girls full 2623db7d-836a-44d9-8192-ffd3f2f785ed https://share.transistor.fm/s/43509b40 A series of remarks on method and framing in Spike Lee's 1997 documentary film 4 Little Girls. I am interested in two things that frame the film. First, Lee's deliberate exclusion of narratives of white transformation from the meaning of the death of four girls in the 1963 church bombing, accomplished in large part by his derisive and dismissive treatment of George Wallace's late in life "turn away" from racism. Second, Lee's withdrawal of himself from the composition of the film, letting witnesses be the source of their own knowledge and transmission of affect. This moves Lee away from the role of creator of knowledge, and toward the ethics of editing - crafting the knowledge given in witness into the sound and image of the screen.

]]> A series of remarks on method and framing in Spike Lee's 1997 documentary film 4 Little Girls. I am interested in two things that frame the film. First, Lee's deliberate exclusion of narratives of white transformation from the meaning of the death of four girls in the 1963 church bombing, accomplished in large part by his derisive and dismissive treatment of George Wallace's late in life "turn away" from racism. Second, Lee's withdrawal of himself from the composition of the film, letting witnesses be the source of their own knowledge and transmission of affect. This moves Lee away from the role of creator of knowledge, and toward the ethics of editing - crafting the knowledge given in witness into the sound and image of the screen.

]]> Fri, 30 Dec 2022 16:18:02 -0500 John E. Drabinski John E. Drabinski 1551 A series of remarks on method and framing in Spike Lee's 1997 documentary film 4 Little Girls. A series of remarks on method and framing in Spike Lee's 1997 documentary film 4 Little Girls. Spike Lee, film, cinema, Black Studies, film theory, African American Studies No 21 21 21 - Mourning and Loss in Chi-Raq full 129fd6a4-22d4-4433-b16d-9a39498a91e9 https://share.transistor.fm/s/3a9b6337 An examination of two critical scenes in Chi-Raq that, for me, tell us what the film is about and what is for Spike Lee the endgame of making cinema about gun violence. The first scene is around the 25:00 mark, where Irene, played by Jennifer Hudson, cleans the blood of her murdered daughter off the sidewalk as Hudson sings "I Run" in the background. This is Lee's iteration of the theme "women's work," here as the work of mourning and literally and figuratively cleaning up the mess of men's gun violence. The second scene is around the 50:00 marks scene in which a non-professional actor and former gang member in a wheelchair describes his regret and mourning of a life enmeshed in gun violence. Both scenes bridge the fictional and farcical elements of the film to the social reality of gun violence in Black communities, breaking the walls of the film and screen while also articulating what Chi-Raq is actually about.

]]> An examination of two critical scenes in Chi-Raq that, for me, tell us what the film is about and what is for Spike Lee the endgame of making cinema about gun violence. The first scene is around the 25:00 mark, where Irene, played by Jennifer Hudson, cleans the blood of her murdered daughter off the sidewalk as Hudson sings "I Run" in the background. This is Lee's iteration of the theme "women's work," here as the work of mourning and literally and figuratively cleaning up the mess of men's gun violence. The second scene is around the 50:00 marks scene in which a non-professional actor and former gang member in a wheelchair describes his regret and mourning of a life enmeshed in gun violence. Both scenes bridge the fictional and farcical elements of the film to the social reality of gun violence in Black communities, breaking the walls of the film and screen while also articulating what Chi-Raq is actually about.

]]> Fri, 30 Dec 2022 11:40:53 -0500 John E. Drabinski John E. Drabinski 1588 An examination of two critical scenes in Chi-Raq that, for me, tell us what the film is about and what is for Spike Lee the endgame of making cinema about gun violence. An examination of two critical scenes in Chi-Raq that, for me, tell us what the film is about and what is for Spike Lee the endgame of making cinema about gun violence. Spike Lee, film, cinema, Black Studies, film theory, African American Studies No 20 20 20 - Mixed-Genre and Cinematic Success in Chi-Raq full 91720349-eca8-44fe-86d8-87988daa395e https://share.transistor.fm/s/cec1354b Thinking through the problem of mixed-genre in Spike Lee's 2015 film Chi-Raq, how it operates as a fragmented address to gun violence, and how that address clarifies our criteria for a successful cinematic work. In particular, I am interested in how the farcical story of a sex strike, the melodrama elements of storytelling, and quasi-documentary moments combine to instruct morally and politically. That instruction, I argue, is an extension of Lee's broad political values - embodied in the figure and film Malcolm X - around Black communities healing themselves rather than waiting for systemic change or changes in white people and white social-political structures.

