SPOILER DISCUSSION

1.This image is a haunting confirmation of the stakes of permitting anti-black ideology a roosting place. Ron is positioned as the next target in the line because the prejudices of the Klan are unquenchable and will eventually spill-over from the realm of practice to the realm of action. Eventually the dummies won’t be enough and people, black people in particular, will be forced to bear the brunt of the gratuitous violence that defines the Klan.

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2.The cross-editing between the the scenes of the Klan confirmation and the Black Student Union’s event involving Jerome does an excellent job of establishing how even cinema presented as fiction can have an presence in motivating action. As Jerome explains how The Birth of A Nation emblazoned white society to brutalize black people in gratuitous and dehumanizing fashion, the Klan watches and gets emotionally riled up by the film. Far from being a reminder of the past, Griffith’s film is still a rallying cry that helps the Klan project a caricature of black people to project their violence and insecurities towards.

They chant “White Power” in relation this imagined violence. So incensed by the fictional depiction of white peoples’ mutilation, they seek solidarity with one another and a destruction of their enemy. At the same time, Jerome and company chant “Black Power” as a response to the historical recollection of instances of black peoples’ mutilation and seek to carve a place for themselves where they are no longer persecuted. The statements might sound similar but the context by which they’re chanted radically alter their meanings.

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3.Ron and Patrice’s discussion of black cinema is not only a meta-moment I adore but presents an avenue by which to situate Ron’s journey towards redeeming the police force. Patrice insinuates that popular depictions of black persons as police or law enforcement are only fantasy and should be treated as such. There’s a distinction between supporting the powerful Cleopatra Jones or Coffy versus a real cop, because the latter empirically only shoots black persons.

This interpretation is challenged by Lee himself who demonstrates that though the events of The Birth of a Nation and Gone With the Wind are nothing more than “fantasies”, they still manage to evoke intense feeling capable of galvanizing prejudices in susceptible individuals. Because of this, BlacKkklansman would make a great double feature with Jordan Peele’s Get Out (which also features it’s own heroic black police figure) which offers a complementary perspective on the importance of black cinema qua fantasy. Cultural attitudes may stem from art but art is a product of an artist’s unique vision afforded to them by the sum of their experiences. Thus, cinema about black characters from a black perspective, even if fantasy based, offer an opportunity for black persons to explore and engage in alternative forms of agency.

However, Lee’s take doesn’t stop there. Ron pushes back and asks if reform from within is possible but Patrice insists it’s not. Change from the inside is impossible. From this context, Ron’s attempts at investigating the Klan can be seen as proof of the opposite. Far from being a fantasy, the story is based on a real situation. The fantasy stems from reality. The story of a black police officer who takes down the Klan is a real story and is now part of the cinematic canon, a history reactivated.

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4.But Lee’s take doesn’t end there. He challenges the efficacy of this praxis by having Ron and Patrice discuss the former’s role in taking down the Klan. Despite his clear commitment to helping black people, Patrice can’t accept being with Ron because he belongs to an institution that harms to such an extent that it outweighs his impacts. Even though Patrice has “seen” Ron’s “movie”, she can’t treat it as more than a passing fantasy.

Their discussion ends on the impasse and the couple slowly glide forward, via Lee’s signature double dolly technique, towards a burning cross in the window. The scene cuts from our heroic victor to his very alive, still powerful enemy. Even with the blow dealt against them, the Klan rallies and the flames of their burning cross shine bright in their eyes – an absolutely chilling image.

The cut from the fictional footage to the documentary and news footage depicting the Unite the Right rally, Trump not condemning the Klan influences, and David Duke praising Trump bring the film back full circle. Far from being a singular one-of, Ron’s battle is one that still rages on in the United States of America even now. The upside down flag image demonstrates a vision in disarray. The slow fade to black and white shows that the colorful vision of America is still trapped behind black-and-white divisions which inhibits its progress.

But there’s a possibility for change. If the flag can be flipped upside down and have its colors changed, maybe it can experience the opposite process as well. It just requires collective action to be taken against the innocuous problems and representations which appear as embers but turn into flames which consume everything in their paths.