Fight the Power! The Spike Lee Reader: Foreword by Spike Lee

Shelton Jackson «Spike» Lee is one of the most culturally influential and provocative film directors of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Bringing together seminal writings – from classic scholarship to new research – this book focuses on this revolutionary film auteur and cultural provocateur to explore contemporary questions around issues of race, politics, sexuality, gender roles, filmmaking, commercialism, celebrity, and the role of media in public discourse.
Situating Lee as an important contributor to a variety of American discourses, the book highlights his commitment to exploring issues of relevance to the Black community. His work demands that his audiences take inventory of his and their understandings of the complexities of race relations, the often deleterious influence of media messages, the long term legacy of racism, the liberating effects of sexual freedom, the controversies that arise from colorism, the separatist nature of classism, and the cultural contributions and triumphs of historical figures.
This book seeks to stimulate continued debate by examining the complexities in Lee’s various sociopolitical claims and their ideological impacts.

The Editors: Janice D. Hamlet is Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at Northern Illinois University. Her current research focuses on African American rhetoric with an emphasis on womanist theology, ethnographic studies, rhetoric and spirituality, and intercultural communication. She is editor of Afrocentric Visions: Studies in Culture and Communication and has published in various journals including The Journal of Black Studies.
Robin R. Means Coleman is Associate Professor at the University of Michigan where she holds joint appointments in the Department of Communication studies and the Center for AfroAmerican and African Studies. Her research focuses on the cultural impact of media and popular culture upon diverse communities. She is author of African American Viewers and the Black Situation Comedy: Situation Humor and editor of Say It Loud! African American Audiences, Media, and Identity.