Word+Image, essay by Lowri Williams

Lowri Williams

20004920

Word and Image Assignment Figure 1: Malcom X (1992) - Spike Lee

Figure 2: 4 Little Girls (1997)

- Spike Lee

Figure 3: BlacKkKlannsman (2018)

- Spike Lee

Figure 4: Defacement (The Death of Michael Stewart) (1983)

- Jean-Michel Basquiat

Lowri Williams

20004920

This essay will explore semiotics as visual culture and the theory that images can be understood as a series of signs or sign systems. Bignell (2002) stated that “since all forms of semiology are concerned with the making of meaning, semiology is an approach that can be applied to all kinds of visual materials”1. In this case, I will be discussing three film-stills/frames by film-maker Spike Lee and a painting by Jean Michel Basquiat. Bal and Bryson (1991) offer another version of this argument by simply pointing out that “since all knowledge depends on signs, all knowledge is vulnerable to semiological reinterpretation, including that of the semiologists themselves”2, which offers a broader perspective. This can be seen in Figure 1, a frame from Spike Lee’s ‘Malcom X’ (1992), in which he portrays the Ku Klux Klan riding on horseback into the night. The use and placement of the full moon in this frame defamiliarises its symbolical meaning. We often associate the moon with beauty, romance, healing and new life. However by contrasting it with the shadowy figures of the American white supremacist terrorists in the foreground, it now signifies danger, insanity, violence, and death. In doing this, Spike Lee evokes an eerie mood and atmosphere within the frame, whilst also illustrating the lunacy (derived from lunar) and madness of white supremacist ideology. The pointed hoods of the Klansmen remind us of daggers or spears which also exhibits the elements of death and violence. This connotation exposes the polysemy of signcontext as the shapes and forms we see in this frame evoke multiple meanings. The pointed hats in the full moon also remind us of witchcraft and evil wizards, encouraging our fear of the supernatural, alien and unknown. The fact that they can be seen riding over a hill could also be interpreted as social commentary signifying that they had the highground in society and in communities, as terrorists; terrorising black families and neighbourhoods, and also as white men in the segregated, racist and unjust American society at this time.

The Klan’s violence is exemplified in Figure 2, a frame from Spike Lee’s documentary ‘4 Little Girls’ concerning the muder of four little African-American girls in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama. Spike Lee is an American film director. There is thematic consistency and interior meaning in Spike Lee’s work as he explores racial issues whilst also investigating his own ideas. The frame displays an image of The Freedom Riders’ bus burning after a brutal attack by the KKK on the way to Birmingham. This still is an indexical and iconic sign as it’s a sourced original photograph from the time of the event captured by Theodore Gaffney.3 The rising smoke could symbolise the rise in violence and police brutality. The cool blue hue on this frame evokes a melancholy tone, and sets the photograph back in time as we now look back at it without seeing or feeling the hot smoke or fiery embers rising from the blaze and the warm/sepia hue that would probably have characterised the original photograph. The ‘freedom rider’ buses carried idealistic students from northern states to the South. The picture embodies a tragic moment when youthful idealism faces a brutal racist reality.

Figure 3 also signifies this violence. Spike Lee does this in this frame from BlacKkKlansman (2018) by arranging five shooting targets with racist over-exaggerated black stereotypical features, painted black, and covered in bullet holes. The target cut-outs are made to look as if they are running and by lining them up together, Spike Lee evokes the idea of family, community, an army or most disturbingly, a massacre. This demonstrates the klansmen’s racism and evil intentions.

The character of Ron Stallworth is seen putting his hand on one of the target cut-outs’ shoulders as he walks by it. One could argue that this signifies his emotional pain at seeing these targets and also his sorrow and solidarity towards black victims of racism, brutality and violence, which brings the target cut-outs to life and makes this frame all-the-more powerful.

