All directors are storytellers, so the motivation was to tell the story I wanted to tell. That's what I love.
Interpretation
The quote reflects the idea that all directors create narratives, driven by their passion for storytelling.
In this quote, Spike Lee emphasizes that being a director is inherently about storytelling. It suggests that the core motivation for directors stems from a deep-seated desire to convey their unique visions and narratives, highlighting the love and passion that fuels their creative process.
In practice
This quote can be used in a film class to inspire students about the importance of storytelling in directing.
I think that anyone who lives in New York, who's lived here, who's spent any time here, knows that it's basically a love-hate relationship, you might say. Even though I still think it's the greatest city in the world and I wouldn't live anywhere else, there're still things about it one doesn't like. The love far outweighs the negative.
There's an unwritten law that you cannot have a Jewish character in a film who isn't 100 percent perfect, or you're labeled anti-Semitic.
The truth is I've been doing Kickstarter before there was Kickstarter; there was no Internet. Social Media was writing letters, making phone calls, beating the bushes.
It gets dangerous when you start allowing people to validate your work.
Because many advances have happened, we've lost the urgency (and that's just human nature) that we had before, when we couldn't vote, couldn't use mass transportation, or drink from the fountains.
It comes down to this: black people were stripped of our identities when we were brought here, and it's been a quest since then to define who we are.
I thought that Wu-Tang was the best sword style - the best sword-style of martial arts. And the tongue is like a sword. And so I say that we have the best lyrics, so, therefore, we are the Wu-Tang Clan.
What makes international cinema so interesting is that each territory has its own sensibility. When you look at an Indian or French film, there's a certain flavor. And even though the language is different, if the film is successful, it has something very common and understandable.
The camera relieves us of the burden of memory. It surveys us like God, and it surveys for us. Yet no other god has been so cynical, for the camera records in order to forget.
Music is the only religion that delivers the goods.
I don't think writers choose the genre, the genre chooses us. I wrote out of the wish to create order out of disorder, the liking of a pattern.
I'm not saying I wasn't flawed or amateurish. But you can never say I did anything to appease the music business.
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