Michael Priester

CNMS Major

Throughout the years, African Americans have created landmark films that have made an impression on the film industry and the history of film-making. They also address social and race issues through the story of their film.

The very first African American filmmaker was Oscar Micheaux; he created ‘race films’ which involved all black cast members and were made for a black audience only. He pioneered this kind of film, and you can see it throughout movies today such as Don’t Be Menace To Society and Do the Right Thing. Micheaux inspired those films and directors today. Micheaux was the first African American director, producer and writer. He was the first African American to be able to show ‘Negro’ films in white theaters.

His first film that he ever made was The Homesteader, a really short film about a lonely farmer who dies of hunger, because his land can’t grow food. So he eventually dies in the end. Obviously every director’s first film is going to be a work in progress, because the person is still learning or getting used to somethings. It seem liked Micheaux was still getting used to how to tell a story, plus at the time period the cameras weren’t that great. They were big clunky and needed a lot of maintenance. That is all he had to work with, but as the years progressed he made better movies.

He made around forty or so movies. He was a great filmmaker that change the view on black people. As he continued to make films, he strayed away from the ‘Negro’ stereotypes and focused on racism, what racism is like, and how we fix it. Many of his movies seemed to show his learning experience.

Since Oscar Micheaux, there have been a lot of African American directors, but there have only been a few that have changed or impacted the way of cinema and society. One of the big impactors is Shelton Jackson Lee also known as Spike Lee. This man has made a lot of movies. Some are not so great, such asthe Old Boy remake, while others made amazing contributions to cinema. The movies that have been inspirational throughout the years are School Daze and Do the Right Thing.

When Spike Lee makes a movie, it touches on racial issues, social issues, and the African American community. He likes to focus on how African Americans are portrayed and what it is like to be an African American in a time period where everything thinks of you as a ‘Negro’. Someone people who are racist are ignorant and just plain stupid. Spike Lee does a great job of this in Do the Right Thing.

Mookie is just a young black who works for a racist pizza shop owner, but he is not the only person in this movie that is racist everyone in this movie is racist. The topic that Spike Lee was attacking was equality. Everyone wants equality.  

Spike Lee is great at telling stories and making people laugh. The type of comedy that is in that movie is the type you see on daily basis if you hang out with black people. His movies affected the history of film by giving insight on what it is like to be an African American and the racial and social issues that come along with it. A lot of white or Caucasian people did not know what it was like to be black. There were some that wanted to know but still did not understand.

When Spike Lee movies came out, a lot of people understood but did not speak out or do anything about it. That is what makes him a great director and a great inspiration. He didn’t get Caucasians to speak about race, but he got them to think about what is really going on in the world.

Some people say Tyler Perry is one of the greatest directors, or F Gary Gary. There are many talented directors out there, but I don’t think they had a big enough impact on African American culture and the history of cinema for what it is. Tyler Perry is still new to cinema, because he started making plays at first, then made his way into cinema. He hasn’t been around for that long.  

1. Gary Gary makes movies just for thrills. He does not include material that is really inspirational or makes you think about the world in a different view as Spike Lee does.

One of the most inspirational film directors is John Singleton. His landmark film is Boyz n the Hood. This film was the film that gave insight on what it is like to live in the Los Angles hood. This movie showed the good times, the parties, the hanging out with friends. It also showed the rough times, the gangs, the violence, and the murders. This is landmark and will be a landmark movie throughout the years because of how personal it is.

The actors in the movie brought a lot to the movie. Cuba Gooding Jr was kind of a goodie-goodie hanging out with gangsters. Ice Cube and few others also starred in the film. What added more to it was that Ice Cube was a rapper at the time, and he already had a gangster style to him. One can see how his life experience helped the role become believable. This was phenomenal. Even though this is the only landmark film Singleton has written and directed, he still impacted peoples mind on showing them what the ghetto is like.

It seems that over the years African Americans directors have attacked social constructs and racism through film. Every time a director has done so, they have created a landmark film. Even though cinema is filled with storytelling and fantasy, directors tell truth in these movies, and that is what these African American directors did. They brought out the truth on racial and social issues through the art of cinema.