Spike Lee

Todd McGowan is associate professor of English at the University of Vermont and author of Out of Time: The Ethics of Atemporal Cinema.

"This collection brings valuable attention to the largely overlooked experiences of Asian Americans in the southern US. . . . An important contribution to Asian American studies. Essential."--Choice   "In this invaluable study, Todd McGowan describes Spike Lee as a political theorist whose films always go 'too far.' In this way Lee vividly illustrates how we are defined as human subjects by what 'exceeds' us: the disturbing and often unconscious passions that break out in sexuality, violence, and the racism we disclaim.  According to McGowan, far from considering this excess of being from a moralistic perspective, Lee uses each of his films to explore both its deadly consequences and its ambiguous role in driving the passions bound up in thought, emotion, and behavior. This book brings the kind of philosophical focus to Lee's work that has long been needed, without sacrificing close attention to the aesthetic elements and historical contexts of the films."--Susan White, Associate Professor of Film and Literature,  University of Arizona "McGowan's decision to ignore the specificity of Lee's life and engage a rather theoretical, straightforwardly auteurist reading of Lee's oeuvre yields specific, fascinating readings of individual films."--Slant Magazine

• CoverTitle PageCopyright PageContentsAcknowledgmentsCONFRONTED WITH TOO MUCHSingular SubjectsDriven by FantasyThe Politics of PassionFight the ParanoiaThe Costs of CommunityDepictions of AntagonismNo OutsideDisturbing the SpectatorThe Effect of Spike LeeINTERVIEW WITH SPIKE LEE BY LISA COLLINSFilmographyBibliographyIndex