]]> Thinking through the problem of mixed-genre in Spike Lee's 2015 film Chi-Raq, how it operates as a fragmented address to gun violence, and how that address clarifies our criteria for a successful cinematic work. In particular, I am interested in how the farcical story of a sex strike, the melodrama elements of storytelling, and quasi-documentary moments combine to instruct morally and politically. That instruction, I argue, is an extension of Lee's broad political values - embodied in the figure and film Malcolm X - around Black communities healing themselves rather than waiting for systemic change or changes in white people and white social-political structures.

]]> Thu, 29 Dec 2022 20:35:01 -0500 John E. Drabinski John E. Drabinski 1787 Thinking through the problem of mixed-genre in Spike Lee's 2015 film Chi-Raq, how it operates as a fragmented address to gun violence, and how that address clarifies our criteria for a successful cinematic work. Thinking through the problem of mixed-genre in Spike Lee's 2015 film Chi-Raq, how it operates as a fragmented address to gun violence, and how that address clarifies our criteria for a successful cinematic work. Spike Lee, film, cinema, Black Studies, film theory, African American Studies No 19 19 19 - Childhood, Melancholy, and Joy in Red Hook Summer full 8ba37ebe-f629-490e-aa30-6cc54da6efd5 https://share.transistor.fm/s/69bd8d82 A second reflection on Spike Lee's exploration of abandonment in Red Hook Summer, with particular focus on how the lives of the neighborhood revisit key themes of Black childhood and women's work. Children are more precarious in Red Hook Summer than in other Lee films, and women's work is no longer connected to a domestic sphere apart from the dramatics of outside, common space. Lee, I argue, offers us an appreciation of the vulnerability and exhaustion of women who've been tasked with the most difficult and dispiriting work - keeping children alive, witnessing their lives - and the precarity of Black childhood, while at the same time, as always, refusing to make that melancholy total. Instead, Lee entwines melancholy and joy in order to witness witnessing, in order to see and know the persistence of Black care even at the forefront of antiblack violence.

]]> A second reflection on Spike Lee's exploration of abandonment in Red Hook Summer, with particular focus on how the lives of the neighborhood revisit key themes of Black childhood and women's work. Children are more precarious in Red Hook Summer than in other Lee films, and women's work is no longer connected to a domestic sphere apart from the dramatics of outside, common space. Lee, I argue, offers us an appreciation of the vulnerability and exhaustion of women who've been tasked with the most difficult and dispiriting work - keeping children alive, witnessing their lives - and the precarity of Black childhood, while at the same time, as always, refusing to make that melancholy total. Instead, Lee entwines melancholy and joy in order to witness witnessing, in order to see and know the persistence of Black care even at the forefront of antiblack violence.

]]> Thu, 29 Dec 2022 18:01:36 -0500 John E. Drabinski John E. Drabinski 1360 A second reflection on Spike Lee's exploration of abandonment in Red Hook Summer, with particular focus on how the lives of the neighborhood revisit key themes of Black childhood and women's work. A second reflection on Spike Lee's exploration of abandonment in Red Hook Summer, with particular focus on how the lives of the neighborhood revisit key themes of Black childhood and women's work. Spike Lee, film, cinema, Black Studies, film theory, African American Studies No 18 18 18 - Abandonment and Memory in Red Hook Summer full d7bce917-c181-47e9-b753-fc860fc1b0c7 https://share.transistor.fm/s/5b6c2fbb A characterization of Spike Lee's 2012 film Red Hook Summer as a meditation on total abandonment. I am specifically concerned with the abandonment of the neighborhood to environmental racism, social and political violence, and ethnic cleansing. How does Lee document life in a space made precarious by gentrification and other forms of violence? How does that documentation sit alongside his previous treatments of Brooklyn as a vibrant, living place?

]]> A characterization of Spike Lee's 2012 film Red Hook Summer as a meditation on total abandonment. I am specifically concerned with the abandonment of the neighborhood to environmental racism, social and political violence, and ethnic cleansing. How does Lee document life in a space made precarious by gentrification and other forms of violence? How does that documentation sit alongside his previous treatments of Brooklyn as a vibrant, living place?

]]> Thu, 29 Dec 2022 17:56:19 -0500 John E. Drabinski John E. Drabinski 1407 A characterization of Spike Lee's 2012 film Red Hook Summer as a meditation on total abandonment. I am specifically concerned with the abandonment of the neighborhood to environmental racism, social and political violence, and ethnic cleansing. A characterization of Spike Lee's 2012 film Red Hook Summer as a meditation on total abandonment. I am specifically concerned with the abandonment of the neighborhood to environmental racism, social and political violence, and ethnic cleansing. Spike Lee, film, cinema, Black Studies, film theory, African American Studies No 17 17 17 - Masculinity, Slavery, and the Unprecedented in Get On The Bus full 891f8421-331b-4b1d-b7a3-8c240087274e https://share.transistor.fm/s/9414d0a6 Revisiting the theme of masculinity and the interrogative, I here trace the allusions to slavery in Get On The Bus and how it outlines, along with his treatment of Jeremiah (the film's elder), Lee's commitment to cinema as question-asking and the horizon of the unprecedented. Jeremiah's damaged life contains an ethical imperative: center identity on an expansive, strong sense of blackness. But it also opens up only possibility: his life was not one to emulate, nor is any from the past. Rather, the unprecedented questions asked in Get On The Bus ask each subject in the film (and also us as viewers) to begin again, to make relationships to self, others, and community for the first time.

