Spike Lee Criticises Clint Eastwood And the Coen Brothers.

Here's the link http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/celebritynews/2000781/Cannes-Film-Festival-Spike-Lee-criticises-Clint-Eastwood-over-all-white-Iwo-Jima-films.html that states:

Eastwood has made two movies about the 1945 Battle of Iwo Jima, one from a US perspective and one from the point of view of Japanese troops.

"Clint Eastwood made two films about Iwo Jima that ran for more than four hours total and there was not one Negro actor on the screen," Lee said.

"I've no idea why he did that. That was his vision, not mine. But I know it was pointed out to him and that he could have changed. It's not like he didn't know. It was a conscious decision not to have any black people."

The director was speaking at the Cannes Film Festival, where he is launching Miracle at St Anna, the true story of four black US Army soldiers trapped behind enemy lines in Italy. While fighting the Nazis, they also have to contend with racial abuse from their superiors.

"Here's the paradox. These African-American men wanted to fight against fascism in the name of democracy. At the same time, they were still second class citizens," Lee said.

Eastwood is also in Cannes, promoting his latest film, The Exchange. But he declined to comment on Lee's attack when questioned about it yesterday.

The Dirty Harry star was not the only film-maker to come under fire from Lee, the always outspoken director of Do The Right Thing and Malcolm X.

He said of brothers Joel and Ethan Coen: "I always treat life and death with respect, but most people don't. Look, I love the Coen brothers, we all studied at NYU. But they treat life as a joke. It's like, 'Look how they killed that guy! Look how blood squirts out the side of his head!' I see things different than that."

Miracle at St Anna will be released in October and is likely to premiere at either the Venice or Toronto Film Festivals, Lee said.

His next project is a feature-length documentary on basketball star Michael Jordan, which is being financed by the NBA. Lee and Jordan have worked together in the past on a series of Nike adverts.

I do think stuff like that happens often but complaining about it only makes white people say, "Look at what black people can do today! Why would they (not Lee, but they as in all black people) say such a thing?!" (generalization yes, but this is what tends to happen in public discourse)

Not even worth talking about because the argument remains circular. No one is going to come to a middle ground even though what Lee said has plenty of validity.

If Clint Eastwood actually made a conscious effort to not include black people in his Iwo Jima films, that is messed up, but I seriously doubt that was his intention. And to say the Coen Brothers don't take life seriously? Spike Lee is just looking for attention, trying to raise some controversy to promote his new film. For God's sake, he makes Nike commercials.

Originally posted by chithappens
I do think stuff like that happens often but complaining about it only makes white people say, "Look at what black people can do today! Why would they (not Lee, but they as in all black people) say such a thing?!" (generalization yes, but this is what tends to happen in public discourse)

Not even worth talking about because the argument remains circular. No one is going to come to a middle ground even though what Lee said has plenty of validity.

Well, you talked about it. 😬

Originally posted by =Tired Hiker=
If Clint Eastwood actually made a conscious effort to not include black people in his Iwo Jima films, that is messed up, but I seriously doubt that was his intention. And to say the Coen Brothers don't take life seriously? Spike Lee is just looking for attention, trying to raise some controversy to promote his new film. For God's sake, he makes Nike commercials.

On the Coen brothers he is saying the gore is a bit much, long story short.

Eastwood is supposed to be attempting a real portrayl of WWII and those happenings so why the hell would there not be other races of American soldiers?

Originally posted by =Tired Hiker=
If Clint Eastwood actually made a conscious effort to not include black people in his Iwo Jima films, that is messed up, but I seriously doubt that was his intention. And to say the Coen Brothers don't take life seriously? Spike Lee is just looking for attention, trying to raise some controversy to promote his new film. For God's sake, he makes Nike commercials.

Spike Lee is an annoying and racist turd. His only decent film to date is Bamboozled.

Originally posted by =Tired Hiker=
Well, you talked about it. 😬

Perhaps I should have said talked about it and hoping people will pay any attention and try to change anything.

The media shits on minorities and poor people. That itself is a fact.

Originally posted by chithappens

Eastwood is supposed to be attempting a real portrayl of WWII and those happenings so why the hell would there not be other races of American soldiers?

Because in certain cases, blacks were segregated in the military. Remember, this was the 40's.

Originally posted by Robtard
Because in certain cases, blacks were segregated in the military. Remember, this was the 40's.

I know that. They were often the front men to see if anyone was sniping or in Vietnam the ones to check mine fields.

But they were not always in completely separate platoons. I don't think any scholar or veteran would valid that.

Originally posted by chithappens
I know that. They were often the front men to see if anyone was sniping or in Vietnam the ones to check mine fields.

