Julian and his frat brothers run Half Pint through a torturous gauntlet of hazing rituals, which are at first played up for laughs, but they eventually make the end result all the more effective. But Dap is troubled by the way that Half Pint takes to the position, drawn to the natural magnetism of Julian, even as Julian becomes more monstrous. It’s through Half Pint that Dap gets much of his information about his rival, as Half Pint is positioned as a double agent in Julian’s fraternity, the Gammas. Played by Lee himself, Half Pint is central to the story but also somewhat removed from it, pushed by both of these dynamic forces. And they both share a victim in Dap’s cousin Half Pint. Dap and Julian both victimize each other and those around them, both act against the interests of their partners and families. Like She’s Gotta Have It, Lee isn’t content to let this conflict play out merely in the streets, or pulpits, or schoolyards, but in bedrooms as well, the intimacy making for an even more effective battlefield. light skin narrative, with Julian acting as the extreme example of what Dap fears from the encroaching mulattoification of black Americans and Dap a prime example of how that fear of assimilation can bring down morals and codes and whatever else one uses to build an identity. That conflict manifests itself in a clearer manner in the film’s dark vs. Dap’s central conflict, then, isn’t actually with Julian but his suspicion that Julian is in many ways right, or at least more aware of what it takes to survive in the present, and his concern is not with what that means from a moral standpoint but an evolutionary one. In contrast to Laurence Fishburne’s seemingly morally upright Dap, Julian has no qualms admitting to his flexible morals and willingness to act against his community if it benefits him. Julian is portrayed by a young Giancarlo Esposito (the future Gus Fring)– an excellent addition to the Spike Lee ensemble– who manages to be both militantly sharp and intellectually clear and concise, which is important considering the odd enunciation and exaggerated expressions Lee’s script calls for. Of the two characters, Julian is the more complicated and interesting. Though it initially seems gimmicky, it’s a fitting framing device since the characters of School Daze arguably all attempt to slot themselves into positions based on these icons, whether it’s sort-of protagonist Dap and his Huey Newton/Stokey Carmichael militancy or his arch-nemesis Julian, who attempts to be different by rejecting these figures altogether in favor of a new, “rational” blackness. School Daze begins with a title sequence of photographs of important black figures from throughout American history, from politicians and activists to sports heroes to stars, all meant to invoke the cultural black experience and the popular notions of what it is to be black. After all, School Daze notably features a song dedicated to butts (conveniently titled “De Butt,” it was surprisingly one of the hits from the soundtrack) but it’s also a brave examination of how sexual and racial politics often intersect, and the ways victims can become victimizers themselves, supposedly based off of Lee’s own college experiences. As the (relatively) big budget follow up to She’s Gotta Have It, Lee likely felt the need to show off some versatility and make the use of his new funding, but the odds of anyone predicting that Lee would make a college musical for his sophomore effort had to have been slim to none. There’s a strong chance that School Daze will forever remain the weirdest film in Spike Lee’s oeuvre.
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