Like Spike Lee, Jean-Michel Basquiat also made art directly attacking racism, often making social and political commentary, attacking power structures and racist systems. His art focused on issues such as the gap between the rich and the poor, and compared integration and segregation 1

Bignell, Jonathan, ‘Media semiotics: An Introduction’ (2002)

2

Bal, Mieke and Bryson, Norman, ‘Semiotics and Art History’ (1991)

Shapira, Ian, ‘He risked his life photographing the 1961 Freedom Riders. Theodore Gaffney just died from the coronavirus at 92.’ - Washington Post (2020) https://www.washingtonpost.com/ history/2020/04/16/he-risked-his-life-photographing-1961-freedom-riders-theodore-gaffney-justdied-coronavirus-92/

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Lowri Williams

20004920

in society. He used characters as the focal point of his art pieces such as police, kings, musicians, athletes and often himself, the artist. He also included words, logos, symbols, numbers and figures in his paintings, displaying the freedom, tension, culture and history of black people, complexity and contrasts.

Basquiat’s Defacement (The Death of Michael Stewart) (1983) in Figure 4 portrays the end of the life of Michael Stewart, a 25-year-old graffiti artist who was attacked by police in New York in 1983 and died of his injuries two weeks later. The piece challenges and protests against police violence and the history of police brutality against black people. In the piece we see two white policemen beating a black body with their batons. The bright blue of their uniform symbolizes the prominence of the police presence in black people's lives. One of them shows his teeth, which conveys a frightening and violent mood and atmosphere. The ‘body’, which is seen as the ‘punctum’ of the piece, has no legs or arms, as the police have. This may symbolise Stewart falling unconscious, and his spirit leaving the body. Some argue that the body introduces a supernatural element to the piece and symbolises the way black people were perceived by the police; as alien, a threat, without personality, without feelings, without traits; just the color of their skin. Basquiat said at the time that "It could have been me"4, and painted the piece directly on the wall of Keith Harring's studio in SoHo, New York. We can therefore say that the piece shows Basquiat's raw emotional response to the incident as a young black man. The piece can be seen as an alternative form of evidence; even before the legal process began, Basquiat clearly felt that justice would not be administered. So, we can see this piece as Basquiat's alternative response to the legal system. In 1985, a white jury acquitted all of the police involved in Stewart’s case5.

Today, the piece is of new significance, as the truth of police brutality and violence towards black people continues. The piece reminds us of the continuing history and reality of such institutional abuse and violence, generating a range of responses as it continues to resonate in contemporary society and political life.

McClinton, Dream, ‘Defacement: the tragic story of Basquiat's most personal painting’ - The Guradian (2019) https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/jun/28/defacement-the-tragicstory-of-basquiats-most-personal-painting 4

Wilkerson, Isabel, ‘JURY ACQUITS ALL TRANSIT OFFICERS IN 1983 DEATH OF MICHAEL STEWART’ - The New York Times section A, page 1 (November 25th 1985) https:// www.nytimes.com/1985/11/25/nyregion/jury-acquits-all-transit-officers-in-1983-death-ofmichael-stewart.html 5

Lowri Williams

20004920

Bibliography Bignell, Jonathan, ‘Media semiotics: An Introduction’ (2002)

Bal, Mieke and Bryson, Norman, ‘Semiotics and Art History’ (1991)

Shapira, Ian, ‘He risked his life photographing the 1961 Freedom Riders. Theodore Gaffney just died from the coronavirus at 92.’ - Washington Post (2020) https://www.washingtonpost.com/ history/2020/04/16/he-risked-his-life-photographing-1961-freedom-riders-theodore-gaffney-justdied-coronavirus-92/

McClinton, Dream, ‘Defacement: the tragic story of Basquiat's most personal painting’ - The Guradian (2019) https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/jun/28/defacement-the-tragicstory-of-basquiats-most-personal-painting

Wilkerson, Isabel, ‘JURY ACQUITS ALL TRANSIT OFFICERS IN 1983 DEATH OF MICHAEL STEWART’ - The New York Times section A, page 1 (November 25th 1985) https:// www.nytimes.com/1985/11/25/nyregion/jury-acquits-all-transit-officers-in-1983-death-ofmichael-stewart.html