But they were not always in completely separate platoons. I don't think any scholar or veteran would valid that.

Wrong, the "operation dark shield" is a myth.

Yes, there were in fact all black and all white (or at least non-black) units at times. War or no, segregation was still alive. Spike Lee is making a film about an all black unit that served in Italy.

Edit: I misread what you said, yes, whites and blacks served together at times. I am not sure why Lee is crying all Eastwood though, as he is making a movie about an all black unit. Then again, I do know. He likes to cry foul at others, becuase he's a racist turd himself.

From a movie goer perspective. All names mention above have made great films. I like their styles of film making as well as their style in story telling. From an artistic point of view those guys have excellent talent.

However, on a personal note...I think Spike just needs to learn from his own films and understand that in order to move forward you need to stop going back and point fingers. Learn from the past and move forward.

Originally posted by Robtard
Wrong, the "operation dark shield" is a myth.

Yes, there were in fact all black and all white (or at least non-black) units at times. War or no, segregation was still alive. Spike Lee is making a film about an all black unit that served in Italy.

Edit: I misread wht you said, yes, whites and blacks served together at times, I am not sure why Lee is crying all Eastwood though, as he ismaking a movie about an all black unit.

Again, I know that. The most well known all-black unit came from Tuskegee, AL (and I think that's the one his movie is based from).

BUT not all of the units were segregated like you are suggesting.

I'm not suggesting that. See above, I specifically said whites and blacks did serve together.

my mistake, did not see the edit

Originally posted by WrathfulDwarf

However, on a personal note...I think Spike just needs to learn from his own films and understand that in order to move forward you need to stop going back and point fingers. Learn from the past and move forward.

Black media has a thing about not being "accepted" in Hollywood. There was over a three decade gap between black men winning Oscars for "best actor" and Halle Berry (the only black woman to win) won "best actress" in 2001 for Monster's Ball (and honestly, she was not that great in the movie which is why black people started saying stuff like it was just because of the sex scene with Billy Bob... sigh). Both Denzel Washington (who won in 2001 also) and Berry had much better performances in other movies so this raised some eyebrows. It was almost as if the Oscars were like, "Here! God damn! You happy now? Now maybe you will shut the **** up about it for another two decades."

On TV, unless it's drugs, there is no black drama.

There are other things but those black celebrities who do voice out concerns about media portrayal do have a point.

The Oscars are overrated and pointless in my book.

Given that...Black Cinema (using the term broadly) or Blaxpotaion was really fun and entertaining. Never understood why NAACP had issues with them.

On TV there was Martin and Living single and other shows no one bother to watch. So for me when they said "we weren't given a chance" that's just show business for ya. Try again. There is a lot of talent out there and competion is rigid.

Originally posted by WrathfulDwarf
The Oscars are overrated and pointless in my book.

Given that...Black Cinema (using the term broadly) or Blaxpotaion was really fun and entertaining. Never understood why NAACP had issues with them.

On TV there was Martin and Living single and other shows no one bother to watch. So for me when they said "we weren't given a chance" that's just show business for ya. Try again. There is a lot of talent out there and competion is rigid.

It's not a "we didn't have a chance" thing. Those sitcoms were cool and were "average" people, not sitcoms about those in the luxurious life. I'm not a huge fan of Rosanne but I think that represented what life is often like for the average American.

The thing is that black media changed a lot from the mid 90s up to this point. Black people had control of it but those in charge kept selling stuff to corporations. Once BET was sold, that was the end of any creative, realistic stuff coming out consistently regarding the portrayal of black people.

For example, hip hop had gangsta rap but there was also a nice amount of other sorts of artists coming out. Now, it's hard for any rapper to come out unless he's a complete ho to a contract. Strap on his diamond chain and thong and go make that money.

Edit: For the record, Living Single finished it's run.

Martin Lawerence was having random drug issues and was having issues with his co-star concerning sexual harassment so it ended on a awkward note where his wife on the show was never in the same scene he was in.

Aside from the obvious...

Originally posted by =Tired Hiker=
Spike Lee is just looking for attention, trying to raise some controversy to promote his new film.

...I think Mr. Lee didn't actually watch the films, for considering how tunneled his vision is, he would have surely noticed the two people up front in this scene from FOOF:

Originally posted by botankus
Aside from the obvious...

...I think Mr. Lee didn't actually watch the films, for considering how tunneled his vision is, he would have surely noticed the two people up front in this scene from FOOF:

His racist complaints are that there weren't any black soldiers in the movie, the turd.

Well then he should have said "Damn honky didn't cast any black soldiers with speaking roles" instead of "Damn honky didn't put any black actors ON SCREEN."

It would be like me saying, "Spike Lee loves white people" instead of "Spike Lee loathes white people."