The Power of Spike Lee's Film, Malcolm X
The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting. (Milan Kundera)
[1] Malcolm X's life revolved around his desire for the voices of himself and his people to be heard. He struggled against those who worked to keep him silent. In the end, those forces succeeded to a certain degree, but not before Malcolm left us with enough of his words to keep people talking for centuries. In fact, in his autobiography, Malcolm left us a permanent loudspeaker, eternally shouting out against injustice and oppression. Spike Lee's film Malcolm X is another timeless work that strives to keep Malcolm alive and speaking despite all the efforts to silence and marginalize his memory.
[2] Most white people who lived through the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's will often place Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. side by side as representations of Black activism: the former, a model of Black rage and confrontation, uncompromising in his stance; the latter an example of the peaceful, non-confrontational method towards achieving equal rights -- the "right way." Martin has been seen as the good guy and Malcolm as the bad. While Martin usually occupies a few pages in history books, Malcolm is usually found in only paragraphs. Even after his assassination, Malcolm's detractors seek to keep him quiet. I visited my high school in Connecticut back in February, Black History Month, and asked my sister and her friends what they knew about Malcolm X. Those that knew anything replied that he hated white people and that he was assassinated. When I asked several history teachers about how Malcolm was taught, they admitted that he takes a back seat to Mar...
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...ks to show the depths from which he rose to achieve self-liberation. Malcolm is presented as everyman. If he can do it, why can't we?
[16] This film is important because it introduces Malcolm to the public as he was -- a man. Malcolm X doesn't introduce a one-dimensional figure to the public as some might say. Rather, the film focuses on one dimension of a complex man while presenting his life as flawed and complicated. This allows the audience to identify with the faults of character; but, more importantly, people focus on the one dimension of the film and the man that is stressed: the power that one has within one's self to change and to grow. This power, we find, results in a greater sense of self-respect, and that is the true path to freedom.
Works Cited
Lee, Spike, with Ralph Wiley. By Any Means Necessary. New York: Hyperion, 1992.
The autobiography of Malcolm X written by Alex Haley tells a wonderful story of a boy who grew up to be a legendary hero. Malcolm Xs character continuously develops throughout the entire novel, allowing the reader to be engaged in his story. The beginning of the text begins with the story of the past, when his mother was pregnant, and instantly the author brings in violence that include the Ku Klux Klan and the description of fear is already being portrayed. Chapter one is titled "nightmare "in this chapter not only does the reader already acknowledge struggle but there is also a background of his father. Over the course of chapter you see Malcolm Xs character develop mostly because his entire perspective constantly changes due to being around
Of the people whose names are mentioned in history, some men like Thomas Edison are praised for their genius minds, while others such as Adolf Hitler are criticized for leaving a depressing legacy behind. While it is relative easy to notice the type of legacies these two men left, legacies of other men are often vague and they seem to be imbedded in gray shadows. This is how many people view the life of Malcolm X. Malcolm X during his lifetime had influenced many African Americans to step up for their rights against the injustices by the American government. One on hand, he has been criticized for his hard stances that resemble extremism, while on the other hand he has been praised him for his effort in raising the status for African Americans. The extremes in viewing his life from the modern day perspective have often come from reading his climatic speech The Ballot or the Bullet that he gave in many cities across America in 1964. When he was with the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X favored Blacks to be separated from the Whites, and during this time he strongly opposed White Supremacy. This also seems quite prevalent in his speech The Ballot or the Bullet. However, one events during the last year of his life reveal that he wanted the Blacks and the Whites to coexist as peaceful Americans.
If there was any one man who demonstrated the anger, the struggle, and the beliefs of African Americans in the 1960s, that man was Malcolm X. The African American cultural movement of the 1920s lost momentum in the 1930s because of worldwide economic depression. The Great Depression helped to divert attention from cultural to economic matters. Even before the stock market crash of 1929, unemployment and poverty among blacks was exceptionally high. It was under these difficult conditions that Malcolm X experienced his youth in the South. Malcolm X was a very controversial character in his time. He grew up in a very large family. His father hunted rabbits to sell to the white people for money, and his mother stayed home to take care of all the children. Several times when he was young, his family was forced to relocate due to the racist groups that would burn or run them out of their home like the Ku Klux Klan. One of these groups called the Black Legion killed his father by tying him to the railroad tracks. Malcolm’s father had life insurance but was not given to his family because they said that Earl Little had committed suicide. This was quite impossible because his head was bashed in and he tied himself to the railroad. Without his father’s income, Malcolm's family was forced to get government help and food. Applying for this type of assistance brought many white Social Workers into their home. They asked questions and interrogated the entire family. Malcolm’s mother always refused to talk or let them in.
Malcolm X should be everyone’s hero, someone people like myself should look up to as a human being. Anyone who thinks otherwise is either a racist or is extremely ignorant. Malcolm X wore his heart on his sleeve and whether right or wrong he was never afraid to say what was on his mind to anyone who cared to listen. I personally believe Malcolm X’s beliefs give me strength to do what's right and carry myself with dignity. I remember, as a kid, my parents had tons of books about Black History books. The first book I read was a Malcolm X biography. I realized Malcolm X was truly a powerful, significant, and essential work for all time.
