BlacKkKlansmen: Balancing Lightness with Deeper Themes

 Kasimer Clark

ENG 280

Wisniewski

Blackkklansmen


As purely entertainment, Spike Lee’s 2018 film, Blackkklansmen delivers in heaps. The film itself balances a sharp comedic wit with a much deeper and important premise. With strong performances from its lead and supporting cast, the movie can be held in equal esteem on its entertainment and social commentary merits. The film follows the exploits of Ron Stallworth, the first African American detective on the Colorado Springs police force, as he infiltrates the Ku Klux Klan. With this premise, Spike Lee adapts a true story from the past to comment on the world of today. As we are shown explicitly at the end of the film, Lee shows that the racism touched upon within the film is just as alive and well today as it was then. But within the film’s narrative itself, Lee references the real world through dialogue. One of the most prominent uses of this is shown in the words spoken by David Duke, tying back to statements made by the presidency of today. It is in no way subtle the message and comparisons that Lee is making with these choices. America is faced with the same level of discrimination of the past, but with the robes of the Klan turned into the suits of our fellow political leaders. And with this assessment, we can see even more correlations to the changed world of 2020. The film feels somewhat prescient to the woes that we fcae today, especially in regards to race relations with the police forces of the country. Despite the lead character being a police officer and painting many of his fellow officers in a good light, there are both characters and moments in the film that oppose that. The tensions between African American characters in the film and the police are consistently touched upon and shown to be very high. And by the time the film is over, there is a scene where the chief of police ends the case, asking to dispose of all evidence of the good deeds done. This shows that not only does more have to be done to truly change the attitudes of the nation, but that the police force will have to change with it to truly solidify the changes made. Although the film is based on true events, the liberties taken with reality make it feel more like a transient fantasy. The story seems more like the “ideal” version of events that happened, making it less of a corporeal gesture to change. This makes the film itself almost a message telling the audience to try harder to make the film more of a reality. The nation has many trials to face before we get to the better world the film gives us before its final moments.

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