Blaxplotation films
Scene 1: Outside a ticket box office in a suburban movie theater in 1967. About a dozen white couples patiently wait in line to purchase tickets to the "progressive" new film, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner by Stanley Kramer. Camera then focuses on a movie poster, which portrays Sidney Poitier amongst an all white cast smiling contently.As the decade of the 1960's came to a close, America was in the midst of a radical social, political, and artistic movement. Students were rising, women were fighting for equality, and for the first time in history, the voice of the country's African-American community was beginning to be heard. The Black Nationalist Movement delivered empowering messages of a need for black power, unity and representation. An artistic response to this political and social uprising emerged in the form of black popular musical acts, and soon spread to the world of cinema. The "Blaxploitation" film had arrived. The Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's was supposed to end institutional racism in American society and allow the African American community to obtain social, economic, and political equality, yet; the majority of the black community was still
These films lacked the originality and energy of the genre's pioneers, and even worse, were often sordid white attempts to appeal to black audiences. In short, violated, confused and drained by this colonization. The film was a smash with both black and white audiences, combining the new black anti-hero with a funky, urban score done by popular soul artist Isaac Hayes. Although the film was released under the pretense of being part of a revolutionary new wave of independent black films, having both a black director and small budget, it was actually financed by the large movie corporation MGM. It was not long before the ideas of the Black Power movement began appearing in the works of popular black musical artists and in the movies of black cinema, altering the course of popular culture, and subsequently, mainstream society forever. It also represented the growing influence that the black community was having on mainstream politics; where even in the south, black voters were beginning to have a significant effect on political elections. Black Caesar, Boss Nigger, The Legend of Nigger Charlie, Bucktown, Blacula, Shaft Goes to Africa, Shaft's Big Score, and Willie Dynamite were just some of the titles that poured out of Hollywood studios. trapped in inner-city ghettos which offered few employment opportunities and crowded living conditions. The man responsible for kick-starting this historical change-a struggling black filmmaker and his independently produced Baadassss movie. In other words its 'bout a brother getting the Man's foot out of his ass' (James 5). Camera focuses on a deserted movie theater in 1976. Audiences had never seen anything like Sweetback before, and it touched off a nation wide response. As Donald Bogle states about the self-coined "Age of the Buck", "Often enough old stereotypes resurface, simply dressed in new garb to look modern, hip, provocative, and politically relevant" (Bogle 232). Van Peebles response was to shoot the film under the pretense of making a porno, therefore, he was able to use a non-union crew and bi-pass the Hollywood system completely. And it was still being hawked as a revolutionary message, i.
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Acceptance Essays