]]> Revisiting the theme of masculinity and the interrogative, I here trace the allusions to slavery in Get On The Bus and how it outlines, along with his treatment of Jeremiah (the film's elder), Lee's commitment to cinema as question-asking and the horizon of the unprecedented. Jeremiah's damaged life contains an ethical imperative: center identity on an expansive, strong sense of blackness. But it also opens up only possibility: his life was not one to emulate, nor is any from the past. Rather, the unprecedented questions asked in Get On The Bus ask each subject in the film (and also us as viewers) to begin again, to make relationships to self, others, and community for the first time.

]]> Thu, 29 Dec 2022 15:38:53 -0500 John E. Drabinski John E. Drabinski 1479 Revisiting the theme of masculinity and the interrogative, I here trace the allusions to slavery in Get On The Bus and how it outlines, along with his treatment of Jeremiah (the film's elder), Lee's commitment to cinema as question-asking and the horizon of the unprecedented. Revisiting the theme of masculinity and the interrogative, I here trace the allusions to slavery in Get On The Bus and how it outlines, along with his treatment of Jeremiah (the film's elder), Lee's commitment to cinema as question-asking and the horizon Spike Lee, film, cinema, Black Studies, film theory, African American Studies No 16 16 16 - Masculinity and the Interrogative in Get On The Bus full fb1ca96f-f377-4ea5-94dd-a850092eed2b https://share.transistor.fm/s/9451636c A first comment on Spike Lee's 1996 film Get On The Bus, discussing it as a self-reckoning by Lee concerned with his previous explorations of masculine identity formation. Lee sees the limits and even harm of previous accounts of masculinity, placing the questions he has for himself, but also Black men more broadly, inside the spatially constrained yet affectively expansive and expanding frame of the bus.

]]> A first comment on Spike Lee's 1996 film Get On The Bus, discussing it as a self-reckoning by Lee concerned with his previous explorations of masculine identity formation. Lee sees the limits and even harm of previous accounts of masculinity, placing the questions he has for himself, but also Black men more broadly, inside the spatially constrained yet affectively expansive and expanding frame of the bus.

]]> Thu, 29 Dec 2022 15:34:43 -0500 John E. Drabinski John E. Drabinski 1561 A first comment on Spike Lee's 1996 film Get On The Bus, discussing it as a self-reckoning by Lee concerned with his previous explorations of masculine identity formation. A first comment on Spike Lee's 1996 film Get On The Bus, discussing it as a self-reckoning by Lee concerned with his previous explorations of masculine identity formation. Spike Lee, film, cinema, Black Studies, film theory, African American Studies No 15 15 15 - Childhood, Portraiture, and Possibility in Crooklyn full 6a7cbaab-b446-4aa0-83c7-4e3ce44989c5 https://share.transistor.fm/s/c95f10a0 A further exploration of the meaning of childhood in Spike Lee's Crooklyn, with particular attention to how childhood and adulthood sit in an ambiguous relation and produce both constriction and possibility. I'm interested in how the song "Ooh Child" by Five Stairsteps expresses the moral and ethical message of the film, namely, that whatever the abject conditions and sense of fate for Black people in an anti-Black world, that suffering is also and always accompanied by great beauty and sense of possibility - here, portrayed in the child-life of Troy. This portrait offers a complex vision of Black girlhood and women's work, appreciating joy and resistance alongside the pathos of everyday life, but also, I think, a broader claim about Black life in a world saturated with antiblackness.

]]> A further exploration of the meaning of childhood in Spike Lee's Crooklyn, with particular attention to how childhood and adulthood sit in an ambiguous relation and produce both constriction and possibility. I'm interested in how the song "Ooh Child" by Five Stairsteps expresses the moral and ethical message of the film, namely, that whatever the abject conditions and sense of fate for Black people in an anti-Black world, that suffering is also and always accompanied by great beauty and sense of possibility - here, portrayed in the child-life of Troy. This portrait offers a complex vision of Black girlhood and women's work, appreciating joy and resistance alongside the pathos of everyday life, but also, I think, a broader claim about Black life in a world saturated with antiblackness.

