ENGL 143 SAMPLE ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Annotated Bibliography for Spike Lees Inside Man

Carroll, Hamilton. September 11 as Heist. Journal of American Studies 45.4

(2011):
835851. Web. Project Muse. 22 March 20xx.
Static URL:
http://journals.cambridge.org.libproxy.lib.unc.edu/action/displayAbstract?
fromPage=online&aid=8432692

In this article, Hamilton Carroll examines two films, James Marshs Man on
Wire and Spike Lees Inside Man in relation to the terrorist attacks of
September 11, 2001. Carroll discusses the genre of heist and how it draws
on fears of domestic invasion and anxieties over the porous relationship
between the public and the private. Inside Man uses the heist genre to work
through these post-September 11 anxieties. Inside Man was not seen as a
typical Spike Lee film but merely as a piece of entertainment cinema.
However, it utilizes the familiar trappings of genre to singular effect and the
conventions of the heist allow the working through of more serious subject
matter. Inside Man produces a dialectical relationship between the known
and the unknown, the familiar and the foreign, through which the events of
September 11 and their effects can be explored.

Harrison-Kahan, Lori. "Inside Inside Man: Spike Lee And Post-9/11

Entertainment." Cinema
Journal 50.1 (2010): 39-58. Film & Television Literature Index with Full
Text. Web. 22 March 20xx.
Static URL: http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE
%7CA245114979&v=2.1&u=unc_main&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w&asid=e389bdf
12db904afc184b15793cf2722

Although Inside Man has been considered one of Lees least dogmatic films,
Harrison-Kahan makes a strong argument that Lees film attempts to address
the issue of race in post-9/11 society. The author starts by proposing that
Inside Man may be a kind of sequel to another Spike Lee film, 25th Hour. This
film, widely believed to be one of the most successful post-9/11 films,
demonstrates Lees political stance towards the falling of the Twin Towers
and the governments foreign policy following the attack. Harrison-Kahan
asserts that Inside Man may act as a sequel to this film due to the fact that
both films are set in post-9/11 New York City. The author provides further
evidence for Lees political agenda through changes Lee made in
transforming Russel Gewirtzs screenplay into a film. By contrasting the
script to the finished product, Harrison-Kahan points out several key changes
in scenery, costume, and even whole dialogues that point to a higher
purpose than entertainment for creating Inside Man. He even notes the Lees
own commentary indicates that the film is not a simple heist film, but is
all about the mistreatment of Asian races of all sorts since 9/11.