Bio: http://pma.cornell.edu/people/sheppard.cfm
Sheppard says: “Spike Lee’s cinematic worlds fuse aesthetic and politics. Like many black independent filmmakers, Lee’s film can be viewed as a form of cinematic resistance. “The film’s title, narrative, style, and aesthetics are part of the African-American filmmaking tradition, including - for example - the use of comedy and direct address to raise political consciousness, promote social change, and link the conditions of local black life to global struggles. “American media has already promoted and profited from an identity of the South Side of Chicago as a war zone to justify police escalation, surveillance as well as increased incarceration. In this context, Lee’s film has the potential to consider the personal, communal, institutional, and psychological effects of living in such a place. “While the film’s treatment of the subject matter, particularly its representation of black women’s sexuality—something Lee has struggled with throughout his films—cannot be known until the film is released, we can champion the director for his commentary on the interconnections between race, gender, class, and nation in contemporary American cinema.”