The Artists I love

About 3 years ago, after a growing interest and love of Art throughout my life, no doubt partly inspired by my Mom being an Artist herself, I decided to take an Art History course. Every Tuesday I would travel to Lichfield and sit there for 2 hours as my lecturer would enlighten us on a new movement, some of which I knew about and some of which I didn’t. It was such a joyful experience and some of the art, which he would endearingly point to with his cane, touched me so much I thought it would be nice to write a blog about some of my favorite Artists. I have narrowed it down to five Artists that I will focus on. There are so many more Artists I love, but I’ve decided to claim these as my top 5 solely on the basis they have made it onto the walls of my house! Although I’m cheating with Monet as he is one whose painting I intend to stick up in the future! My aim in this blog is to share my enthusiasm and maybe inspire you into enjoying some of the artwork or share your own favorites with me. 🙂


L.S LOWRY

Going to the Match by L.S Lowry. 1953

L.S Lowry is an English artist who depicted ordinary life in the industrial North of England. What I love about Lowry is I feel he sees the beauty in normal life and in the Industrial north of the time that may not seem an obvious subject for Art. He did also paint landscapes of the sea but it is these paintings of people going to the match or coming out of the mill to go home to work, with what were termed his ‘matchstick men’ that I particularly love. As well as being a wonderful snapshot of working-class life and community, I like that you can look at them for ages speculating and focusing on all the different people and what they are doing in the paintings.
If you watch the excellent film ‘Mrs Lowry and Son‘ (2019) directed by Adrian Noble, you will see how there was a lot of snobbery from the elite about Lowry’s work, but now he has the respect and admiration he deserves for his unique works of Art. Also as an aside the film focuses on his estranged relationship with his mother and his reclusive personality, sometimes I think people that don’t fit in often produce the best work! Timothy Spall also produced a super performance as Lowry.


Casper David Friedrich

Moonrise over the Sea by Caspar David Friedrich. 1822

Casper David Friedrich is a German Artist who comes from an artistic movement that I absolutely love. It is called Romanticism from the late 18th, early 19th century and it was brought about by a disillusionment with the contemporary industrial society of the time and what was seen as too cold a rationality in science. Instead, there was an emphasis on emotion, individuality and in particular a subjective, spiritual connection to the beauty of nature. I feel Friedrich really encapsulates this with his beautiful landscapes and the figures within them who often seem in deep contemplation and awe of their surroundings. In his own life he experienced deep tragedy in his youth with his mother dying when he was 7 years old and his brother drowning when he tried to save him as he fell through the ice while skating. It’s believed the metaphysical spiritual nature of his paintings were influenced by this early experience of having to think about the inevitability of death.
In north Wales, there is a walk behind the town in Barmouth high up in the hills and on the one spot I often feel like I’m in a Friedrich painting as the sublime landscape can overwhelm me and make me feel insignificant, but in a positive way, in the face of the grandiosity and beauty of nature. Friedrich for me is truly one of the greats!

Vincent Van Gogh

The Red Vineyards by Vincent Van Gogh 1888

The wow factor. That is how I would summarise the effect a painting by the great Dutch Artist Vincent Van Gogh has on you. I’ve often thought it’s interesting how a painting can feel more real on an emotional level than seeing a photograph just in the depths of feeling it can convey. You most certainly feel this when you look at a Van Gogh as his use of light and brush strokes truly makes the pictures come alive and brim with energy. They are suffused with a real spiritual force.
Art is often a reflection of the soul of the artist and Van Gogh was a sensitive soul who was compelled to create. If you want to see a stunning artistic creation of his life story, I recommend watching the film ‘Loving Vincent‘ (2017) by Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman. Also the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam is truly the greatest Art Museum I have ever experienced in seeing such a stunning collection of this work. I strongly advise a visit. Van Gogh came to a tragic end when he sadly killed himself and I will leave this section with a loving tribute from the musician Don McLean, in which he laments, ‘I could have told you Vincent, this world was never meant for one as beautiful as you’.

Edward Hopper

Automat by Edward Hopper. 1927

Edward Hopper is an American Artist whose oil paintings create such a unique atmosphere it is really quite hard to describe without seeing them. They are very poetic and lend themselves to an evocative narrative interpretation of what is happening. In the way he positions everything in his paintings it reminds me of a well-crafted film shot, they have a very cinematic feel. I imagine he wouldn’t have been out of place as a Cinematographer on a film set. I think the painting above is my favorite from him as it has that feeling of solitude when you get lost in deep thought that I can really connect with. He is definitely one of the greatest artists of the 20th century!

Claude Monet

A Woman Reading by Claude Monet 1872

Claude Monet is a French artist who was integral to the artistic movement known as impressionism. It was characterised by its rapid brush stokes, capturing the moment in a blur with the dapples of sunlight, with a soft focus that gives an impression rather than an exact depiction, and it is this innovative painting style that makes it so beautiful to look at. Ultimately that is why I love this movement and Monet in particular, it just makes you feel happy. Ironically impressionist was originally meant as an insult from an art critic at the time who considered it ‘unfinished’. The effect they created however, was exactly what they intended and as often with new creative endeavors, while they are at first criticised and misunderstood, they often come to be greatly appreciated.
The painting above is my favorite Monet and the only one in this blog not on my wall, but I shall one day rectify this terrible state of affairs!

Conclusion
To conclude I would like to say how much pleasure and stimulation I have garnered from art, not just paintings that I have focused on here but all forms of art whether literature, film, music or theatre. I find it is one of the things that makes life worth living!

I will also recommend this list of good books I have read regarding Art History:

*The Story of Art by Ernst Gombrich
*Art History for Dummies by Jesse Bryant Wilder
*The Shock of the New by Robert Hughes
*The Power of Art by Simon Schama

Thank you for reading! 🙂

by Dan Walker.

Charlie Chaplin and me.

For me Charlie Chaplin is a true inspiration, not just as being a particular talent, but for the depth of the man and his work, and how I feel he illuminates such simple human qualities that are nevertheless so important. My relationship with Chaplin began when I was around 9 to 10 years old. My mom was a student at the time at Wolverhampton University having decided later on in her life to return to her passion of Art, and she would take me to the University Library when she would go to get her books (I would be given a visitor sticker). On one of these occasions she took me to the film Library and said I could pick a video to watch (these were still the Video Cassette pre-DVD/ Blue Ray days). I picked up the film Modern Times (1936). It’s lucky I was still at that easy malleable age as if it had been maybe 3 years later I can imagine I might have looked it and gone, old silent film….boringgggggg and never taken a second glance. This did not happen though and as I watched it the empathy for the under dog and sense of simplistic beauty in the scenes, as well as the fact that it was literally laugh out loud funny seeped into every fibre of my being. Suddenly this trip to the Library became a new adventure as I would pick out another of the University’s superb collection of Chaplin films. Later on in life I’ve often thought how those films and the messages that they contained must have been such a positive influence as at the age of 9/10 you don’t have such self aware thoughts. As a result I thought I’d write this blog post, and summarise through his films, and a couple of extracts from his autobiography just how great an artist and a man I feel he was with regards to the human condition.

I think one of the most appealing aspects of Chaplin’s films which clearly reflected his personality was his sense of empathy. This is personified in the main star for his films via the character of the tramp. We’re used to stories being about superman, presidents, warriors, those that fill the pages of our history books and shape world events or fictional characters with supernatural powers. But…Chaplin decided he was most interested in the man we walk past in the street, the forgotten, the ignored, the downtrodden. And in this man he encapsulated a pure heart full of empathy, romance and love. A great example of this is the film City Lights (1931). In this scene a suicidal man descends the stairs with a rope and a weight clearly intending to drown himself in the river much to the tramps horror. He stops him and simply says ‘tomorrow the birds will sing’. He goes on to continue his soliloquising only to find he is accidently thrown into the river himself (humour is never far away in a Chaplin film). Eventually after helping each other the man has changed his mind and the tramp has prevented his suicide. There is something beautiful in the tramps recognition, particularly looking back in todays more consumerist materialistic society, that something as simple but lovely as the birds singing is worth facing another day. As somebody who has been on occasion in dark places in my life and had people close to me suffer the same things I find this message is even more potent.

There are countless more examples of this will to cheer people up and try to encourage them to keep going in the face of adversity. For example at the end of Modern Times (1936), with them both unemployed, poor and Elena (his girlfriend) on the run from the police, she breaks down into tears. But he defiantly reassures her ‘book up, never say die, we’ll get along’, and in one of the most beautiful shots in cinematic history they both walk of arm in arm in the middle of the road with a stunning backdrop. The fact they have each other is enough for Chaplin to give them renewed hope and happiness. This idea of battling through the hard times and hope for a better tomorrow is demonstrated in the classic song ‘Smile’, which was both written and composed by Chaplin. I remember that the song was played at my Nan’s funeral and the vicar perfectly encapsulated a sentiment within Chaplin’s films that in the end it is not the materials you accumulate but the relationships you make that are most important in life.