]]> Wed, 28 Dec 2022 17:01:41 -0500 John E. Drabinski John E. Drabinski 1514 A further exploration of the meaning of childhood in Spike Lee's Crooklyn, with particular attention to how childhood and adulthood sit in an ambiguous relation and produce both constriction and possibility. A further exploration of the meaning of childhood in Spike Lee's Crooklyn, with particular attention to how childhood and adulthood sit in an ambiguous relation and produce both constriction and possibility. Spike Lee, film, cinema, Black Studies, film theory, African American Studies No 14 14 14 - Black Girlhood and Women's Work in Crooklyn full 13986cc5-e584-4ca9-89d6-fa0da50456c0 https://share.transistor.fm/s/f4a60e32 A discussion of the relationship between girlhood, childhood, Black life, and women's work in Spike Lee's 1994 film Crooklyn. In this reflection, I read Lee's film - a collaboration with his siblings, especially his sister Joie Lee - as an exercise in portraiture. That is, Lee is not prescribing how Black girls should live, how life should unfold for them, or what sorts of work fall as the responsibility of women, but he is instead describing how in this kind of place girls, children, and women live their age and positioning in the world. Lee brings us the complex space of Black childhood that is either a fiction or a severely compromised reality: saturated with sadness, but also beauty. Insistent on beauty, Lee refuses to see the difficulties of Black life as merely abject.

]]> A discussion of the relationship between girlhood, childhood, Black life, and women's work in Spike Lee's 1994 film Crooklyn. In this reflection, I read Lee's film - a collaboration with his siblings, especially his sister Joie Lee - as an exercise in portraiture. That is, Lee is not prescribing how Black girls should live, how life should unfold for them, or what sorts of work fall as the responsibility of women, but he is instead describing how in this kind of place girls, children, and women live their age and positioning in the world. Lee brings us the complex space of Black childhood that is either a fiction or a severely compromised reality: saturated with sadness, but also beauty. Insistent on beauty, Lee refuses to see the difficulties of Black life as merely abject.

]]> Sat, 24 Dec 2022 17:55:39 -0500 John E. Drabinski John E. Drabinski 1761 A discussion of the relationship between girlhood, childhood, Black life, and women's work in Spike Lee's 1994 film Crooklyn. A discussion of the relationship between girlhood, childhood, Black life, and women's work in Spike Lee's 1994 film Crooklyn. Spike Lee, film, cinema, Black Studies, film theory, African American Studies No 13 13 13 - The Existential Politics of Malcolm X full 3edea545-e9d0-44df-a630-4fe60edf809d https://share.transistor.fm/s/efc1283e A sketch of the politics of the film, as well as the life of the person, Malcolm X - and, by extension, the politics of Spike Lee's early cinema. In particular, I am concerned with how Lee continues his reflections on the meaning and possibilities for Black life outside the white gaze, formed between Black people and guided by the open horizon(s) of self-invention and reinvention. This sense of a politics of self-invention and reinvention is set alongside the persistent representations of sociogenic conditions of antiblackness. Lee is not content to point out systematic issues and remain at that level, concluding with that imperative alone. Like Malcolm X, he is also committed to the question of how to live political in the midst of systemic antiblackness and how to make meaningful, transformative life and lives outside the white gaze.

]]> A sketch of the politics of the film, as well as the life of the person, Malcolm X - and, by extension, the politics of Spike Lee's early cinema. In particular, I am concerned with how Lee continues his reflections on the meaning and possibilities for Black life outside the white gaze, formed between Black people and guided by the open horizon(s) of self-invention and reinvention. This sense of a politics of self-invention and reinvention is set alongside the persistent representations of sociogenic conditions of antiblackness. Lee is not content to point out systematic issues and remain at that level, concluding with that imperative alone. Like Malcolm X, he is also committed to the question of how to live political in the midst of systemic antiblackness and how to make meaningful, transformative life and lives outside the white gaze.

]]> Sat, 24 Dec 2022 14:37:50 -0500 John E. Drabinski John E. Drabinski 1361 A sketch of the politics of the film, and also the life of the person, Malcolm X - and by extensions, the politics of Spike Lee's early cinema. A sketch of the politics of the film, and also the life of the person, Malcolm X - and by extensions, the politics of Spike Lee's early cinema. Spike Lee, film, cinema, Black Studies, film theory, African American Studies No 12 12 12 - Masculinity and Self-Invention in Malcolm X full 1d231bab-eed4-4cd5-9f26-9656c7ea801b https://share.transistor.fm/s/4e9184c8 An exploration of themes of masculinity in Malcolm X, linking Lee's 1992 film to his previous reflections of masculinity and masculine identity formation. I am particularly interested in how the film tracks self-invention across Malcolm X's life, and how the concluding sequence of declarations "I am Malcolm X" suggests a broader horizon for Black identity formation that is so intimately bound, yet not wholly limited by, formation in an anti-Black world.