Malcolm's childhood years was nothing but a hardship. His father was preaching a gospel of black separatism and the white supremacists did not favor that. Ever since, his whole family was a victim of repeated threats and persecution. Malcolm saw his house set on fire, his father getting lynched, and his mother lose her mind. All of that was due to racism. Racial matters destroyed Malcolm’s family, left him with nothing, and doomed his life. Because of the racism, Malcolm X was born. He himself experienced what white society's cruelty can do to a humble black family. Because he was one of the victim, he craved for justice. Not just for himself, but for the sake of others who suffered as well. The roots of his heroism started with being the victim. After Malcolm’s father was murdered, and his mother was institutionalized, he was separated from his family. He was sent to a detention home where he started a life living with other white children. In addition to that, he was one of the only black children at his school, which anticipated his solitary and stressful li...
John Keats’s illness caused him to write about his unfulfillment as a writer. In an analysis of Keats’s works, Cody Brotter states that Keats’s poems are “conscious of itself as the poem[s] of a poet.” The poems are written in the context of Keats tragically short and painful life. In his ...
Malcolm grew a person while in prison, educating himself, developing critical thinking, and analytical skills. He is calmer in his behavior and is well spoken. He has the mentality of using the truth to think smart.
"Top 10 Pros and Cons - Euthanasia - ProCon.org." Euthanasia ProCon.org -- Should Euthanasia Be Legal? Web. 6 Mar. 2011. .
Malcolm X's multiple points of view, organization, and diction in his powerful and passionate overview of his life give the reader a more diverse reading and learning experience that they can easily understand.
Keats’ poetry explores many issues and themes, accompanied by language and technique that clearly demonstrates the romantic era. His poems ‘Ode to a Nightingale’ and ‘Bright Star’ examine themes such as mortality and idealism of love. Mortality were common themes that were presented in these poems as Keats’ has used his imagination in order to touch each of the five senses. He also explores the idea that the nightingale’s song allows Keats to travel in a world of beauty. Keats draws from mythology and christianity to further develop these ideas. Keats’ wrote ‘Ode To A Nightingale’ as an immortal bird’s song that enabled him to escape reality and live only to admire the beauty of nature around him. ‘Bright Star’ also discusses the immortal as Keats shows a sense of yearning to be like a star in it’s steadfast abilities. The visual representation reveal these ideas as each image reflects Keats’ obsession with nature and how through this mindset he was able
John Keats’s “Ode to a Nightingale,” and Matthew Arnold’s “Dover Beach” were written at different times by very different men; yet their conclusions about the human condition are strikingly similar. A second generation Romantic, Keats’s language is lush and expressive, strongly focused on the poet as an individual; while Arnold, a Victorian in era and attitude, writes using simple language, and is focused on the world in a broader context. While Keats is a young man, struggling with the knowledge he is soon to die; Arnold is a man newly married, to all accounts healthy, and with a long life ahead. Yet despite their differences in era and age, both Keats and Arnold write with similarly dark emotional imagery, jarring emotional contrast, and a consistent exploration of the effects that the natural sounds around them have on their minds and emotions in order to demonstrate that suffering is as incomprehensible a part of the human experience as it is inevitable.
John Keats’ belief in the beauty of potentiality is a main theme of him great “Ode on a Grecian Urn.” This idea appears in many of his other poems that precede this ode, such as “The Eve of St. Agnes,” but perhaps none of Keats’ other works devote such great effort to showcase this idea. The beauty of the Grecian Urn (likely multiple urns), and its strength as a symbol, is a masterful mechanism. Just about all facets of this poem focus on an unfulfilled outcome: but one that seems inevitably completed. Thus, while the result seems a foregone conclusion, Keats’ static world creates a litany of possible outcomes more beautiful than if any final resolution.
Arguably one of John Keats’ most famous poems, “Ode to a nightingale” in and of itself is an allegory on the frail, conflicting aspects of life while also standing as a commentary on the want to escape life’s problems and the unavoidability of death. Keats’ poem utilizes a heavy amount of symbolism, simile and allusion to idealize nature as a perfect, almost mystical, world that holds no problems while using imagery taken from nature, combined with alliteration and assonance, to idealize the dream of escape from the problems life often presents; more specifically, aging and our inevitable deaths by allowing the reader to feel as if they are experiencing the speaker’s experience listening to the nightingale.
...ecian Urn”, “To Autumn” takes place in the real world and does not mention immortality. In “Ode on a Grecian Urn”, Keats attempts to grasp the apparent immortality of the urn he is observing. He envies the timelessness of the figures on the urn and the happiness those figures seem to enjoy. Keats also envies the nightingale in “Ode to a Nightingale” and its natural happiness that is only possible because it transcends time. Trapped in time, Keats believes that he can only ever be happy through intoxication, which provides an escape from the real world. Until he wrote “To Autumn”, Keats considers immortality and timelessness as the keys to experience happiness and the beauty of the world. However, in “To Autumn”, Keats remains in reality, far from the improbable ideas of eternal life, and seems to both accept death and find the intrinsic beauty death can bring to life.
How is Bloom’s theory of influence connected to Keats and his ‘Ode on a Grecian urn’? As indicated by its title, Keats’s poem and Keats himself was influenced by Greek culture, which is confirmed in a further reading of the poem, when Keats mentions Arcadia and gods in the following lines: In Tempe or the dales of Arcady/ What men or gods are these?. It is generally known that Greek religion was based on polytheism and Arcadia is the province of Ancient Greece, in which were localized scenes from many pastoral poems.