HISTORY OF MIGRATION IN FILMS BY SCORSESE AND LEE

Migration during the late 1800’s to the 1920’s made a huge impact on both African and Italian Americans. In American Society there’s an awareness of African migration from the south, but not Italians from Italy. The article by Donna Gabaccia purports how these two migrations are related to each other to form America during that period. The culture that developed during the migration period (1870-1930) was influenced heavily on Italian and African American generations. Martin Scorsese and Spike Lee portrayed their own culture in each of their films. Martin Scorsese used this migration concept in his film, Italianamerican. Spike Lee may not be as obvious as Scorsese but used Blaxploitation in his film, She’s Gotta Have It.

First, Scorsese made Italianamerica by request. He refused the first offer from the National Endowment for the Humanities. “Nonetheless, he initially turned down the project, and then agrees to participate only if he was allowed not to rely primilary on archival and other traditional documentary- type materials” (p.37, Casillo). A short documentary was made of Scorsese’s parents, as the second or transitional Italian generation, in New York on Elizabeth Street. Scorsese avoided using the standard documentary style and made that film more of a personal journey into his culture and the rich history of the migration. He decided to film in his parent’s apartment, which is usual for a documentary. Throughout the film, Scorsese’s parents talked about how their parents moved to America and worked their way to make a living. Life and American society was different for each generation of immigrants. The first generation focused primarily on traditions of Italy and each generation evolved towards Americans. The second generation was the transition generation and the third generation the Italian culture diminished away. Scorsese used variety of techniques with still photographs from the vacations his parents took as well of his mother after her story about the fig tree.

Racism exists in both Scorsese and Lee’s work. From Italianamerican, Scorsese’s parents discussed how the Irish owned bars on the street which was primarily Italians and the Chinese were in another area. There are diverse and segregated areas in New York. It is this segregation which influenced discrimination against different races and ethnic groups. Scorsese used the idea of escaping into other ethnic areas. Scorsese, in his work tries to escape into areas other than his own Italian cultural area. Despite this removing of himself from his own culture Scorsese could not escape his own identity.

Spike Lee experienced a great amount of racism in New York. Lee is constantly angry with how America society has been against black people for many years, how the government took advantages of their dreams. 40 acres and a Mule represents the promise which the U. S. Government made to the Black people but never followed through with fulfilling the promise. Spike Lee used that idea for his Production Company, 40 Acres and a Mule Productions. Lee also was raised in New York like Scorsese and experienced many different radical approaches to racism. Lee strongly used the exploitation of black people and racism in general in his works. The best example of his works is She’s Gotta Have It.

When viewers first saw She’s Gotta Have It, they felt insulted by a negative stereotype of a woman as a player/cunt. Lee did not just do it to reverse the gender roles, but if you analyze his film, there is a lot of information about how slaves were abused, exploited, and left out of America’s society. The most famous scene of She’s Gotta Have It is the rape. The rape represents how white people often portrayed black men to be rapist of white women. However, at the same time, Lee portrayed the idea of how black women were constantly raped by white men. White men used their actions to label the black men as rapists. In the background during the rape scene, there is a collage of black people and their brutality during their time in America. Lee used the modern idea of Malcolm X and police brutality against black people. “During his pre-production research period he had rented Godfrey Reggio’s Koyaanisqatsi (1983) and was struck by how the film was able to tell a story without a dialogue. It gave him the idea of using David’s still photos within the film: ‘Film is a visual medium, and in She’s Gotta Have It there are all types of references within the frame to Malcolm X and black politics. If you look at the mural on the wall in Nola’s apartment, it’s a reference to Malcolm X’”(p. 44, Aftab). Not only did Lee use the mural/collage, he used still photographs (black and white) of the people in New York area during that period when the film was made as well. Lee used those photographs to show that the film is about the general population, not only the actors in the film. Lee wants to get the message about black community out there for everyone. Lee is a very aggressive person, and the “voice” of the Black community. He struggled through so much to become a black filmmaker.

Scorsese and Lee both used the references of migration/ immigration and the culture they are from frequently in their works. It is entirely up to them as directors as to how they want to relay the messages in their works. They both communicate their messages differently but at the same time, they both are successful at it. Critics were not too keen about either of them because the critics often overlooked the “silent”, hidden underlying messages. It is important to both directors to use their life experiences and their background in their films. This type of application is auteur theory, where the directors made their works with their “signature” style.

WORK CITED

Aftab, Kaleem. Spike Lee, That’s My Story and I ‘m Sticking To It. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2006. P. 35- 64.

Casillo, Robert. Gangster Priest: The Italian American Cinema of Martin Scorsese. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2006. P. 3-55.

Gabaccia, Donna. “Two Great migrations: American and Italian Southerners in Comparative Perspective.” The American South and the Italian Mezzogiorno: Essays in Comparative History. Hampshire: Palgrave Publishers Ltd, 2002. P. 215- 232.