Thursday, October 21, 2010
Transformative Spike Lee Films
After watching Get on the Bus, I feel that this is the most transformative Spike Lee film I have seen (I have seen four so far). The men who boarded the bus at the beginning of the film did so with the same purpose-- to attend the Million Man March-- but each man was distinctly different (maybe even stereotypically so). However, by the end of the film, they have become much more than a bus full of African-American men. Even though that fact is one thing that unites them, it is one of now many things which does so. One could argue that they all boarded the bus as a bunch of African-American guys headed to the Million Man March, but when they got on the bus to head back to Los Angeles, they boarded the bus as African-American men, even though most of them were already full-grown adults. The experiences they shared on that trip helped shape them as individuals. This aspect is what I found most impressive about the film, and allowed me to push aside the stereotypical (in my opinion) depictions of each man on the bus.
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Yes, well said, and this is why I continue to show it as a feature. Some lines are unrealistic and preachy; he tries to break stereotypes and reinforces them. But the ending is seductive, we are drawn in to what the Ossie Davis character, I think, symbolizes. And, I also think it is powerful that they never made it to the march, so it wasn't about the march, as much as it was about what these men needed to do/realize to begin to see each other anew, as you rightfully point out.
ReplyDeleteCheers,