SOURCE: "Male Heroes and Female Sex Objects: Sexism in Spike Lee's Malcolm X," in Cineaste, Vol. 19, No. 4, 1993, pp. 13-5.

In the following essay, hooks discusses Lee's treatment of women in his films, and asserts that by leaving out the title character's half sister from Malcolm X, "Lee continues Hollywood's devaluation of black womanhood."

In all Spike Lee's films, he is at his creative best in scenes highlighting black males. Portraying black masculinity through a spectrum of complex and diverse portraits, he does not allow audiences to hold a stereotypical image. For that reason alone, I imagined Malcolm X would be a major work, one of his best films. At last, I thought, Spike's finally going to just do it—make a film that will allow him to focus almost exclusively on black men, since women were always at the periphery of Malcolm's life. Thinking that the film would...