When it comes to religion I personally was brought up a Christian, became an atheist and was briefly quite hostile towards religion, but then went on to become an agnostic. Don’t get me wrong I don’t feel that it is perfect and aspects of it I could criticise, but I also think that for many  good people free of prejudice, religion is just a way of reaffirming some of the best things about humanity. I remember in particular my Nan who I just mentioned was a strong Christian and she was the kindest woman I’ve ever known, and would often say things such as ‘there for the grace of god go I’ in sympathy for those less fortunate, would always help people and would find comfort in people passing away by saying ‘they are in a better place’.  If you’re wandering what this has to do with Chaplin, when I was reading his autobiography there was an extract about his mom which brought tears to my eyes as it reminded me of my Nan and it’s a good example of the point I’ve just made. Also it shows how in Chaplin’s case, these religious values were clearly a positive aspect in his life (as I believe they have been in mine).
Extract- ‘I remember an  evening in our one room in the basement at Oakley Street. I lay in bed recovering from a fever. Sydney had gone to night school and Mother and I were alone. It was late afternoon, and she sat with her back to the window reading, acting and explaining the New Testament and Christ’s love and pity for the poor and for little children. Perhaps her emotion was due to my illness, but she gave the most luminous  and appealing interpretation of Christ that I have ever heard or seen. She spoke of his tolerant understanding; of the woman who had sinned and was to be stoned by the mob, and of his words to them: ‘He that is without sin amongst you, let him cast a stone at her’.
She read into the dusk, stopping only to light the lamp, then told of the faith that Jesus inspired in the sick, that they had only to touch the hem of his garment to be healed. She told of the hate and jealously of the High Priests and Pharisees, and described Jesus and his arrest and his calm dignity before Pontius Pilate, who washing his hands said (this she acted out histrionically): “I find no fault with this man”. She told how they stripped and scourged him and, placing a crown of horns on his head, mocked and spat at him, saying: ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’
As she continued tears welled up in her eyes. She told of Simon helping to carry Christ’s cross and the appealing look of gratitude Jesus gave him; she told of the repentant thief, dying with him on a cross and asking forgiveness, and of Jesus saying: “Today shalt be with me in paradise”. And from the cross looking down at his mother saying: “Woman, behold thy son”. And in his last dying agony crying out: “My god, why hast though forsaken me. And we both wept.
“Don’t you see” said Mother, “how human he was; like all of us he too suffered doubt”.
Mother had so carried me away I wanted to die that very night and meet Jesus. But mother was not so enthusiastic. “Jesus wants you to live first and fulfil your destiny here”, she said. In that dark room in the basement at Oakely Street,  Mother illuminated to me the kindliest light this world has ever known, which has endowed literature and the theatre with the greatest and richest themes: love, pity and humanity’. (Chaplin, 1964, p.22-23)
You can really see in Chaplin’s autobiography how in many ways his youth helped shape him. It is a true rags to riches story accept he never forgot his principles or the people he left behind. There are many touching stories from his youth such as when we was homeless and a group of workers would let him share their bread and tea. It reads like a Charles Dickens  novel. Also another interesting aspect is in one point expounding on a debate with Churchill about Ghandi (Chaplin was pro Gandhi and Indian independence, Churchill was the opposite), he says how ‘Churchill turned to me and smiled, “you would make a good Labour member”. The charm of Churchill is his tolerance and respect for others people’s opinions. He seems not to bare malice with those who disagree with him’ (Chaplin, 1964, p.334). I also share Chaplin’s admiration for the quality of being able to have a debate with someone you disagree with without it being aggressive or meaning you can’t be friends. Returning to Chaplin’s films his political critiques and empathy for those that have been exploited and oppressed by the political systems whether it be the fascism and totalitarianism of Nazi Germany (The Great Dictator 1940) or predatory rapacious capitalism (Modern Times 1936) have always shone through. In two of his later films where he finally left the character of the tramp behind he also offers a subtle critique of militarism and the idea that one type of killing can be rewarded while another punished in Monseur Verdoux (1947) and a more obvious critique of the McCarthyism witch hunts in 1950’s America via A King in New York (1957). Undoubtedly however the greatest instance of this is his speech at the end of The Great Dictator (1940). You have to admire the bravery of Chaplin making a film such as this ridiculing Hitler at a time when Hitler may well have won the war while also appreciating the timelessness of his words. How they must have resounded around the world to those in need of hope at the time and how they still have a powerful impact today. Chaplin’s belief in solidarity for your fellow man, no prejudice, tolerance, empathy and ultimately love shine through in this speech.

In terms of more immediate people that we form a loving bond with, Chaplin’s films The Kid (1921) and City Lights (1931) are both very moving in showing the love between a father and a child (even though the child is not his biologically which arguably makes it even more poignant) and the romantic love between two people in City Lights (1931). In The Kid (1931) the tramp ends up coming across an abandoned baby and after initial reluctance he grows to love the child and adopt him as his own. It is a very moving film, especially a scene when the tramp fears he may lose the kid to the orphanage.

Personally I have always been more of a romantic when it comes to relationships and the romances in Chaplin’s films are some of the greatest of all time in any art form. In particular the film City Lights (1931) and the romance between a blind girl and the tramp. I defy anyone not to watch that film and feel their heart warmed by the final scene when she regains her sight and recognises her love by the simple touch of his hand.

To conclude as I come to the end of this essay I realise I haven’t mentioned much regarding just how insanely hilarious many of the scenes and stories in these films are. They will have you laughing on numerous occasions. I feel the reason is that just as I feel the rapper Tupac Shakur transcended and became much more than just a musician in his lifetime, Charlie Chaplin transcended and became much more than just a comedic performer. He emphasised all the greatest things that make us human, love, romance, solidarity, empathy, compassion. If you haven’t seen his films the ones I would personally recommend watching first would be Modern Times (1936), City Lights (1931), The Kid (1921), The Circus (1928), and The Great Dictator (1940). If you want to know more about his fascinating life in his own words I’d recommend reading ‘Charles Chaplin, My Autobiography’ (1964). The biopic film Chaplin (1999) is decent as well but for me it does not do the man justice.
Finally as far as I’m aware the only monument to Charlie Chaplin is a small statue in London’s Leicester Square. Some complain that there isn’t anything bigger but in a way a small modest statue as opposed to a grandiose monument is perhaps fitting to the modesty and lack of pretension of the tramp character that so encapsulates the man. I love Charlie Chaplin, I think he is one of England’s greatest historical figures and whenever I read his words, hear his music, or watch his films, I smile.

 by Dan Walker.

 

Drifter

Drifting through the silent woods,
Wading through the empty stream,
Dreaming of another World,
An Elysium that could have been,
Solitude, that familiar friend,
Shall we ever depart,
Shall the mundane be cast aside,
And magic enlighten the endless dark,
Or will I find a strange content,
In endless dreams of a warm filled heart,
Quietly going like millions of others,
Hopeless romantic dying stars.

by Daniel Walker

Cave

Trying to find my way in a world of contradiction,

Searching for my being in endless introspection,

Within Plato’s Cave are moments of contentment,

Shattered by a mirror with ambiguous reflection.

by Daniel Walker

Final year dissertation in BA Film Studies

 

 

 

Daniel Walker

 

THE UNIVERSITY OF WOLVERHAMPTON

 

SCHOOL OF LAW, SOCIAL SCIENCES & COMMUNICATIONS

 

PROJECT IN FILM STUDIES

 

 

A Project submitted as part of a programme of study for the award of BA (Honours) Film Studies

 

For this project I aim to analyse the representation of race and gender within the Blaxploitation genre with reference to the social and political climate of the time, arguing that it has had lasting long term effects within cinema.

