School Daze II?

January 15th, 2008 • Related • Filed Under

School Daze II?
In the February issue of Vibe Magazine, Spike Lee said he wrote a script called School Daze II, but studio execs weren’t interested.

Lee said,

“It’s the same school, Mission College, but 20 years later. I was going to have Alicia Keys in it, Kanye West, and it was gong to deal with a lot of the stuff that’s happening in hip hop amongst young people, and Sony didn’t want to do it.”

I don’t think we lost anything by not having the chance to see this movie, but maybe I’m wrong.

I liked School Daze a lot growing up and while I still think it’s an okay movie, as a college graduate, I find the movie less appealing.

I’m not saying that only Greeks should be able to write about the Greek experience, but I guess I am tired of people talking about stuff so freely that they know very little - or nothing - about. Because it shows.

I guess I just feel a bit relieved that Keys and West - two accomplished artists who didn’t finish undergrad, and definitely not at an HBCU - won’t be involved with telling someone else’s story.

In the same issue, which reunites many from the original School Daze cast for the movie’s 20th anniversary, Spike says he never wanted to pledge and couldn’t understand why people would.

“I just could not understand why these guys would submit themselves to that physical and mental cruelty,” Lee told Vibe.

Then why make a movie about it?! I mean, HOW are you going to make a movie about it fairly and objectively, if that’s how you feel?

I just think it’s the same old story time and time again of people talking about what they don’t know about. As my aunt would say, “Mouths open. Brains shut.”

….

This issue of Vibe Magazine - which still has my interest only by a thread - has a pretty good piece about presidential primaries and a point/counterpoint interview involving Terry McMillan and Karen Hunter.

McMillan, author of several NY Times bestselling books, is attacking “hood literature,” a genre some folks I ran into not too long ago referred to as “nigglature.”

Karen Hunter, who co-authored Karrine “Supahead” Steffans’ book and Wendy Williams’ books, defends the genre.

Read more at Vibe.com.

There Are 11 Responses So Far. »

  1. Comment by SAdy on 15 January 2008:

    Did you not know Alicia is actually an honorary AKA?

  2. Comment by James on 15 January 2008:

    Yeah, but being an honorary AKA is not the same thing as pledging AKA at an hbcu or even a PWI. Not that she can’t play the role in a movie, but I get what the writer is trying to say.

  3. Comment by Kimberly Michelle on 15 January 2008:

    1. Spike said that for real about not wanting to pledge? That’s not what I heard….I heard at Morehouse he wanted to be in your group Eugene, but dropped…
    2. I like Alicia Keys, but having her as my “honorary” Soror does not mean she knows anything about being in college, being at an HBCU, or pledging AKA. She just showed up somewhere and took pictures.

    P.S. Happy 100th Sorors!

  4. Comment by Stephon on 15 January 2008:

    Why does Spike’s movie about greeks have to be fair and objective? He’s not a journalist, he’s a film director-his medium is all about subjectivity and bias. Perhaps, any movie that Spike makes about greek life is to demonstrate his perspective on the matter.

    Rather, the point is there aren’t many, if any, positive mainstream images of (black) greek life. Obviously, Spike is not the number 1 candidate to create such an image.

  5. Comment by ETS on 15 January 2008:

    Kimberly, when he said that I automatically gave the article the side eye. LOL. I thought about mentioning it in the original post, but decided against it.

    My prophytes told me when I was on line that Spike was an Eternal Sphinxmen. But you know how folks have selective memory.

    Happy centennial, Kim!

  6. Comment by ETS on 15 January 2008:

    Stephon, clearly Spike’s movie doesn’t HAVE to be fair and objective, but as an advocate for responsible images in the media - especially of blacks - one would think that Spike would WANT his work to be more fair and objective. He might not be the number 1 candidate, but at this point, I’m not sure that many (on his level) are ranked higher.

    I just think Spike would know more than any the dangers of providing his perspective - as one sided as it is - on something he said he knows little about. If Spike were white and the Greeks in the movie were just blacks in general, I’m not sure you’d be providing the same argument.

    Movies and entertainment as a whole don’t have to be limited to subjectivity. We settle for the magnitude of bias because that is what we are usually exposed to.

  7. Comment by marko dark on 15 January 2008:

    spike lee is an ALPHA himself .

  8. Comment by ?? on 15 January 2008:

    Uh, Spike is very much NOT an Alpha. In the article, a Greek person teases him about wanting to be Greek, but not being Greek.

  9. Comment by Lester Spence on 16 January 2008:

    There was much more going on in School Daze than the critique of fraternities and sororities. He deals with class distinctions based on skin color, hair texture, and parental background. He dealt with the politics of black college funding. He used the fraternity pledge process to GET to that stuff. Speaking as someone who saw the original as a freshman in college, even though I went to (and later pledged at) Michigan at the time I saw a lot of my own experiences in the film. There’s an entire generation of folks who’d pay good money to see an update.

    Even if he gets the fraternity process wrong.

  10. Comment by taeAmin on 22 January 2008:

    As a non greek filmmaker—

    I have to agree with Stephon and Lester Spence.

    Film does not have to be objective, not should it be…thats what we call documentaries…

    filmmakers often cover topics that they may not know about from experience…women write about the life of males and males write about the life of females…poor people write about being rich and vice versa…it doesn’t matter…it’s the story thats behind it…

    and at the same time the film is not just about the Greek experience. In usual Spike fashion he covers a multitude of issues, I guess what people remember most about it is the Greek aspect.

    With that being said I would love to see an update of School Daze… just the maturation and the progession of Spike’s style would be interesting to see…I would also like to see the topics that will be covered…

    Sony passing over this script says a lot a black filmmaking…the fact that Spike is not planning to shoot it as an indie says a lot about where he is as a filmmaker as well.

  11. Comment by Rodney Elam on 24 February 2008:

    Spike Lee’s movie dealt with seperation within the black community. He used the college life as an example of this seperation.
    During my college experience, I have seen a lot of negative images whether it be greek, athletic , or other groups abuse people in order to prove themselves.
    Look at the news, a lot of people have been killed just recently therefore it is a serious issue.

    Spike Lee hired a person who was greek to actually organize that greek group.

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