Traditional and shocking sometimes is not promising; Spike Lee’s 2015 film, Chiraq, is a hit or miss for audiences based on background knowledge of the Aristophanes’ Greek classic, Lysistrata. Although Lee keeps the same plot structure of classic comedy and adds new male characters, his lack of Lysistrata’s original famous wool metaphor has left the film fall flat. Lee’s views on the importance of the upcoming presidential are just lost in translation.
In ancient Greece, the point of comedy was to empower and serve as ‘parrhesia’ or free speech. The structure and patterns of comedy correlate with Spike Lee’s 2015 film Chiraq. It is based on ‘Old Comedy’ which touches upon the ‘polis’ or public life and ideas. ‘Old Comedy’ was meant to be intensely …show more content…
Lee has the audience in for a roller coaster of emotions. For example, the film is serious at one point like when Penny dies and her mother is left in sadness. Then the film is having a musical skit with confederate flags and almost naked men and women. One powerful scene is the speech of John Cusack's character, Father Mike Corridan. He is in mass talking to his followers. He expresses his views on Chicago’s problems. He asks the audience, “The question remains: ‘Can you save us from us’”? Lee exploits the problems within the United States. It is not shock that Americans see gun violence in the media today. This type of level headed white male is not in Aristophanes play and it is interesting that Lee does. Although this film is meant to show the suffering marginalized people, Lee introduces this character of privilege as a messenger to the audience. Father Mike sides with the woman which is odd. He shows the problems of Chicago, but does not offer an answer. Lysistrata is the character to bring peace to Chicago, just like in the play. What was the point of his character? Chiraq and Cyclops were to represent the leaders of the Peloponnesian War, but Father Mike is as random as the …show more content…
In that version, Lysistrata has a very famous metaphor about wool. Lysistrata describes she would “model all [her] polis on wool-working methods” (line 576). This quote goes along with the sense of community in Chicago. Lysistrata talks about taking together strands filled “with communal fabric of goodwill” (line 579). The strands are like the revolting woman seen protesting around the globe. Woman are seen protesting in New York, Copenhagen, Tokyo, Pakistan, Brazil and many more places. It shows that the people of Chicago need to “[pick] out the nasty, prickly bits” (line 574), more specifically the men of power, and take the good strands to make “one mighty ball of/ wool” (586). This idea that Aristophanes illustrates for the Greek people in 5th century BC, really correlates with the marginalized people in today’s society. These marginalized people feel inferior and at a loss for power. Lee shows these strands coming together just as voters need to do this coming November. Although, Lee fails to explicitly show this in the film. He merely shows short snippets of woman protesting around the world. Should Lee have included this metaphor, it would have been an “a-ha” moment for movie goers as it did for
In ancient Greece, the point of comedy was to empower and serve as ‘parrhesia’ or free speech. The structure and patterns of comedy correlate with Spike Lee’s 2015 film Chiraq. It is based on ‘Old Comedy’ which touches upon the ‘polis’ or public life and ideas. ‘Old Comedy’ was meant to be intensely …show more content…
Lee has the audience in for a roller coaster of emotions. For example, the film is serious at one point like when Penny dies and her mother is left in sadness. Then the film is having a musical skit with confederate flags and almost naked men and women. One powerful scene is the speech of John Cusack's character, Father Mike Corridan. He is in mass talking to his followers. He expresses his views on Chicago’s problems. He asks the audience, “The question remains: ‘Can you save us from us’”? Lee exploits the problems within the United States. It is not shock that Americans see gun violence in the media today. This type of level headed white male is not in Aristophanes play and it is interesting that Lee does. Although this film is meant to show the suffering marginalized people, Lee introduces this character of privilege as a messenger to the audience. Father Mike sides with the woman which is odd. He shows the problems of Chicago, but does not offer an answer. Lysistrata is the character to bring peace to Chicago, just like in the play. What was the point of his character? Chiraq and Cyclops were to represent the leaders of the Peloponnesian War, but Father Mike is as random as the …show more content…
In that version, Lysistrata has a very famous metaphor about wool. Lysistrata describes she would “model all [her] polis on wool-working methods” (line 576). This quote goes along with the sense of community in Chicago. Lysistrata talks about taking together strands filled “with communal fabric of goodwill” (line 579). The strands are like the revolting woman seen protesting around the globe. Woman are seen protesting in New York, Copenhagen, Tokyo, Pakistan, Brazil and many more places. It shows that the people of Chicago need to “[pick] out the nasty, prickly bits” (line 574), more specifically the men of power, and take the good strands to make “one mighty ball of/ wool” (586). This idea that Aristophanes illustrates for the Greek people in 5th century BC, really correlates with the marginalized people in today’s society. These marginalized people feel inferior and at a loss for power. Lee shows these strands coming together just as voters need to do this coming November. Although, Lee fails to explicitly show this in the film. He merely shows short snippets of woman protesting around the world. Should Lee have included this metaphor, it would have been an “a-ha” moment for movie goers as it did for