 

Project Supervisor- Frances Pheasant Kelly

 

Date of submission- 17^th April, 2013

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Abstract

For this project I will be analysing the representation of race and gender within the Blaxploitation genre, with reference to the political and social climate of the time. I will then argue that it has had lasting long term effects in cinema. For the introduction I will lay out what I am analysing and why, as well as explain the term Blaxploitation, expounding on the time period of the genre and what it consist of. In chapter one I will analyse the representation of race within the Blaxploitation genre with reference to the social and political climate. In chapter two I will analyse the representation of gender within the Blaxploitation genre with reference to the social and political climate. In chapter three, using what I have learnt from chapter one and two as a foundation I will look at the legacy of the Blaxploitation genre by analysing its lasting long term effects. Also throughout the project I will apply film theory and textually analyse the relevant films.  For the conclusion I will summarise what I have learnt.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Contents

Introduction                                                                                                   4

 

Chapter 1- The representation of race Blaxploitation                                   7

 

Chapter 2- The representation of gender in Blaxploitation                          16  

 

Chapter 3- Legacy of Blaxploitation                                                            29

 

Conclusion                                                                                                    35

 

Bibliography                                                                                                 37

 

Filmography                                                                                                  42

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Introduction

For this project I will be looking at how Blaxploitation emerged, the effect it had on film representation and in particular the portrayal of race and gender. I am doing this not only to see how the social and political climate can shape representations within film but also to consider the longer term effects of Blaxploitation within cinema.

 Blaxploitation refers to a group of films made between 1970 to 1976. They focused on black themed action films with all black casts and narratives in which assertive characters were often seen to fight back against the hegemonic racist power structures.  As these films were often set in the inner city ghettos of the US featuring all black casts unsurprisingly the main audience were young black Americans. As Koven states Blaxploitation ‘is a fusion of two different words- black and exploitation’, therefore ‘Blaxploitation films are by definition black exploitation films’ (Koven, 2010, p.9). So they are essentially black films which exploit the market of the black audience.  A combination of factors led to the Blaxploitation phenomenon.  The social conditions of the time and the breakdown of the production code, and the need for a crumbling Hollywood film industry to make profit all lead to its emergence. 

The high point of Blaxploitation was from1970 to 1974. There were more than 200 of these films produced but a few key films stand out in particular. These include films such as Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song (1971), Shaft (1972), Superfly (1972), Black Caesar (1973), Coffy (1973), Cleopatra Jones (1973) and Foxy Brown (1974). It also had key stars such as Melvin Van Peebles, Richard Roundtree, Pam Grier, Fred Williams, Tamara Dobson and Ron O’Neal. After 1974 it pretty much died out and sadly for the actors and production teams employed in this boom, having saved Hollywood from financial disaster, Hollywood was quick to turn its back on them. Many struggled to find work after its demise. The negative reaction towards Blaxploitation by some black activists and critics within the US, an audience that was tiring of the same type of films, and Hollywood realisation with some blockbuster hits that it no longer needed Blaxploitation to make money all contributed to its eventual demise. The negative reaction came from a belief that the films promoted negative stereotypes of black people as they were mostly portrayed as gangsters, drug dealers and pimps, that they glamourized these lifestyles and that the highly sexualised aggressive males fell into the buck stereotype of old. It was also believed that the escapism they provided did not help black people and lead to them being depoliticised. In particular the release of Superfly (1972) and its glamorisation of the drug dealer Youngblood Priest sparked a huge backlash. In a community that was blighted by cocaine, the fact that young African Americans had started wearing the coke spoon on a necklace sported by Priest in the film, was seen as very concerning. Many organisations attacked these films, with some forming together to form the Coalition against Blaxploitation. Other notable critics include Jesse Jackson. However there was a response from those working on these films pointing out that they were merely reflecting reality, that it was entertainment and that it gave work to many black people as well as being what black people wanted to see. Despite this the atmosphere of criticism began to discourage Hollywood from making these films. As Lawrence states ‘due to the immense controversy surrounding Blaxploitation films, major studios by 1973 shied away from producing the features’ (Lawrence, 2008, p.96). It was also the belief that black audiences had tired of these films as well as the realisation that they would see films which were not exclusively black which precipitated Blaxploitation’s end. The potential for crossover films which appealed to both black and white audiences meant the potential for more profit which as I have stated is what motivates changes in the industry. This potential was realised as surveys demonstrated that black people made up 35% of the audience for two huge blockbuster of the time, The Godfather (1972) and The Exorcist (1973). As Guerrero states Hollywood therefore ‘reasoned, if it could market films that would capture the lucrative black audience and at the same time attract whites, it could shift from making Blaxploitation films, which were coming under increasing criticism anyway, and possibly double its earnings at the box office’ (Guerrero, 1993, 105). That is exactly what Hollywood went on to do.

Finally although the movement died out, little has been said about the lasting effects of Blaxploitation and its influence in later films. I will examine this in more detail in the final chapter. So to conclude the criticism combined with the realisation that Blaxploitation was no longer needed to prop up the industry would lead to its demise, however undoubtedly the movement had left an indelible mark, with its influence felt in later films.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The representation of race in Blaxploitation

In this chapter I aim to explore the representation of race within Blaxploitation and to combine it with the political backdrop which motivates these representations. To do this I will textually analyse notable Blaxploitation films and use relevant academic theory to back up my points.

Firstly to fully understand the representation of race within Blaxploitation, the historical and political environment which people in America found themselves in by this time needs to be acknowledged. Ideology is when a group of people hold a particular set of beliefs which they hold to be inherently true. When this ideology has permeated a society or civilization to the extent that it is no longer seen as a socially constructed thought process, but seen in fact as an objective truth, it becomes a dominant ideology. The dominant ideology of the United States is white patriarchal capitalism. As a result the people who hold the power within this society are middle class white heterosexual men. Women, other races/sexualities, and lower classes on the other hand have been seen as the other, which means they are an empty sign, essentially meaningless except in relation to the pre mentioned power group. These groups are often referred to as minority groups, which reflects their disenfranchised position. As Benshoff and Griffin state, ‘such a term positions groups as marginal to the dominant group that holds power’ (Benshoff and Griffin, 2004, p.8). However, it is by no means through size that the dominant group holds power, with minority groups making up a significant (in the case of women bigger) proportion of the population. It is the dominant groups’ increased social power as opposed to the minority groups, which enables white middle class men to maintain their privileged status.

In order to maintain their power stereotypes are used as a tool by those who represent the dominant ideology. As Dyer states stereotypes are, when generalised or simplified representations, used as a way of ‘ordering the mass of complex and inchoate data that we receive from the world (Dyer, 1993, p.12). In this sense stereotypes are not always bad as they can make sense of the disorder and chaos of the world through their ordering process. However it is when they are applied to minority groups, in which a small number of negative characteristics are seen to be inherently true for the entire group, by everyone else in society, that they are damaging and can work to keep these groups oppressed. As Dyer states, ‘it is not stereotypes, as an aspect of human thought and representation that are wrong, but who controls them and what interests they serve’ (Dyer, 1993, p12). The cinema can be used as a tool for the dominant ideology by promoting such negative stereotypes, ensuring, as an ideological state apparatus, that its audience internalise these ideas without even realising it. Hall points out how stereotyping ‘sets up a symbolic frontier between the normal and the deviant, the normal and the pathological, the acceptable and the unacceptable, what belongs and what does not or is ‘Other’, between insider and outsiders, us and them’ (Hall, p.258, 1997).   As I have stated, cinema can be used, as an ideological state apparatus, to promote these negative stereotypes and with regards to race it has done. Black people have been stereotyped, with actors placed into metaphorical square boxes in which negative characterisations and implicit narratives are all that has been available to them. These stereotypes are a legacy of slavery and ironically were formed in an abolitionist text, Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Stowe. They include the tom, the coon, the tragic mulatto, the mammie and the brutal black buck. These stereotypes helped keep black people oppressed because, as Bogle states, ‘all were character types used for the same effect, to entertain by stressing Negro inferiority’ (Bogle, 2001, p.4). Whiteness on the other hand has been seen as the norm. It is not conscious of itself, for example, we don’t speak of ‘white’ films or ‘white’ actors, in the same way we make a point of saying ‘black’ films and ‘black’ actors. So while black people are stereotyped as having inherent characteristics directly linked to their race, white is essentially an invisible concept, which allowed white people to play much more deeply characterised and complex roles. As Dyer states, ‘this property of whiteness, to be everything and nothing, is the source of its representational power’, ensuring that ‘white domination is reproduced by the way that white people colonise the definition of normal’ (Dyer, 1993, p.127).