]]> An exploration of themes of masculinity in Malcolm X, linking Lee's 1992 film to his previous reflections of masculinity and masculine identity formation. I am particularly interested in how the film tracks self-invention across Malcolm X's life, and how the concluding sequence of declarations "I am Malcolm X" suggests a broader horizon for Black identity formation that is so intimately bound, yet not wholly limited by, formation in an anti-Black world.

]]> Wed, 21 Dec 2022 18:03:44 -0500 John E. Drabinski John E. Drabinski 1913 An exploration of themes of masculinity in Malcolm X, linking Lee's 1992 film to his previous reflections of masculinity and masculine identity formation. An exploration of themes of masculinity in Malcolm X, linking Lee's 1992 film to his previous reflections of masculinity and masculine identity formation. Spike Lee, film, cinema, Black Studies, film theory, African American Studies No 11 11 11 - Childhood, Women's Work, and the Phallus in Mo' Better Blues full cbc599aa-f76c-45f8-91fd-b498a3a74fdf https://share.transistor.fm/s/20074162 Discussion of Mo' Better Blues, with emphasis on the place of children, childhood, motherhood, and women's work in the formation of masculine identity. In particular, I'm interested in how pleasure and play open up new horizons not just for masculine identity formation, but for the relationships between men and for relationships between men and women that are not repetition-sites of phallic struggle.

]]> Discussion of Mo' Better Blues, with emphasis on the place of children, childhood, motherhood, and women's work in the formation of masculine identity. In particular, I'm interested in how pleasure and play open up new horizons not just for masculine identity formation, but for the relationships between men and for relationships between men and women that are not repetition-sites of phallic struggle.

]]> Sat, 17 Dec 2022 14:25:59 -0500 John E. Drabinski John E. Drabinski 1620 Discussion of Mo' Better Blues, with emphasis on the place of children, childhood, motherhood, and women's work in the formation of masculine identity. Discussion of Mo' Better Blues, with emphasis on the place of children, childhood, motherhood, and women's work in the formation of masculine identity. Spike Lee, film, cinema, Black Studies, film theory, African American Studies No 10 10 10 - Masculinity and the Phallus in Mo' Better Blues full 36cb2e78-58e3-47da-8e92-ee3911125c10 https://share.transistor.fm/s/d0567950 A discussion of the theme of masculinity and the phallus in Spike Lee's 1990 film Mo' Better Blues, with particular emphasis on the psychic and material dimensions of phallic struggle between Bleek and Shadow. I am interested in how the psychic life of the stage is deployed in the struggle between Bleek and Shadow offstage to possess, in whatever register, their mutual sexual interest - Clark. And also how in the film's title song - "Mo' Better Blues" - is performed outside the phallic economy, articulating different masculine possibilities that are, in the film, otherwise only explored in the domestic life of Bleek and Indigo that closes the film. 

]]> A discussion of the theme of masculinity and the phallus in Spike Lee's 1990 film Mo' Better Blues, with particular emphasis on the psychic and material dimensions of phallic struggle between Bleek and Shadow. I am interested in how the psychic life of the stage is deployed in the struggle between Bleek and Shadow offstage to possess, in whatever register, their mutual sexual interest - Clark. And also how in the film's title song - "Mo' Better Blues" - is performed outside the phallic economy, articulating different masculine possibilities that are, in the film, otherwise only explored in the domestic life of Bleek and Indigo that closes the film. 

]]> Thu, 15 Dec 2022 18:18:19 -0500 John E. Drabinski John E. Drabinski 1574 A discussion of the theme of masculinity and the phallus in Spike Lee's 1990 film Mo' Better Blues, with particular emphasis on the psychic and material dimensions of phallic struggle between Bleek and Shadow. A discussion of the theme of masculinity and the phallus in Spike Lee's 1990 film Mo' Better Blues, with particular emphasis on the psychic and material dimensions of phallic struggle between Bleek and Shadow. Spike Lee, film, cinema, Black Studies, film theory, African American Studies No 9 9 9 - Women, Children, and the Police in Do the Right Thing full 550cfb17-df83-42eb-81fa-bebb971e3d47 https://share.transistor.fm/s/684d6b33 A discussion of three under theorized themes in Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing, but which get further treatment across his cinema: women's work, the role of children and childhood on the screen, and the presence of the police in an antiblack world.

]]> A discussion of three under theorized themes in Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing, but which get further treatment across his cinema: women's work, the role of children and childhood on the screen, and the presence of the police in an antiblack world.

