Malcolm X - To be or not to be American?

Welcome to our Reference Degustation where we take you through a month long double dolly celebration of Spike Lee Joints.

Discern the white (devil) dictionary and throw off the shackles of cultural colonialism from Harlem to Soweto. Tap into the region where the people had color with Spike Lee's Malcolm X this week.

If you'd like to watch along, we will be covering the below...

Do The Right Thing (1989)
Malcolm X (1992)
Bamboozled (2000)
BlacKkKlansman (2018)

Thanks to patrons and guests for contributing to common and recurring themes we will be incorporating as we review. Check out Brent/Home Video Hustle's review episode of Malcolm X and Dan Mecca's piece on Spike Lee.

Check out more tasty Reference Degustations...

2020 - Hayao Miyazaki

2021 - Taika Waititi

2022 - Quentin Tarantino

2023 - Takashi Miike

2024 - Martin Scorsese

We also posted coverage for exclusive early access to Sinners Trailer 2 and had our submitted question answered by Ryan Coogler.

Website | Rotten Tomatoes | Linktree | Youtube | Twitter | Instagram

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to the Four Year Reference Podcast
• 0:54 Spike Lee and Samuel Jackson's Rift
• 1:13 Kendrick Lamar's Superbowl Performance
• 2:02 Welcome Back to the Podcast
• 3:30 Spike Lee's Arsenal Fandom
• 4:30 Malcolm X Film Overview
• 5:53 Denzel Washington as Malcolm X
• 7:09 Spike Lee's Core Team
• 8:01 Non-Spoiler Thoughts on Malcolm X
• 9:31 Malcolm X's Journey and Transformation
• 14:46 Religion and the Nation of Islam
• 30:21 Malcolm X's Early Life and Struggles
• 38:12 Addressing Racial Injustice
• 40:53 Historical Context and African Leaders
• 42:13 Malcolm X's Influence and Legacy
• 44:16 Reclamation and Modern African Politics
• 45:33 Spike Lee's Cinematic Techniques
• 53:10 Ownership and Creative Control
• 57:44 Final Thoughts and Reflections