Spike Lee films comparison

After watching three Spike Lee films, I believe that his directing style remains consistent throughout his films. There are some differences as his films evolve but there are a lot of factors that stay similar throughout, almost as though they are trademark Spike Lee features.

In Clockers, Do the Right Thing and Jungle Fever, the camerawork is very similar. There is hardly any invisible editing and the camera often sways from one character or point of focus to another. A lot of shots in Spike Lee joints also tend to be POV-type camera angles. I think that this is purposely done to separate Spike Lee's films from being wonderfully edited and looking amazing since there is such a high amount of realism to his stories.

In all three films I watched, there is catchy, popular music in them. Lee has quite a reputation for having well-known music in his films, with songs such as Fight the Power-Public Enemy (Do the Right Thing) and Jungle Fever-Stevie Wonder (Jungle Fever). In other films directed by Spike Lee such as Malcolm X, the music is not as upbeat but it is still music that is remembered along with the film.

The main trend throughout Spike Lee films is that they all deal with some sort of social issue (usually to do with race). In Do the Right Thing, the film deals with issues of general racism and police racism. Similarly, in Jungle fever, the film touches on police brutality while also highlighting the issues and stereotypes behind interracial relationships. Clockers focuses on the issues of guns and drugs in society. I think that Spike Lee uses his films as a platform to bring notice to the issue and also spread his opinion on the issues that he tackles.

There tend to be a lot of dark and explicit scenes in Spike Lee's films. For example, in Do the Right Thing, a black man is brutally killed by a white police officer for doing hardly anything wrong. This is to give people a shock reaction so the issue is highlighted more. Also, in Jungle Fever, there is a scene where domestic abuse is shown. It was very shocking to me that the film would go as far to show a woman being beaten up in the time of the film's release, but if anyone would be brave enough to do it, it would be Spike Lee.


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