]]> Thu, 15 Dec 2022 13:38:21 -0500 John E. Drabinski John E. Drabinski 1522 A discussion of horizons of cinematic inquiry opened up in Do the Right Thing, which get further treatment in subsequent Lee films. A discussion of horizons of cinematic inquiry opened up in Do the Right Thing, which get further treatment in subsequent Lee films. Spike Lee, film, cinema, Black Studies, film theory, African American Studies No 8 8 8 - The Right Thing in Do the Right Thing full 539eaaa4-19f0-4d38-980b-5773f9f4aa4b https://share.transistor.fm/s/e0a9e12c Discussion of the theme of "right" in Do the Right Thing, with particular focus on the neighborhood complexities of race, color, nation, and age. Beginning with a brief bit about the aesthetic innovations of the film - putting Black bodies on the screen - in relation to School Daze and She's Gotta Have It, I spend most of the piece exploring the relation between love, hate, and the notion of rightness. How do we measure rightness in the ambivalent, undecidable space of love mixed with hate, hate mixed with love? A response, perhaps an answer of sorts, lies in Mother Sister's two utterances in the penultimate scene, the climax of the film: stop stop and burn it all down.

]]> Discussion of the theme of "right" in Do the Right Thing, with particular focus on the neighborhood complexities of race, color, nation, and age. Beginning with a brief bit about the aesthetic innovations of the film - putting Black bodies on the screen - in relation to School Daze and She's Gotta Have It, I spend most of the piece exploring the relation between love, hate, and the notion of rightness. How do we measure rightness in the ambivalent, undecidable space of love mixed with hate, hate mixed with love? A response, perhaps an answer of sorts, lies in Mother Sister's two utterances in the penultimate scene, the climax of the film: stop stop and burn it all down.

]]> Wed, 14 Dec 2022 17:22:27 -0500 John E. Drabinski John E. Drabinski 1778 A discussion of "the right thing" in Spike Lee's 1989 film Do the Right Thing, focused on the moral contours of this question in the small space of a. Brooklyn neighborhood. A discussion of "the right thing" in Spike Lee's 1989 film Do the Right Thing, focused on the moral contours of this question in the small space of a. Brooklyn neighborhood. Spike Lee, film, cinema, Black Studies, film theory, African American Studies No 7 7 7 - Masculinity and Misogyny in School Daze full 13a216dc-2d9a-4f0d-acfc-d35b44a536d3 https://share.transistor.fm/s/15ca471b In this piece, I explore the relationship between masculinity and misogyny in School Daze, arguing that Lee links the two and sees the formation of masculine identity as inseparable from the subjugation of women. What is the path out? This is not resolved in the film, but the stakes could not be higher: Lee links the question to slavery and emancipation. Again, the resolution, such that it is, is located in the interrogative. What would masculinity mean if it emerged out of an intimacy between men and the intimacy of the masculine self with itself?

]]> In this piece, I explore the relationship between masculinity and misogyny in School Daze, arguing that Lee links the two and sees the formation of masculine identity as inseparable from the subjugation of women. What is the path out? This is not resolved in the film, but the stakes could not be higher: Lee links the question to slavery and emancipation. Again, the resolution, such that it is, is located in the interrogative. What would masculinity mean if it emerged out of an intimacy between men and the intimacy of the masculine self with itself?

]]> Mon, 12 Dec 2022 17:33:23 -0500 John E. Drabinski John E. Drabinski 1649 A second discussion of School Daze, in which I trace out Lee's arguments about masculinity and misogyny, drawing us to the film's final moment declaring "Wake up!" A second discussion of School Daze, in which I trace out Lee's arguments about masculinity and misogyny, drawing us to the film's final moment declaring "Wake up!" Spike Lee, School Daze, masculinity, misogyny No 6 6 6 - Memory and the Moral Horizon of School Daze full 6a2bcc14-9e1b-4902-9f98-93fdaad46f48 https://share.transistor.fm/s/3eda48c2 A reflection on the opening credits to School Daze, and the sound and image that makes it work as the moral horizon of the film. In setting a series of images in relation to a Spiritual, Lee stages the stakes of the body of the film - what it means to live, act, and inhabit the horizon of Black righteousness with moral and political responsibility.

]]> A reflection on the opening credits to School Daze, and the sound and image that makes it work as the moral horizon of the film. In setting a series of images in relation to a Spiritual, Lee stages the stakes of the body of the film - what it means to live, act, and inhabit the horizon of Black righteousness with moral and political responsibility.