I will now focus via textual analysis, on the representation of race within the Blaxploitation film genre, helping me to analyse in the final chapter what lasting effects it has had. The representation of black people in Blaxploitation was partly a reaction to the more asexual integrationist representation of Sidney Poitier in films such as In the Heat of the Night (1967) and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967). Although Poitier was a more dynamic character and less of a caricature then the servants, entertainers and jesters that had preceded him, in an era of huge rebellion in the ghettos, and leading figures such as Malcolm X advocating violence to achieve black liberation, he was seen as out of touch. In fact he was seen as being an uncle tom for the lack of militancy in his roles, as Bogle states, they are ‘socially acceptable, good negro characters’, who are ‘chased, harassed, flogged, enslaved and insulted, they keep the faith, n’er turn against their white massas, and remain, hearty, submissive, stoic, generous, selfless, and oh-so very kind. Thus they endear themselves to white audiences’ (Bogle, 2002, p.6). However this was to change with the emergence of Blaxploitation. Black people were represented as fighting back, with more multi-dimensional characters who were no longer willing to allow ‘whitey’ to oppress them. This reflected the militancy of the Black Panther Party in particular who were a prominent political voice at the time. I will now analyse an example of this in Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song (1971). The scene in the film, in which Sweetback (played by Melvin Van Peebles) attacks the police, was a marked reversal of the tom stereotype. We see a long shot which establishes the scene with the two LAPD Officers and Sweetback and Mu-Mu handcuffed together. One of the Officers punches Mu-Mu and the beating begins. The officers undo Sweetback’s handcuffs; the scene is shot in low key lighting, with the cast shadows creating a chiaroscuro effect which adds to the dramatic intensity for the audience. We see a medium long shot of the two officers attacking Mu Mu, followed by the camera moving to the left and zooming in to a medium close up Sweetbacks face watching. We then see the concern on Sweetbacks face through figure expression as he moves his head to the side. The scene the cuts to a medium shot of Mu Mu on the floor being beaten, to a long shot in which Sweetback steps back, to a close up shot of the officers face as they deliver the beating. The cinema verite handheld camera style gives a shaky effect which adds to the dramatic intensity of the scene. The scene is also shot in low depth of field with the rack focus technique used giving a very blurry effect, again this (as well as a discontinuous editing style with some jump cuts) adds to the intensity. The cuts back to Sweetback highlight his growing frustration. We see a medium close up of Sweetback wrapping the handcuffs around his hand symbolising their importance as a prop motif as it becomes clear he is going to use them. Throughout the beating through diegetic dialogue we hear the officers taunting Mu Mu, which adds to the sense of anger and injustice. The cuts become faster adding to suspense before the climax comes with a point of view high angle medium shot from behind the officers, to a zoom in on Sweetbacks face. The moment of impact is then dramatically intensified by editing with two bright flashes filling the screen to coincide with Sweetbacks punches. The camera then zooms in to a close up of Sweetbacks hand as he methodically strikes the officers repeatedly, with the focus eventually revealing his bloodied hand. At the end of the beating we see a medium shot as Mu, Mu rises, and through diegetic dialogue we hear his appreciation as he says, ‘thanks man’. This scene laid the foundation for the formula of black people fighting back and beating the white power structure within Blaxploitation films. It gave them an antidote from the violent beatings they saw themselves receiving daily on the news. I stated earlier how whiteness was not signified, however in Blaxploitation, racist stereotypes were inverted. This resulted in the good evil dichotomy being reversed, as white people on the whole were represented as being evil and corrupt. For example in Coffy (1973) and Superfly (1972) the police have a stake in the drugs game, while in Black Caesar (1973) Tommy Gibbs is brutally beaten by a racist cop McKinney. White people who were used to not being signified as their whiteness was invisible were now seeing how their ‘whiteness’ was perceived by black people, adding a counter hegemonic element to these films. As Hooks states, ‘collectively black people remain silent about representations of whiteness in the black imagination. As in the old days of racial segregation where black folks learned to wear the mask’, many of them pretended to be comfortable in the face of whiteness only to turn their ‘backs and give expression to intense levels of discomfort (Hooks, p.169, 1992). So it was in this backdrop that Blaxploitation ended this silence and took revenge not only by beating ‘whitey’ but by stereotyping whites as evil with implicit narratives and little characterisation, in the same way black people had been stereotyped beforehand.

Not only were African Americans represented as fighting back in Blaxploitation, but in the era of black power and cultural nationalism, black identity was celebrated as opposed to the assimilationist depictions of Sidney Poitier in the 1960’s. As Hall states, ‘following the Civil Rights movement, in the 1960’s and 70’s, there was a much more aggressive affirmation of clack cultural identity’ (Hall, 1997, p.270). Class comes into the equation here as middle class blacks were seen as selling out their culture in order to try and climb the social ladder and be accepted amongst white people. These diligent polite characters were seen as uncle toms. The ghetto and underclass on the other hand is represented in Blaxploitation as retaining its black identity while also managing to triumph over ‘whitey’. Bogle points out how ‘during that time, in rejecting the black bourgeoisie, which had seemingly often aided and abetted white America through attempts at cultural assimilation, the new militant separatist black classes sometimes came to identify blackness with the trappings of the ghetto: the tenement as well as the talk, the mannerisms, and the sophistication of the streets, all of which appeared to mark a life closer to ones roots (Bogle, 2002, p.236). An example of this can be seen in the opening sequence of Superfly (1972). As the start of Superfly (1972) we see a high angle establishing shot of Harlem, the camera then slowly zooms in to a high angle long shot of two black characters. Through diegetic sound we hear them speaking in black slang, with one of them saying, ‘you hear me nigger, come on’. An overhead tracking shot then follows the two characters before cutting to a deep focus long shot from behind the characters as they walk down the street. This cut coincides with the introduction of non-diegetic music, a funk soul song from Curtis Mayfield.  Black Caesar (1973), Coffy (1973) and Shaft (1971) all contain similar opening sequences as we see the setting of the ghetto, combined with non-diegetic black music, all of which adds to the black cultural authenticity. Although Shaft is a private detective and lives in a nice house he still carries of the sense of black authenticity due to his slang, the ease with which he walks the streets of Harlem and his lack of deference towards the white characters. We can see an example of this in an argument between Shaft and Lieutenant Vic Androzzi. Edited in a shot reverse shot pattern, along the 180 degree line, between Shaft and the Lieutenant, we see a low angle medium shot of the Lieutenant saying through diegetic speech, ‘don’t get wise with me Shaft. There’s a very simple way for me to go. I’ll put your goddamn ass in’. We then cut to a medium shot of Shaft who responds ‘I’ll sue your goddamn ass for false arrest’. We then cut back to a low angle medium shot as the Lieutenant says, ‘do you expect to believe that man went out the window the way you said he did, what do I look like, some kind of klutz’ We then cut back to the medium shot of Shaft who says, ‘don’t ask and I won’t tell you’. Shafts attitude here reflects the era of black power. It is also worth noting that traditionally black women were represented as being sexless and in no way eroticised, generally conforming to the mammy or aunt jemina stereotype. However in films such as Coffy (1973) and Foxy Brown (1974) this sexless representation was changed. In Coffy (1973), the character Coffy actually uses her sexual appeal to get what she wants. So the representation of black people in these films was a shift away from assimilationist bourgeoisie black characters to more self-confident and culturally authentic ghetto characters.

Therefore, in terms of positive aspects of Blaxploitation, the representation of black people was less simplified with a greater depth in characterisations. Also black culture was represented as opposed to assimilation and the characters were no longer asexual. For example in Shaft (1971), although Shaft has a black girlfriend, he sleeps with a white woman as well, breaking the previous held screen taboo of miscegenation. However, despite stereotypical representations being less obvious, they still continued in Blaxploitation as the highly sexualised aggressive characters, usually in the form of gangsters, pimps and hustlers, were criticised by many as conforming to the black buck stereotype. As Guerrero states although older stereotypes were ‘jettisoned in favour of more assertive and multidimensional black characters’ and there were ‘black focused themes and narratives’, Hollywood still ‘developed more subtle and masked forms of devaluing African Americans on screen’ (Guerrero, p.70, 1993). So although on the one hand, the more sexually assertive and aggressive males were a welcome contrast to the asexual roles beforehand, the exaggeration of these traits swaps the stereotype of uncle tom for the stereotype of the brutal black buck. We can see the stereotype of the black buck, described by Bogle as ‘big, baadddd niggers, over sexed and savage, violent and frenzied’ (Bogle, 2002, p.14), in the character of Tommy Gibbs in Black Caesar (1973). For example in one scene we see a high angle long shot of Tommy and Helen in bed. He can see through figure expression that he is making advances on Helen but she is not interested. We then cut to a medium shot from the side of Tommy and Helen. We hear her say through diegetic dialogue ‘stop it please’ but he continues and gets more aggressive which we can see through his figure expression. We then hear him say through diegetic dialogue ‘this is the only way you like it huh, you have to be raped, I got no objections’. He then climbs on top of her, we cut to a close up of his face as her hand pushes it away and she continues to tell him to stop, before cutting to a high angle medium shot, and then back to a close up of his face. This sequence of shots continues until we finish on a medium shot of him raping her, with the sound of her diegetic groans of distress adding to the shock of the scene. Clearly therefore, these representations are not positive and hark back to the black buck stereotype of Guss from the film Birth of a Nation (1915). Also in terms of the political backdrop, although the films showed more assertive characters who do not bow down to white people, in some respects they lost any progressive political effects, as they glamourized criminality and highlighted the appeal of the materialistic individual, reflecting the dominant ideology of the American dream. An example of this is Youngblood Priest in Superfly (1972) who has a nice car, nice clothes, nice apartment and actually mocks some revolutionary black characters who come to ask for his help. So with black buck stereotypes, portrayals that represented the black community as mainly consisting of criminals, and the containing of revolutionary content with individualist characters, representations of black people in Blaxploitation were by no means wholly positive.

