Content Area
This movie depicts undercover policing in several different contexts. Research other recent undercover police operations, such as Philadelphia's “Ministry of Puppetganda”, the Washington D.C. United Students Against Sweatshops, the mafia infiltration by Donnie Brasco. What are the implications of police officers monitoring protest groups versus hate groups versus criminal organizations? How is undercover policing different today in the age of social media? What are the risks and benefits of police monitoring different types of groups?
One of the creative choices the filmmaker made, departing from the memoir it’s based on, was for Detective Stallworth’s partner to be a Jewish police officer. What was the importance and impact of this choice?
While the film is set in 1972, the director, Spike Lee, tied it to events happening at the time of the movie's release in 2018. Research the racial tensions happening in America in 2018. Who was Heather Heyer and how did she die? Read director Spike Lee's explanation about why he chose to dedicate the film to a white woman. https://bit.ly/34MJ1sv Do you think Spike Lee's connection between the past and the present made the movie more or less powerful? Why?