Directed by Spike Lee Starring Denzel Washington as Malcolm X PowerPoint Presentation by Noemia Nicolas ART 1830
Malcolm X (1992) is the biographical film, directed by Spike
Lee (who also stars in the film) of Malcolm X (also known as Malcolm Little or El-Hajj Malik El Shabazz) based on his autobigophy, The Autobiography of Malcolm X as Told to by Alex Haley. The film stars Denzel Washington as the titular character, Malcolm x throughout Malcolm Xs life as a young reckless man in Harlem to a responsible knowledgeable man at the height of his career and his untimely death. gives a chronology of his life through variousMalcolm X life experiences that he claimed to have shaped him into the man that he was. Throughout the autobiography, there are various themes of self pride, black pride, racism, religion, and pan Africanism.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znQe9nUKzvQ In this clip, Malcolm X gives a speech on the difference between a house negro and a field negro. A house negro was a slave who worked inside of the slaver masters home, was compassionate and empathetic towards the slave master. The field negro was quite the opposite, working in the fields all day, with much disregard for the slave master. Malcolm X notes that the house negro would easily put the slave masters needs above their own as well as needs of fellow slaves. Malcolm X uses this analogy of slaves as an explanation of the self-hatred of Black Americans.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OapkoQE zQS0 In this clip, Malcolm X and a friend are at the Roseland Ballroom where everyone is doing the Lindy Hop and dancing. The vibrance of the colors give a tone of happiness and fun, yet the filter of the camera is not grainy, but it gives off an old time feeling, where the viewers can feel and see what it was like in the 1940s.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GoInTnBgD U In this clip, Malcolm X is in the prison church, and asks a question on what the color of God and Jesus were. The white priest tells Malcolm that God and Jesus are white, yet Malcolm throws back at the priest with scripture proof that God is not white as the priest claims. In the middle of describing of how white many people believe god and Jesus were, the camera cuts several times showing bright images of a blond blue eyed Jesus, and quickly cuts back to Malcolm as he finishes his answer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zBg_VN2T0 c The following clip employs the elements of color, video editing, and music in the opening of the film, Malcolm X, setting the tone for the movie. The combination of the powerful swells of the background music, Malcolms speech, the sounds of rowdy audience members compliments the intercuts of the American flag being consumed by fire and the footage of Rodney Kings beating by LAPD.
Color: The use of color in this opening clip, is very strong and striking. The viewers are showing a bright American flag that over the course of the scene is shown burning bright, until the remnants of the flag are in the shape of an X. The importance of color in this scene is shown to contrast the bright colors of the American flag, a symbol of freedom, being burnt in a bright red-orange fire, a symbol of destruction, to a shape of an X, which serves as a introduction to the character as well as a summarization of sorts of Malcolms life.
Video Editing: During the films opening, Spike Lee cuts back and forth between the American flag being consumed by fire and the famous footage of Rodney King in Los Angeles. The intercutting of the flag and the footage serve as contrast to each other. The American flag is a symbol of freedom and justice, yet the intercut of the Rodney King footage disproves just that and displays the injustice and racism of America.
Music: The title sequence features a voiceover speech by Denzel Washington as Malcolm X, as charging the white man being the greatest murderer on earth. Malcolm x further proclaims that Black American are victims of America and that theyve experienced the American nightmare. In addition to Malcolm xs voiceover, the background music starts off quiet, then as the speech progress, the sound of the music swells with loud brass instruments and drums as well as the sound of the audience Malcolm is speaking to.