In conclusion, white people in Blaxploitation were on the whole represented as evil corrupt characters, and their whiteness was no longer deemed invisible as it had been in the past. Representations of black people were I believe both positive and negative. They were positive in the fact that black cultural identity was reclaimed, and black people were no longer subservient to white people in the films, reflecting militant attitude of the time. However they were also negative as the ghetto and criminal lifestyle was glamourized, which hindered their progressive potential, and stereotypes, although less obvious, were still there. In particular black buck stereotype was prevalent in the vast majority of these films. However it can also be argued that there are similar white characters, such as James Bond and we do not see this as negative, with his whiteness not being highlighted. Also it is black folkloric tradition to represent black people on the other side of the law combatting their oppression. While I agree with both of these points I think the sheer scale of the highly aggressive, sexualised characters within Blaxploitation make it more of a concern. Overall though there is evidence of both positive and negative aspects to the representation of African Americans in Blaxploitation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The representation of gender in Blaxploitation

In this chapter I aim to analyse the representation of gender within the Blaxploitation film genre. I will return to my findings in the final chapter to see what lasting effects and influence these representations have had in the years after Blaxploitation’s demise. For the first section of this chapter I am going to focus on the theoretical and psychoanalytical approaches towards gender, and apply them within my textual analysis of the relevant films. As well as this, I then intend to take into consideration the racial and historical aspects of these films, which classic feminist theory has typically ignored. This will enable me to gain a deeper understanding of the representation of gender within this genre.

I am going to use Laura Mulvey’s influential theory on how she believed cinema perpetuated the dominated patriarchal ideology of the 1970’s in order to analyse how the genre conformed or resisted to this. Firstly however I need to explain exactly what this theory was and how it drew on a psychoanalytical framework. In her seminal essay published in 1975, ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’ (1975), she focuses on the idea of the male gaze. In particular, she considers how the male gaze used in films of the time reflected a male dominated society, because it was through the eyes of the male protagonist with which the film narrative progressed. As Humm points out, ‘it is the gaze, Mulvey argues, which is the main mechanism of filmic control’ (Humm, 1997, p14). The males are therefore active. The women on the other hand are passive; they are objectified within the films to the scopophilic instinct of the male gaze and have little influence on narrative progression. Due to women being objectified in this way as fetish objects the resulting effect is that the narrative of the story is slowed down, as the camera lingers on the physical aspects of the objectified woman. Unlike the active role of the male they are not integral to the narrative. Instead, Mulvey claims, they are there to be looked at. The art historian John Berger summarised Mulvey’s active/passive argument when he stated that ‘men act and women appear’ (Humm, 1997, p17).

I have outlined Mulvey’s theory on its basic level but it then goes deeper as she draws on the psychoanalytical theories of Freud and Lacan in order to back up her concept of the controlling male gaze. In particular she believes (assuming a feminist standpoint) that there are two areas of visual pleasure that need to be destroyed, scopophilia and narcissism. As Storey points out the female is ‘the object of male desire and she is the signifier of the threat of castration’ (Storey, p.82, 2006). It is through both scopophilia and narcissism that Mulvey explains the unconscious need of the male to deal with the castration complex and reinforce his power in a patriarchal society. This reinforcing is helped by the conditions of going to the cinema. In the darkness of the cinema, although the images are presented to us, the spectators are able to lose awareness of themselves and others around enabling voyeurism and identification. This sense of privacy allows us not only to gain pleasure from subjecting women to the gaze; it ensures we do it from a position of the controlling male gaze. Mulvey relates this identification with the male hero to Lacan’s theory as she argues that cinema ‘engages narcissistic scopophilia (Walker, 1994, p.83). Lacan’s mirror theory expanding on the work of Freud, describes when a child emerges from the real (a time where we just are) and forms a sense of separate selfhood. This happens when a child, around the age of 18 months looks into the mirror for the first time. He is still dependent and unable to fully control and coordinate his movements yet the mirror gives the illusion of a superior, more complete self. This process pushes the child into the imaginary, an order of subjectivity where identifications are made, however by doing this he misperceives and misrecognises himself. It is through this process that the child’s ideal ego (inner image of oneself as one wants to become) is formed.  Mulvey argues that this same recognition of the ideal ego takes place in the cinema. The screen replaces the mirror and the spectator identifies with the male hero because we see the film through his point of view. Although identification and the resulting voyeurism are not inherently masculine, Cowie points out how Mulvey claims that dominant ideology ‘requires that it is the male hero of the film who is the active controller of the films fantasy, and who has the look’ (Cowie, 1997, p.168). So it is essentially the narcissistic identification with the male hero as an active role within the film, which consolidates patriarchal ideology. Now I will look at how Mulvey claims this narcissistic gaze is turned on the female through active scopophilia, which correlates with Freud’s theories on the male fear of castration. The fear of castration is analysed by Freud in a theory known as the Oedipus complex. Freud split the psyche into three stages, the ego, the super ego and the id. The id is our preconscious/unconscious state that we are born with. The ego is our conscious state and is developed through contact with culture. The ego represents the reality principle, as one is in a conscious state while the id represents the pleasure principle in which instinctual desires are repressed through the ego. The super ego is also represented by culture; however it is closer to the id. The id and ego are defined as being in conflict as the id represents wanting something while the ego represents considering how you can get it through reason. It is on this basis that Freud describes the Oedipus complex. It revolves around a child who around the age of 3 and 5 develops a sexual desire through the id towards his mother. The father represents a rival for her affections and therefore the child wishes for the father’s death. However when the child first sees that the mother has no penis, which he was not expecting, he suddenly fears the power of the father to castrate him. As a result he forgets about his desire for his mother and identifies with his father knowing one day that he will have his power and a wife, who is a substitute mother, for himself. The fear of castration aroused by the woman lacking a penis however continues within the id, and to make up for this the man creates a fetish as a substitute for the penis that he lacks. As Freud stated, ‘the fetish is a substitute for the woman’s (the mother’s) penis that the little boy once believed in and for reasons familiar to us does not want to give up’ (Freud, 1993, p.28).  Mulvey applies this theory to the analysis of film. She states that the reason women are objectified by the male gaze as a figure of beauty to be looked at, a fetish, is to make them non-threatening objects. This fetishistic scopophilia allows the male to substitute the fear aroused by the woman’s lack of a penis, just as Freud described, by making them more reassuring. The other ways Mulvey claims that they can escape an uncomfortable rerun of the castration complex is as Storey claims ‘through detailed investigation of the original moment of trauma, usually leading to the devaluation, punishment or saving of the guilty object’ (Storey, 2006, p.83).

This theory however has been critiqued since, for it does not take into account that the woman can be the protagonist, and therefore the active participant in the film and the bearer of the gaze. Neither does it take into account that sometimes the male is the object of desire. Modleski demonstrated this with her own analysis when she discovered that ‘many of Hitchcock’s films are from the point of view of a female protagonist’ and that ‘in North by Nothwest Cary Grant’s role is that of hero and sex object, the desirable male’ (Nelmes, 2007, p.232).  More importantly however with regards to my analysis is the cultural studies critique of its deterministic concept of the passive spectator, who does not actively engage in the text. This was critiqued in particular by Jackie Stacey, who used Stuart Hall’s theory as a backdrop. I will expand on this theory later in my textual analysis.  Also crucially important is the fact that it does not take into account other factors such as historical and racial context. It is ahistorical and in its deterministic concept it does not consider the complexity of representations, such as the differences in experience between a black woman and a white woman. As Jaine Gaines states ‘a theory of the text and its spectator, based on the psychoanalytic concept of sexual difference, is unequipped to deal with a film about racial difference and sexuality. The Freudian-Lacanian scenario can eclipse the scenario of race gender relations in Afo-American history since the two accounts of sexuality are fundamentally incongruous’ (Gaines, 1999, p.402).