]]> Wed, 07 Dec 2022 12:26:58 -0500 John E. Drabinski John E. Drabinski 1496 Discussion of the opening sequence of School Daze, exploring the implications of its accounting of Black refusal, resistance, and excellence for the arc of the main body of the film. Discussion of the opening sequence of School Daze, exploring the implications of its accounting of Black refusal, resistance, and excellence for the arc of the main body of the film. Spike Lee, School Daze, history and memory, resistance, refusal, Black excellence No 5 5 5 - Bamboozled, Nihilism, and the Problem of Exit full 4f22b128-f2f9-4a68-ac54-6c8a37cb8149 https://share.transistor.fm/s/f2326966 In a second discussion of Bamboozled, I continue a discussion of the film's pessimism and elements, small and suggestive only, that direct us towards paths of exit. I focus in particular on how minstrelsy haunts the film, our culture, and the possibilities of expressive life in an antiblack world - with specific reference to the scene in which the minstrel coin bank begins working on its own, without Delacroix's hand. The ghostly character of minstrelsy articulates how the past forms cultural production in the present, leaving us with an arc of nihilism. Are there paths out of that nihilism? I suggest at the end that Junebug, played by Paul Mooney, shows us a path out: Black humor dedicated to articulating the fallible elements, the humor, of Black humanity, and performed for Black audiences. But Junebug is no liberated character. He drinks to forget. He's fading with exhaustion.

]]> In a second discussion of Bamboozled, I continue a discussion of the film's pessimism and elements, small and suggestive only, that direct us towards paths of exit. I focus in particular on how minstrelsy haunts the film, our culture, and the possibilities of expressive life in an antiblack world - with specific reference to the scene in which the minstrel coin bank begins working on its own, without Delacroix's hand. The ghostly character of minstrelsy articulates how the past forms cultural production in the present, leaving us with an arc of nihilism. Are there paths out of that nihilism? I suggest at the end that Junebug, played by Paul Mooney, shows us a path out: Black humor dedicated to articulating the fallible elements, the humor, of Black humanity, and performed for Black audiences. But Junebug is no liberated character. He drinks to forget. He's fading with exhaustion.

]]> Mon, 05 Dec 2022 11:46:54 -0500 John E. Drabinski John E. Drabinski 1496 In a second discussion of Bamboozled, I continue a discussion of the film's pessimism and elements, small and suggestive only, that direct us towards paths of exit. In a second discussion of Bamboozled, I continue a discussion of the film's pessimism and elements, small and suggestive only, that direct us towards paths of exit. Spike Lee, Bamboozled, minstrelsy, nihilism, pessimism, afropessimism, African American film, Black Studies, cinema studies No 4 4 4 - The Afropessimism of Bamboozled full a84f9e75-b508-4047-8628-2df1ae12b412 http://jdrabinski.com/slj In this discussion, I explore the pessimism of Spike Lee's Bamboozled, a 2000 film that offers a thought experiment: what would happen if television broadcast a minstrel series? What are the theoretical foundations of the claims coming out of this experiment? Lee, I claim, is drawing on the key insights of afropessimism, in particular the claim that antiblackness is an ontology of our world - the origin of our personal, collective, and shared world being - and therefore saturates all forms of representation, feeling, performance, and judgement. This allows us to see how the film is melancholic, pessimistic, and largely without hope. The white gaze, the Black gaze, and the interracial space of spectatorship are all generated from the same antiblack structure of being. Minstrelsy generated in this ontology, and its social, cultural, and political productions, registers as humor and pleasure - often despite our most resolute political commitments.

]]> In this discussion, I explore the pessimism of Spike Lee's Bamboozled, a 2000 film that offers a thought experiment: what would happen if television broadcast a minstrel series? What are the theoretical foundations of the claims coming out of this experiment? Lee, I claim, is drawing on the key insights of afropessimism, in particular the claim that antiblackness is an ontology of our world - the origin of our personal, collective, and shared world being - and therefore saturates all forms of representation, feeling, performance, and judgement. This allows us to see how the film is melancholic, pessimistic, and largely without hope. The white gaze, the Black gaze, and the interracial space of spectatorship are all generated from the same antiblack structure of being. Minstrelsy generated in this ontology, and its social, cultural, and political productions, registers as humor and pleasure - often despite our most resolute political commitments.

]]> Sat, 03 Dec 2022 21:03:49 -0500 John E. Drabinski John E. Drabinski 1371 In this discussion, I explore the pessimism of Spike Lee's Bamboozled, a 2000 film that offers a thought experiment: what would happen if television broadcast a minstrel series? What are the theoretical foundations of the claims coming from this experiment? In this discussion, I explore the pessimism of Spike Lee's Bamboozled, a 2000 film that offers a thought experiment: what would happen if television broadcast a minstrel series? What are the theoretical foundations of the claims coming from this experimen Spike Lee, Bamboozled, pessimism, afropessimism, cinema studies, film studies, Black Studies No 3 3 3 - Hollywood Shuffle and the Question of Crisis full 7d6d72a4-de61-4b77-bdb0-362f4a6af802 http://jdrabinski.com/slj A discussion of Robert Townsend's 1987 film Hollywood Shuffle and how it both articulates and addresses a sense of crisis in making films with and about Black people. I am particularly concerned with how Townsend engages two senses of crisis. One, registering a sense of enduring violence against Black bodies, people, and life in the history of American cinema. Two, understanding crisis as the intersection of limit and possibility, in which historical violence meets closure in Hollywood Shuffle and, inside the film, through irony and hyperbole, opens up new senses of cinematic possibility.

