Spike Lee visited Mississippi State University’s campus Tuesday as part of his “America Through My Lens” lecture tour and Campus Activities Board’s Global Lecture Series.
The acclaimed director made such films as “Miracle at St. Anna” and “Inside Man” with his production company, 40 Acres and a Mule.
The famous and controversial director gave an inspiring speech touching on his personal history and entering filmmaking, his views on the world today and his advice for the younger generation beginning to make its way in the world.
When Lee first approached the stage, one would think a quiet, mellow demeanor would goto go along with his small stature and slight frame. However, Lee is actually far more fiery and passionate in his speech than his appearance portrays.
After greeting the audience in a noticeable Brooklyn accent, Lee told us of his introduction to filmmaking.
As a young man, he obtained a video camera and began to film scenes around his Brooklyn neighborhood for fun. This footage included disco block parties and the results of a 1977 blackout. The footage was later edited into a film with the help of his professors and became the catalyst which would set Lee on his journey to being a filmmaker.
Once he decided to be a filmmaker, Lee had to face many harsh realities. In what would become a mantra for the rest of the night, he said, “Parents kill more dreams than anybody.” Knowing this, he felt blessed for having a grandmother willing to help pay his tuition for film school.
During Lee’s film school days film school, there was only one African-American director working in Hollywood, and he was largely unknown. Though he was often told his dream was impossible, Lee was making headway in his goal.
Lee attributed a large part of his success to his mother who pushed him to not only do well in school but to do better than the white students he attended class with. Lee said this drive to perform better than his peers gave him the work ethic to succeed.
In fact, when asked later in the Q&A session what he felt was lacking in today’s modern generation of students, he said the ethic of hard work and effort had died out.
As simple as it may be, Lee said the best advice he could give to anyone in any creative field is to work hard.
Of course, this was not the only thing Lee had to say about the modern world. Lee’s speech also discussed such things as the sexism in modern rap music, the influence of media on culture and how horrible reality shows are.
Lee described a moment from his childhood to illustrate the effect of media on culture. Once, after leaving a Bruce Lee film, all the children started pretending to use kung fu moves on each other in imitation of the movie. He says it was then he learned how influential film is.
He described media’s influence on people with the example of his own daughter: “My daughter’s 14, but she lost her mind after she saw her first Britney Spears video.”
Lee is an extraordinary filmmaker and a wonderful speaker.
For future CAB events, visit msstate.edu/org/cab/.