These inadequacies become obvious when examining the history of Blaxploitation cinema. In the first wave of Blaxploitation films women were subjugated to one dimensional characters and suffered violence from aggressive males, to the point of rape in both Black Caesar (1973) and Sweet Sweetbacks Badasssss Song (1971). As Guerrero stated with regards to Sweet Sweetbacks Badasssss Song (1971), ‘beyond their crude sexual objectification, the film contained no complex female portrayals’ (Guerrero, 1993, p.91). This is also true of other notable films such as Shaft (1971), and Superfly (1972). However with the arrival of Coffy (1973), Foxy Brown (1974) and Cleopatra Jones (1973) suddenly there were strong women playing the lead roles in Blaxploitation films.  For this reason I am going to textually analyse these films as they make a compelling case study of Mulvey’s theory, both in how they conform to it, and resist it. Having done an analysis along these lines I will then discuss the implications of both an active response to the films and their social and historical context which the deterministic discourse of the psychoanalytical approach does not take into account.

Firstly I will look at how Coffy (1973), Foxy Brown (1974) and Cleopatra Jones (1973) conform to Mulvey’s theory. In all three of the films we can see examples of fetishistic scopohilia, which as I stated earlier, works to repress the castration anxiety in men by representing the woman as a reassuring object, a fetish. This is particularly evident in the way Pam Grier’s body was exhibited in Coffy (1973) and Foxy Brown (1974). As Dunn states, ‘the treatment of Grier points to Laura Mulvey’s theory of the to-be-looked-at-ness’ in which Grier’s ‘female body is subject to the voyeuristic, controlling gaze of the filmmakers and the masculine gaze within the film’ (Dunn, 2008, p.111). A good example of this is a scene in Coffy (1973), where she undresses herself for the male gaze of the pimp King George (Robert DoQui). We see a long shot of King George, which then cuts to a point of view long shot of Coffy (Pam Grier). The spectator also now narcissistically shares King George’s male gaze as she undresses. She unzips her clothes so we see her completely naked from behind, she then turns half to the side, as the camera slowly zooms in, exposing one of her breasts. The camera then continues to zoom in as she completely turns around, and stops on a medium close up of Coffy, with her breasts fetishistically on display. Fragmented close up shots of legs, face and in Grier’s case in particular breasts are typical in turning the woman into an object for fetishistic scopophilia as the ‘fragmented body destroys the renaissance space, the illusion of depth demanded by the narrative’ (Mulvey, 1993, p.117). As Koven states the director of Coffy (1973), Jack Hill, ‘particularly exploits Grier’s ample breasts, which are on display in almost every scene’ (Kovens, 2001, p.48). In Foxy Brown (1974) we see Grier exhibited at the start as an ultimate fetish as she is exhibited purely for the gaze of the spectator. We see in the opening credits, amongst shadow silhouettes of her dancing body, a close up of her face, medium close up shots of just her breasts as she dances and towards the end of the credits sequence we have her dancing in just a bikini in the centre of the frame in long shot, for the delight of the spectator. Mulvey states that this type of exhibition takes the fetish to its ultimate status as ‘the powerful look of the male protagonist is broken in favour of the image in direct erotic rapport with the spectator. The beauty of the woman as object and the screen space coalesce; she is no longer the bearer of guilt but a perfect product, whose body, stylised and fragmented by close-ups, is the content  of the film and the direct recipient of the spectators look’ (Mulvey, 1993, pp.119-120). Also the idea of the women becoming passive in an exhibitionist role in which narrative momentum is halted for the active masculine gaze can be seen in a scene in Cleopatra Jones (1973). We see her walk past two men and say ‘hello’, and as she walks away we see a medium shot of the two men gazing desirously at Cleo. We hear their admiration through their diegetic dialogue. We then go on to cut to a point of view medium close up of Cleo’s legs and her backside from the masculine gaze of the two men. This clearly demonstrates Mulvey’s point that the woman’s ‘visual presence tends to work against the development of a story line, to freeze the flow of action on moments of erotic contemplation’ (Mulvey, 1993, p.116). Another avenue to repress the castration anxiety is voyeurism. Fetishistic scopophilia is one avenue of escape from male castration anxiety. The other, expounded by Mulvey (as stated earlier) is a ‘preoccupation with the re-enactment of the original trauma (investigating the woman, demystifying her mystery), counterbalanced by the devaluation, punishment and or saving of the guilty object’ (Mulvey, 1993, p.119). We see examples of this in both Coffy (1973) and Foxy Brown (1974) as when their cover as prostitutes has been blown, hence demystifying their mystery, they are the victims of sadistic punishment. Foxy Brown is actually tied to a bed and raped.

However, there are ways in which these three films do not conform to Mulvey’s theory. Firstly, although all the three female characters in the film are undoubtedly objectified, they are also the protagonists in the films, and on the whole propel the narrative. Also Mulvey suggests that the male always carries the gaze but in one scene in Foxy Brown (1974) we see the gaze directed from the two women in a position of power, onto the Judge who is in a vulnerable position lying on the bed. We see a high angle point of view, medium close up shot from the gaze of both Foxy and Claudia looking down at the Judge. We then cut to a long shot from the side of them looking down at the judge, as we hear Foxy mock the Judge’s penis. The scene then cuts back to a point of view medium close up shot of the Judge’s face again, and we see his unease at the situation through his facial expression. As Dunn states his position of white patriarchal power is undermined.  The castration fear is ignited for this ‘radical, but brief moment in the film,’ as ‘the gaze is directed through the women and turned on the voyeuristic white paternal figure (Dunn, 2008, p.120). Additionally, the way the women exploit their objectification, can to some extent be seen to have a subversive potential as the women use it to further their own ends. The idea of the female masquerade, theorized by Mary Ann Doane (drawing of the work of Joan Riviere), is where women display an exaggerated femininity, essentially wearing their femininity as a mask. There are examples of this in both Coffy (1973) and Foxy Brown (1974) in which they both pretend to be prostitutes to gain access to their enemies, and the main character played by Grier will repeatedly use her body in order to get what she wants. For example in the opening scene in Coffy (1973), after seducing two men back to her apartment, we hear her say through diegetic dialogue to one of them, ‘hey big man, why don’t you turn off the light’. We then see a long shot from behind him, turning of the lamp, and cut back to a medium shot of Coffy who has pulled out a shotgun. She goes on to kill both them both in revenge for the death of her sister to a drugs overdose. The character’s empowerment through this method aligns them with the femme fatale typical of earlier film noirs. Doane points out how men see these femme fatales playing the masquerade as evil incarnate. She quotes Montrelay who states that ‘it is this evil which scandalises whenever woman plays out her sex in order to evade the word and the law. Each time she subverts a law or a word which relies on the predominantly masculine structure of the look’, adding that ‘by destabilising the image, the masquerade confounds this masculine structure of the look’ (Doane, 1999, p.139). Although the main characters in these films do suffer from elements of sadism as I have already stated, they resist Mulvey’s theory in that rather than being finally punished at the end, the heroines end up victorious. Perhaps most radical, is the fact that unlike other films in other genres at the time, these were active heroines (in the case of Cleo literally engaging in martial arts), who acted as the central protagonists and won. This was particularly influential for film in general in later years, which I will discuss more in the next chapter.

So far I have analysed these films solely from a totalising psychoanalytic, white feminist standpoint. I will now look at the racial and historical implications, and address the readings of the spectator. This is particularly relevant with regards to gender in the Blaxploitation genre. Firstly, I will look at the historical racial context, which as Jane Gaines stated is ignored in ahistorical, deterministic, white feminist theory. Before the arrival of the action heroine in Blaxploitation, women were subjugated to minor roles and suffered at the hands of black and white men. This is because while black men at the time were fighting against racist patriarchy, black women had to fight against both racism and sexism. The radical feminist ideas of the time incorporated in second wave feminism were submerged in the black power movement. Prominent figures such as Malcolm X still conformed to a patriarchal misogynistic attitude. Despite being influential in civil rights organisations at the time, women were still being dismissed by black men who saw no correlation between the oppression of black people and their own oppression of black women. As Benshoff and Griffin state, ‘many women began to realize that in many civil rights groups fighting for equality and freedom, the focus was solely on equality and freedom for men’ (Benshoff and Griffin, 2004, p.272). A compelling example is the Black Panther Party, in which despite having leading female activists within its movement such as Angela Davis, had to contend with the attitude of many men such as prominent member Stokey Carmichael who describes women’s position within the collective as ‘prone’. It is this reason therefore that the arrival of the action heroines, despite still suffering elements of sexism within these films, was more reflective of the significant women activists of the time. As Dunn pointed out these films ‘were a brief but notable entry of tough black women narratives that capitalized on the popularized image of the Afro-wearing black woman personified visually be Angela Davis (Dunn, 2008, p.53). Expanding on the fact therefore that gender was not the defining point of analysis between relations, it is worth pointing out that black women endured a different level of oppression to white women. This is because they shared the position of the black man in the fact that white women were represented as being their oppressors in the patriarchal system. For this reason therefore in Cleopatra Jones (1973), the character Mommy, who is a white woman and big time drug dealer, holds a considerable position of power with oppressive consequences for the black characters. This is because as Dunn states, ‘in the American master-slave hierarchal system white women held power over both black females and black men’ (Dunn, 2008, p.101).

