I’m starting to hate open letters. I actually think there
should be an open letter to everyone about open letters clearly stating that we
don’t need any more open letters. Much like constant barrage of
baby/engagement/wedding photos that litter my Facebook feed, it seems that now,
an open letter must be posted on the internet to try and put a stop to a
particular beef or irritation. I often have no problem with the intent of most
of them. In fact; I’d probably back the topic that the writer is speaking out for.
My issue is that the more you see these things, like an internet petition, they
slowly become more trivial. Open letters have almost become memes. You can
sense the groans as yet another ask for the school board/Tory MP/Miley Cyrus is
retweeted through the internet’s many tubes to your eyeballs asking for the
madness to stop.
This said I found myself alerted to an open letter that made
its way on my twitter feed earlier this week. The letter is from Juan Luis
Garcia, a freelance designer who writes (to influential Afro American filmmaker
Spike Lee) that his initial poster work for the film remake Old Boy may have
been stolen by an ad agency working on the project. Legal action has reared its
head and it appears that Garcia has reached out to Spike as a fellow artist to
see if he can intervene in any way. The letter talks about the money that the
agency has allegedly not paid Garcia, but it seems quite clear that Garcia is
asking Lee to use his influence as the director of the film to see if this can
be settled in a civil and respectful way.
Lee (who appears to
be Brazil working on his latest project) had this to say:
It’s interesting to see that Spike has written the tweet
in-between two celebratory communications for Thanksgiving. It’s almost as if
he wished to call himself out on the irony. Then again Spike as a filmmaker and a
personality, has never been one for tact.
Lee has never shied away from the controversial, yet his
boldness both in-front and behind the camera has been important to so many film
goers. It’s difficult to find black filmmakers or critics who have not been
influenced by him. I remember gaining the only words of praise from a fellow
student for a talk about him during my time at university and he became an
inspiration since. Further insight in his work clearly shows just how many
future stars benefited from working with him in the early days. Names like
Wesley Snipes, Halle Berry, Samuel L Jackson and Laurence Fishburne may never
have been known if not for Lee, who cast them in his early features. If
Hollywood didn’t take a chance on you, then you got the feeling that Spike
would. This includes the crew, who may not have been able to get a foot in the
door in “white” Hollywood.
For a director whose politics and confrontational style have
often made him tough to embrace, one would have thought that Spike would have
been less abrasive to something like this. The incident feels much like the
problems that aroused with Lee when making Malcolm X. When the studios and bond
company didn’t give him the money he asked for to complete the film, Spike had
to inject his own cash and was able to get financial help from prominent
members of the Afro-American community.
We should also consider Spike’s position before Old Boy,
where work on the likes of Inside Man 2 were halted and Spike himself stated
that he couldn’t get projects off the ground. Now with a film hitting theatres
with talk of it being one of the least “Spike” movies in a long time and a
Kickstarter project which brought many mixed feelings to proceedings, the fact
that Spike’s own fierce independence has again been placed under the microscope makes
the situation even more uncomfortable. This designer isn’t asking Spike himself
for a handout, he’s chiefly asking for empathy.
I know young graphic designers and I’m currently in a
position in which I work with one. It’s not pretty. In an age in which the
audience will cheerfully download your film for nothing, studios are only
chiefly interested in the next comic book cash cow and the idea of working for
nothing/scraps in the media is becoming way too much of the norm, freelancers
are doing what they can to stay afloat. Artistic and creative careers are still
being seen as flights of fancy or “phases” despite the fact that our way of
life has us engaging with them even more. If Garcia is merely a chancer,
leaping on to a coat tails of a hotly debated film, then shame on him. However
the question I would ask is why Old Boy? The film doesn’t look to be the
runaway hit some are hoping it to be. It’s a violent and bloody remake of a
superb yet cult Korean film. It’s hardly a film with deep pockets.
For me, the saddest thing comes from a brief exchange from a
friend (and freelance writer) who reminded me of the one other thing that none
of us really wanted to bring up: race.
If there’s one thing that ignorance thrives on, it’s moments
like this; a chance to sink their teeth into a perceived flaw and show the
world that we’re nowhere near evolving yet. The problem is Spike seems to be
more than happy to throw a bone to his enemies. Spike once again viewed the
moment as a confrontation as opposed to seeing this as a chance to help a
fellow creative (or even consider this to be a great PR opportunity for Old
Boy) Spike’s bluntness as done little to help anyone, even himself. Yet this is
the same guy who sought an injunction for Spike T.V as it sounded too much like
his moniker. This is the same Spike Lee who wrongly tweeted the address of an
elderly couple, thinking it was the home of George “Trigger Happy” Zimmerman.
It’s almost like he enjoys casting the first stone within his just patched up
glass house. It seems clear to me that Spike can easily let these things roll
of his back, yet it becomes a minefield for those who love his work. Spike is
still the best known American black director and at a time were black
characters in film are getting shat on by ignorance, it would be nice to have
Spike tone down his “sharper” elements and remind us of the statesman he often
can be. After the Django debacle (another Spike moment), the one thing I would
love to see is sodality, because we damn well need it.
This of course is in an ideal world; where freelancers don’t get screwed for their work, and if they do, the at least they
can reach out to a director who will hear them out first as opposed to a 140 character cold shoulder. We can only dream. Unfortunately in reality I find
myself yelling at yet another open letter and liking Spike Lee to how Chris
Rock feels about Hip Hop. I love him but I’m tired of defending him.
