...About Representation and Success in Hollywood

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Spike Lee movie,” my dad commented at dinner the other night.

“Probably because he is a black man working in a white industry,” I suggested. Neither of my parents wanted to agree with that claim; race, they insisted, was not the reason they hadn’t seen one of his movies. And they were right, their perception of his race was not the reason they hadn’t seen one of his movies, but that didn’t mean the media, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, or pop culture didn’t interpret his race as a deciding factor of how successful his movies may be, or how accredited of a director he may be.

“I mean his movies are pretty well received, he has received numerous awards for them even,” my mom offered as a counter argument. But how did his nominations and wins compare to those of white directors who had been in the industry for as long and made as many movies as he had? I wish I had asked that question. I felt confident in the claim that he had not received as many awards as he should, though. His first movie was released in 1986, but his first Oscar was won in 2016, and his first Oscar for one of his movies wasn’t received until 2018.

I proceeded to talk about how it wasn’t my parents’ conscious intentions to neglect Spike Lee movies, and different factors affected their accessibility like if a cable network streamed the movie for free on a weeknight or weekend, or if the press gave his movies adequate (or comparable) attention at the time of their release. And these factors, I reiterated, were ultimately related to his race in a white industry.

“Well, maybe his movies are less well received because of their subject matter, not because of the color of his skin,” one of my parents added, “people don’t have as big of an interest in watching movies that aren’t along the lines of the conventional thriller, mystery, or rom-com, and that’s probably why they aren’t as popular.” The comment was the cherry on top I didn’t know I needed to drive home my argument. They were right, again, to identify that the subject matter of Spike Lee’s movies were a large reason they weren’t as frequently streamed or didn’t receive as many awards as they deserved. But why is the subject matter of Spike Lee’s movies not of interest to movie consumers? What makes his movies unique, and how do those distinguishing factors differ from every other movie in Hollywood? Some other questions I wish I had asked.

“Spike Lee’s movies are about black experiences in America, and they are told by him, a black man living in America. That kind of movie narrative, if told honestly as Spike Lee does, challenges whiteness by showing how white people contribute to the oppressive and detrimental treatment of black people in America. And that fear of acknowledgement which would challenge the structure of America is the reason that white people dismiss his movies, and the reason why Spike Lee hasn’t been nominated for or received as many film awards as he deserves.” I compared them to the popular thrillers, comedies, and mysteries that networks like HBO, Showtime, and E! stream all the time; they don’t challenge whiteness, and if anything, they maintain it. Those movies were comfortable and easy to consume; Spike Lee’s weren’t.

I tried to explain this as coherently as I could to my parents, and I could see the wheels turning in their head, but I’m not sure they were able/are ready to put the final pieces of the puzzle together yet. And their reluctance to understand what I was saying, I fear, is the same issue; either consciously or not, are they reluctant to watch those kinds of movies because they too are reluctant to challenge their whiteness?

It’s disappointing to me that when someone decides to use their power in a productive way, as Spike Lee does in his movies by using them as a platform to illuminate the realities of being black in America, people decide that form of entertainment is no longer worth their time. And this isn’t unique to the film industry; it applies to all entertainment platforms.

At least I know which movie I’ll be suggesting for our next family movie night.