Taking into consideration the racial aspect of the representation of the action heroines in Coffy (1973), Foxy Brown (1974) and Cleopatra Jones (1973), they still adhere to negative racial stereotypes. In their over sexualised, exhibitionist roles they reflected the stereotype of the primitive exotic other. Also the aggressively sexualised characters of Foxy Brown and Coffy are representative of the Jezebel stereotype, which emerged during slavery to justify the common occurrence of sexual assaults of black women. A reflection of this racism can be seen in the earlier scene of Foxy Brown (1974) I analysed in which Foxy is sexually assaulted by a white man, who actually lassoes her before tying her up and proceeding to rape her. Rather than complex characters, Coffy, Cleo and Foxy Brown were essentially as Bogle stated, ‘a hybrid of stereotypes, part buck/part mammy/part mulattoe’ (Bogle, 2001, p.251). However taking the spectator and the historical situation into account there are positive aspects to be taken from the three action heroine films. Drawing from the work of Stuart Hall, Jackie Stacey criticised feminist theory for not considering the spectator and assuming them to be passive. Hall suggested the concept of encoding and decoding, in which encoding is the said cultural text and decoding is how the spectator interprets it. Therefore, taking factors into account such as the social and historical context, any text is polysemic, meaning it has multiple possible interpretations. As a result of this he suggested there are three possible readings, the dominant, preferred reading, where the reader shares the reading intended by the producer, the negotiated reading, when the text is accepted but challenged in some areas and the oppositional reading, where the reader does not share the text’s code and rejects it. Engaging with Hall’s idea of the active spectator, Bell Hooks proposed the concept of the oppositional gaze in which black women interrogated the images on screen, and with a clear awareness of the racism present were able to make a negotiated reading and draw out positive elements. So for example Hooks stated how using this oppositional gaze, the sapphire stereotype, which is present in the films I have analysed, black spectators; ‘in opposition claimed Sapphire as their own, as the symbol of that angry part of themselves white folks and black men could not even begin to understand’ (Hooks, 1993, p.293). The Colour Purple (1985), a fairly recent film is a good example of the oppositional gaze, as despite criticism for its negative stereotypes, which echoes the criticism of the stereotypes in Blaxploitation, Jacqueline Bobo discovered that black women were ‘very vocal in their praise of the film’ (Bobo, 1995, p.3). Taking this into account therefore it is worth pointing out that despite the negative stereotypes within the action heroine films of Blaxploitation, despite the objectification and despite the fact that they were to some extent simply re-enacting male fantasies, the films still struck a positive chord for many women spectators in that they reflected more empowering female representation than had previously been seen. As a result these films reflected better the black female activists of the time. They could therefore make a negotiated reading of these films. As Sims stated with reference to the oppositional gaze, ‘the films of Grier and Dobson in particular may have provided some African American women with the ability to identify with the traits of an empowered woman who is trying to take care of her family and work while dismissing and ignoring the negative aspects of a character created by a producer who could not relate to the burdens endured by black women in a culture where gender and race often become determining factors in their status of some individuals’ (Sims, 2006, pp.28-29).

 In terms of masculinity the male heroes in Blaxploitation films are typically inscribed in the social construct of masculinity. They control the gaze and they are the protagonists and the active participants in progressing the narrative. Typically in their role as gangsters, pimps, hustlers, and in the case of Shaft, a cop, they use their fists and guns. These work as a phallic symbol to symbolise the male power and his symbolic position. As Dyer states ‘the soft vulnerable charm of the male genitals is rendered as hard, tough and dangerous’, symbolized by swords, knives, fists guns’ (Dyer, 1993, p.91). Whenever males look at each other within these films it is in an aggressive manner, generally between black and white men. This aggression can be said to ensure a disavowal of any repressed homoerotic desire. It also takes form in the spectacle of battle, in which the homoerotic potential is submerged under the spectacle of combat. We can see an example of both the use of guns as phallic symbols described by Dyer and this repression of homosexual desire via spectacle, in a scene in Black Caesar (1973) in which the Mafioso and the black gangsters fight each other with guns. We see a long shot of one of the black gangsters climbing up the roof. We then see a low angle long shot of one of the white gangsters on another roof aiming his long phallic gun at the black gangster. A cut back to a long shot of four of the black gangsters reveals them firing back at him, and a cut back to the low angle long shot as he falls off the roof having being shot. In the ensuring gun battle the black gangsters come out on top. This film and others in Blaxploitation demonstrate what Neale suggested is the repression of potential eroticism by being ‘structurally linked to a narrative content marked by sado-masochistic phantasies and scenes’ (Neale, 1993, p.16). In particular this scene shows how ‘the anxious aspects of the look at the male’ are ‘embodied and allayed not just by playing out the sadism inherent in voyeurism through scenes of violence and combat, but also by drawing upon the structures and processes of fetishistic looking, by stopping the narrative in order to recognise the pleasure of display, but displacing it from the male body as such and locating it more generally in overall components of a highly ritualised scene’ (Neale, 1993, p.17). We can also see an example of a rebellion against the symbolic law, which males entered in the mirror phase, in the representation of masculinity in Blaxploitation. This is because in many of the films the male heroes are not tied down by one woman, in particular in Sweet Sweetbacks Badasssss Song (1971). In Shaft (1971), despite having a relationship Shaft still sees no problem in sleeping around. Although he discusses this theory in relation to the western it applies to Blaxploitation when Neale discusses the appeal of ‘not marriage, a refusal by the hero to enter society, a refusal motivated by nostalgic narcissism’ (Neale, 1993, p.14). Finally although, as I discussed in the chapter two the hyper masculinity of the Blaxploitation heroes was criticised as they conformed to the buck stereotype, from a spectator oriented point of view a positive reading was made of these representations by many. This is because they reflected the context of the time in which black people wanted to assert their power and fight back as opposed to their asexual accommodationist roles of the previous years.

In conclusion although the representation of gender were in some respects negative due to the stereotypes present, when analysed from a social/historical point of view there are undoubtedly positive aspects and appeal of these representations to spectators at the time. In particular the representation of the action heroines was quite radical in terms of the representation of the female gender as a whole at the time, and as a result would have a lasting influence.

 

 

 

 

Chapter 3- Legacy of Blaxploitation

In this final chapter I will examine the legacy of Blaxploitation, noting how its influence has left lasting effects within cinema well beyond its disintegration in the mid-1970s.

The action heroines of Coffy (1973), Foxy Brown (1973) and Cleopatra Jones (1973) were unique in foregrounding women as the protagonists in action roles. Beforehand Hollywood had always produced films containing strong heroines but the action genre was dominated by white male actors until these films were made. Sims states how ‘although interest in Blaxploitation films may have waned, the action heroine persevered as a result of the trailblazing genre in the 1970’s (Sims, 2006, p.21). The success of these films highlighted the appeal to the Hollywood studios of an action oriented narrative with a woman protagonist. It also has to be noted that part of this representation of the action heroine was reflective of second wave feminism. The legacy of Blaxploitation (and the feminist movement which partly inspired the action heroine) was felt therefore with the release of one of the first blockbuster films containing an action heroine. The film was Alien (1979) and the action heroine was Ellen Ripley played by Sigourney Weaver. As Sims states Pam Grier’s Blaxploitation protagonists ‘gave the action heroine a persona that would later be used as a model by the studios and by the actress who became synonymous with action heroines- Sigourney Weaver’ (Sims, 2006, p.17). The character of Ripley is inscribed as an action heroine, as she keeps a cool head, and battles the aliens, ending up as a sole survivor. The character of Sarah Connor played by Linda Hamilton in Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991) is another action heroine arguably resulting from Blaxploitation’s influence, as she shares the strong mentality of Ripley by being unafraid to battle the T-1000. The characters differ to an extent from Pam Grier’s roles because they have a strong toned physique, as opposed to the curvaceous body put on display in Foxy Brown (1974) and Coffy (1973). This adds to their tough exterior as they co-opt an image traditionally associated with the masculine rather than flaunting their femininity as the Blaxploitation heroines did. Their clothes are also plainer, and they do not wear the revealing and classy outfits worn in Blaxploitation. An example of this is in Terminator 2 (1991) in a scene in which we see a high angle close up shot of Sarah Connor’s arms as she does chin ups, with her biceps on display. However although they differ aesthetically from the Blaxploitation heroines they share the same traits in terms of being strong willed, maternal and protective. Ripley is maternal and protective towards her cat while Connor is maternal and protective towards her son. So in terms of gender representation in cinema, Blaxploitation has a lasting effect with strong action heroines such as Ellen Ripley and Sarah Connor being represented in mainstream films. As Sims states, ‘audiences saw the metamorphosis of the action heroine from low-budget Blaxploitation movies to full-scale mainstream studio productions (Simms, 2006, p.11).

