Can Spike Lee give his characters real names for a change?

I’m not sure but I took the name of Washington’s character, Bleek, to be an intentional misspelling of the word bleak (grim, unhappy, unfriendly, lacking hope, etc.) A reference to his generally somber personality. He isn’t a very happy man and seems lost with respect to everything in his personal life — his work, lovelife and so on — He’s even plagued by a desperate search for greater accomplishment as a musician, as many musicians are.


Giant — A small man with big dreams. Posing as business manager and representative of Bleek and the band.

Shadow — Regarded as second fiddle to Bleek — playing obligato as musician and attempting to be rebound babe magnet of Bleek’s lady friends. He’s under Bleek’s shadow as well as continually striving to escape it. His skin is darker. He’s more or less the primary bad guy of the story.

Left Hand — a suggestion that he’s a top tier pianist. Most play well enough with their right hand. Only the best are as skilled using their left;

Bottom — The bassist. Often regarded to as the "bottom” or "pulse" of a jazz tune. The thing that everything else relies on;

Indigo — The dark-skinned love interest;

Clarke — Not sure how this works in the vein I’m suggesting. Maybe cLARKe, as in singer or a romantic fling)


etc…


i.e. — The names are all double-entendré. They make reference to the position each holds in the story; role of each character in relation to other characters; allusions to highly regarded jazz tunes and artists and perspectives concerned with color-consciousness, financial and professional aspiration problems; violence and romance problems among Black Americans.



"Your thinking is untidy, like most so-called thinking today." (Murder, My Sweet)