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At the beginning of the film, an American flag is shown as an American symbol, however, “flames ignite around the edges of the flag, eating away to the heart of the cloth, engulfing everything...except a red, white, and blue, stars-and-striped X” . This is part of Lee's vision of Malcolm as an impacting image for the African american culture. In a way, it symbolizes Malcolm's fight against“white” dominance in American society. There is a certain parallel between this scene and the one of Malcolm as a child talking to his teacher. They both foreshadow the confrontation between him and thecurrent american society at that time. In addition, Lee supports the irony of the teacher's words, while creating another powerful scene later on in the film; the one that shows “Malcolm's power over ahuge crowd” . This scene shows how Malcolm X fights for the wellness of one of his men until the end. This contributes to the image of Malcolm as a lawyer, an advocate and a defender of his people, andhence contrasts with what Mr. Ostrowski had said to him as a child.
During the chosen scene, a whole series of film techniques such as fast cuts with a voice over and the alternating cuts withreverse cuts, are used by Lee in order to build up tension, and support Malcolm X's motives later on in the film. This scene not only emphasizes the contrasts between the increasing racism towards Malcolmand his innocence as a child, but also foreshadows ironically his potential as a leader despite the fact that society considered his desire to succeed as something unrealistic.
Finally, Spike Lee,through this scene, is able to show a childhood episode of Malcolm's life that is quite different from the few others. It shows a child capable of confrontation against social “reality”. Lee portraysa child that can defy what is said to be “a good profession for a colored”, a child that will not conform with being a “carpenter”. Even though Malcolm Little goes through a long transition to...