ABSTRACT
Spike Lee based his film, Malcolm X on The Autobiography of Malcolm X, which producer Marvin Worth had optioned in 1969. The Autobiography minimized the political work of Malcolm X in creating Muslim Mosque, Incorporate, and the Organization of Afro-American Unity in traveling through the Middle East and Africa in 1964. There are many great components and memorable details in the writing of Arnold Perl and Spike Lee's Malcolm X. The character arc, for example, lets the audience intimately identify with Malcolm through the changes in his hairstyle and what he thinks about his appearance. According to Manning Marable, The Autobiography of Malcolm X provides a mistaken view of its protagonist as a political pragmatist "in the tradition of Benjamin Franklin's autobiography", instead of as a revolutionary calling for insurrection. Settling on an antagonist or combination of antagonists is a particular challenge in updating the story of Malcolm X.