]]> A discussion of Robert Townsend's 1987 film Hollywood Shuffle and how it both articulates and addresses a sense of crisis in making films with and about Black people. I am particularly concerned with how Townsend engages two senses of crisis. One, registering a sense of enduring violence against Black bodies, people, and life in the history of American cinema. Two, understanding crisis as the intersection of limit and possibility, in which historical violence meets closure in Hollywood Shuffle and, inside the film, through irony and hyperbole, opens up new senses of cinematic possibility.

]]> Sat, 03 Dec 2022 20:40:24 -0500 John E. Drabinski John E. Drabinski 1496 A discussion of Robert Townsend's 1987 film Hollywood Shuffle and how it both articulates and addresses a sense of crisis in making films with and about Black people. A discussion of Robert Townsend's 1987 film Hollywood Shuffle and how it both articulates and addresses a sense of crisis in making films with and about Black people. Robert Townsend, Hollywood Shuffle, crisis of representation, Black representation, film studies, cinema studies No 2 2 2 - Hollywood Shuffle and Representation full 353af7bc-def2-461e-b677-d69a3edf494f http://jdrabinski.com/slj/ As a way of preparing for analysis of Spike Lee's cinema, I reflect here on how Robert Townsend's 1987 film Hollywood Shuffle poses a series of challenges to filmmaking and the representation of Black people and Black life on the screen. In particular, I am interested in his critique of Hollywood's racial history - a critique made by plain reportage - and how he uses humor to double our relationship to the film and also how he negotiates the precarious cultural politics of the white gaze, the Black gaze, and the interracial space of cinematic viewership. Townsend takes risks and sets a template for challenging historical representation, while also understanding the immense gravity of antiblackness in cinematic spectacle, composition, and audience engagement - something that is perhaps inescapable.

]]> As a way of preparing for analysis of Spike Lee's cinema, I reflect here on how Robert Townsend's 1987 film Hollywood Shuffle poses a series of challenges to filmmaking and the representation of Black people and Black life on the screen. In particular, I am interested in his critique of Hollywood's racial history - a critique made by plain reportage - and how he uses humor to double our relationship to the film and also how he negotiates the precarious cultural politics of the white gaze, the Black gaze, and the interracial space of cinematic viewership. Townsend takes risks and sets a template for challenging historical representation, while also understanding the immense gravity of antiblackness in cinematic spectacle, composition, and audience engagement - something that is perhaps inescapable.

]]> Sat, 03 Dec 2022 20:10:01 -0500 John E. Drabinski John E. Drabinski 1247 A discussion of how Robert Townsend's 1987 film Hollywood Shuffle sets out the terms of Black representation in cinematic history and the present, as well as how it begins to move outside those limitations. A discussion of how Robert Townsend's 1987 film Hollywood Shuffle sets out the terms of Black representation in cinematic history and the present, as well as how it begins to move outside those limitations. Spike Lee, Robert Townsend, Hollywood Shuffle, cinema and race, racial representation in film No 1 1 1 - Preliminary Notes for Reading Spike Lee; or A Black Studies Hermeneutic full b1201031-6898-4786-abf4-0b656a26863a https://share.transistor.fm/s/edb566ab In this opening episode, I describe my interpretative frame for Spike Lee's cinema, focusing on the terms and imperatives Lee brings to cinematic practice - the burden and beauty of representing Black bodies, Black people, and Black life - and how that forms what I call a Black Studies approach to film. My interpretative frame, then, follows Lee's leading clues, but embellishes them with the African American intellectual tradition and its combination of aesthetics, ethics, and politics.

]]> In this opening episode, I describe my interpretative frame for Spike Lee's cinema, focusing on the terms and imperatives Lee brings to cinematic practice - the burden and beauty of representing Black bodies, Black people, and Black life - and how that forms what I call a Black Studies approach to film. My interpretative frame, then, follows Lee's leading clues, but embellishes them with the African American intellectual tradition and its combination of aesthetics, ethics, and politics.

]]> Sat, 03 Dec 2022 18:43:21 -0500 John E. Drabinski John E. Drabinski 1439 A discussion of my interpretative approach to Spike Lee's cinema. A discussion of my interpretative approach to Spike Lee's cinema. Spike Lee, cinema studies, interpretation, Black Studies, film studies No