By Toby G. Hayes

He can normally be seen behind a camera or courtside at a New York Knicks game. But noted film maker Spike Lee was in Logan on Tuesday speaking to a capacity crowd of 2,000 at Utah State University.

"Films are very important. That’s why I wanted to become a filmmaker," Lee said. "They affect people, for good and bad."

Lee is best known for films including Do the Right Thing and Malcolm X, and has made 17 films in the last 17 years. After graduating from New York University in 1982, Lee set out to make movies and make a difference.

"It used to be that it cost millions of dollars to make a movie," he said. "That is no longer the case, so I grabbed my Super 8 camera and started making films."

Lee’s first film, She’s Gotta Have It, was shot on a shoestring budget, started by a $10,000 grant. They made the movie little by little with the help of grants, loans from friends and pop cans. After shooting the film in the mornings, Lee and his small crew would go to lunch and save their pop cans. By the end of shooting the film, the 5-cent deposit helped them buy two more rolls of film to complete the movie. All totaled, the film cost $175,000 to make. Since its release, She’s Gotta Have It has brought in over $8.5 million.

But it wasn’t the money that lured Lee into the film industry.

"We really don’t get the diversity of the African-American experience on screen," he said.

Lee says blacks typically get stereotyped into only a few Hollywood roles, especially those of rappers and violent characters.

"If you’re around the corner, drinking a 40, smoking a blunt . . . then you’re black, and you’re keeping it real," he said. "This stereotype of rap, gangster shit, pardon my language, has to change. We have to do something to turn this around. I don’t think it’s healthy."

But Lee says combating racism is a slow process of change.

"There will come a point in the near future when white people will become the minority in this country," he said. "People just have to be more open to ideas, religion and other people's beliefs. That’s it."

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