Jason P. Vest - Spike Lee: Finding the Story and Forcing the Issue

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Finding the Story and Forcing the Issue

JASON P. VEST

Modern Filmmakers
Vincent LoBrutto, Series Editor

Copyright 2014 by Jason P. Vest

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Vest, Jason P., 1972
Spike Lee: finding the story and forcing the issue / Jason P. Vest.
pages cm. (Modern filmmakers)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-313-39226-9 (hard copy: alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-313-39227-6 (ebook) 1. Lee, SpikeCriticism and interpretation. I. Title.
PN1998.3.L44V47 2014
791.4302'33092dc23 2014019180

ISBN: 978-0-313-39226-9
EISBN: 978-0-313-39227-6

18 17 16 15 14 1 2 3 4 5

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For Patricia Thomas

The Modern Filmmakers series focuses on a diverse group of motion picture directors who collectively demonstrate how the filmmaking process has become the definitive art and craft of the twentieth century. As we advance into the twenty-first century, we begin to examine the impact these artists have had on this influential medium.

What is a modern filmmaker? The phrase connotes a motion picture maker who is au courantthey make movies currently. The choices in this series are also varied to reflect the enormous potential of the cinema. Some of the directors make action movies, some entertain, some are on the cutting edge, others are political, some make us think, some are fantasists. The motion picture directors in this collection will range from highly commercial, mega-budget blockbuster directors to those who toil in the independent, low-budget field.

Gus Van Sant, Tim Burton, Charlie Kaufman, and Terry Gilliam are here, and so are Clint Eastwood and Steven Spielbergall for many and for various reasons, but primarily because their directing skills have transitioned from the twentieth century to the first decade of the twenty-first century. Eastwood and Spielberg worked during the 1960s and 1970s and have grown and matured as the medium transitioned from mechanical to digital. The younger directors here may not have experienced all of those cinematic epochs themselves, but nonetheless they remained concerned with the limits of filmmaking: Charlie Kaufman disintegrates personal and narrative boundaries in the course of his scripts, for example, while Tim Burton probes the limits of technology to find the most successful way of bringing his intensely visual fantasies and nightmares to life.

The Modern Filmmakers series will celebrate modernity and postmodernism through each creators vision, style of storytelling, and character presentation. The directors personal beliefs and worldviews will be revealed through in-depth examinations of the art they have created, but brief biographies will also be provided where they appear especially relevant. These books are intended to open up new ways of thinking about some of our favorite and most important artists and entertainers.

Vincent LoBrutto
Series Editor
Modern Filmmakers