 I will now look at a series of films in the early 1990s were strongly influenced by Blaxploitation. Films such as Boyz n the Hood (1991), Menace to Society (1993) and New Jack City (1991) were gangster films set in the ghettos, leading critics to describe them as a ‘neo-blaxploitation movement for the 1990s (Benshoff and Griffin, 2004, p.92). This black movie boom was similar to the Blaxploitation period. The Hollywood film industry was suffering and it once again decided to turn to these black focused films, which were made at a small profit but produced a large return. The influence of Blaxploitation can be seen in the 1990s wave however by the fact that unlike the Blaxploitation era where many of the directors were white, in this boom they were all black. The Blaxploitation period was therefore very influential in inspiring the 1990’s generation of black filmmakers such as John Singleton and Mario Van Peebles. As Rausch states ‘nearly every black filmmaker working today has credited blaxploitation films as being an inspiration for their entry into the film industry’ (Rausch, 2004, p.193). The influence from Blaxploitation can be seen as the films focus on black narratives within the ghetto, featuring pimps, drug dealers and gangsters, with the same social and political problems set as a backdrop. Boyz in the Hood (1991) revolves around gang violence and the difficulties of escaping the ghetto,  Menace to Society (1993) also focuses on inner city gang violence and the difficult choices of which path to go down. New Jack City (1991) is more of a caricatured representation of the ghetto focusing once more on the disastrous effects of drugs and the battle between a street wise cop played by rapper Ice T (reminiscent of Shaft) and the charismatic gangster Nino, played by Wesley Snipes. Like Blaxploitation these films show the negative social and political aspects of black people living in the ghetto. With Blaxploitation coming out of a period of riots and growing black anger, these films echoed the politics of Reaganomics and the devastating effects of drugs, poverty and unemployment, as well as continued police racism leading to deep tension. The rebellious riots of the 1960s such as  that which took place in Watts, were repeated in the spring of 1992 when four white police officers caught on video tape beating up Rodney King were acquitted, resulting in the LA riots. As Guerrero states ‘the boom of the 1990s has emerged out of conditions that are comparable to those that fostered the Blaxploitation period (Guerrero, 1993, p.158). For example in the opening sequences of Menace to Society (1993) we see archive footage of long shots of the police beating up black people in the Watts rebellion. In New Jack City the gangster Nino Brown (played by Wesley Snipes) highlights the establishments implication in the drug trade as we see him via a close up shot in court state, ‘ain’t no Uzi’s made in Harlem, I mean, not one of us in hear owns a poppy field, this thing is bigger than Nino Brown, this is big business, this is the American way’. In Boys n the Hood (1991) we see Furious give a lecture to the community stating that there is a conspiracy to promote self-genocide in black neighbourhoods in order to sell their property (via gentrification) by shipping in drugs and putting liquor and guns stores on every street corner. We see him in medium shot say, ‘they want us to kill ourselves’. The main difference between these films and the Blaxploitation films is that rather than the triumphalism of black power with positive endings, they are more nihilistic with more negative endings. As Bogle states although they ‘were reminiscent of black films of the early 1970s, the new films often ended on a grim nihilistic, yet realistic tone (Bogle, 2002, p.347). Also unfortunately the representation of women is more reflective of the earlier Blaxploitation roles before Pam Grier came on the scene, with them having minor roles in which they are exploited and often dismissed with derogatory terms (hoe and bitch). Another aspect which reflected Blaxploitation’s promotion of black culture was the use of the gangsta rap music genre which was incorporated into the films via non diegetic music in the same way black soul music was incorporated into the Blaxploitation films of the 1970s. As Lott states, the black film boom of the early 1990s ‘capitalised on the popularity of gangsta rap with the blaxploitation era’ (Lott, 2007, p.304). To summarise this wave of films directed by blacks in the 1990s is part of Blaxploitation’s legacy as we can see from the similar themes and stylistic features brought about by a group of black filmmakers who were inspired to make films by the success of the genre.

The most recent films that have been influenced by Blaxploitation are postmodernism. This is because they are prime examples of pastiche and parody, both key attributes of postmodernism. Fredric Jameson describes pastiche as being a blank copy of the original; it references the original piece of work but not in a mocking or ironic way. He referred to films that were examples of pastiche as nostalgia films. As a result of the intertexuality and lack of originality of these films he claims they are ahistorical as they borrow histories from others. As Ward states Jameson believes there is ‘a loss of historical awareness which makes everything seem equally lightweight’ and that we now live in a perpetual present in which ‘profound meanings and deep interpretation have been replaced by surfaces which play among themselves’ (Ward, 1997, p.171). Two films which demonstrate a pastiche of Blaxploitation, as they specifically play homage to the genre, are Original Gangstas (1996) and Jackie Brown (1997). One could apply Jameson’s criticism to these films in that they have lost the political and social undercurrent, the so called ‘grand narratives’, with more of a focus on the stylistic features of Blaxploitation. However to counter such criticism some argue that these types of pastiche have brought about a positive fragmentation of culture. The films Jackie Brown (1997) and Original Gangstas (1996) could bring pleasure to fans of Blaxploitation due to a shared recognition of Blaxploitation references as well as bringing new life to a worn out genre. Storey quotes Peter Brooker and Will Brooker when they state that rather than a failure to be historical these films create ‘a new historical sense, the shared pleasure of intertextual recognition, the critical effect of play with narrative conventions, character and cultural stereotypes, and the power rather than passivity of nostalgia’ (Storey, 2006, p.139). Original Gangstas (1996) is clearly pastiche in that it consists of a cast of stars who featured in the original Blaxploitation films and copies both narrative conventions and stylistic features of Blaxploitation. Jackie Brown (1997), by director Quentin Tarantino, a self-confessed fan of the genre and renowned postmodernist filmmaker, also casts Pam Grier, a star of the old movies, as well as copying stylistic and narrative conventions of the old films. In particular, the casting of Pam Grier is a homage to Foxy Brown (1974) (further reference to Foxy Brown via same surname) and Coffy (1973). Tarantino uses the songs ‘Aragon’, ‘Escape’ and ‘Vittrone’s Theme – King is Dead’ by Roy Ayers as non-diegetic music within the film, all of which are used in the film Coffy (1973). Another influence of Blaxploitation, as stated earlier, can be seen through parody. A parody of Blaxploitation is seen in the film Black Dynamite (2009), in which Blaxploitation stylistic themes and conventions are produced in a satiric and ironic way for comic effect. For example in one scene, the political aspect of Blaxploitation, namely the mistrust of the establishment is satirised when standing in President Nixon’s oval office we see a medium shot of Black Dynamite. We hear him say, ‘I should’ve have asked myself, who’s a man so wicked, so cruel, to serve smack to the orphanage, kill my brother Jimmy, and put out a drug that shrink black men’s dicks’. Again, although due to its mocking nature it may not be seen as a positive representation of Blaxploitation, there is a positive aspect inherent in such ironic intertexuality as it plays homage to the genre and its influence.

In conclusion when the Blaxploitation genre of the 1970s came to an end it left many lasting effects to this day, from the emergence of the action heroine, to the black boom of the early 1990s and the postmodern films of the mid to late 1990s and  2000s. Its legacy can be measured by the inspiration it has given to these filmmakers and the work they have produced.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Conclusion

To conclude I will summarise and evaluate what I have learnt from my film project. My aim, as I set out in the introduction was to assess the representation of gender and race within Blaxploitation cinema, with reference to the social and political climate, and to then analyse what lasting effects this genre has had.

In the first chapter I discussed the representation of race within Blaxploitation. I discovered that while negative black stereotypes such as the buck stereotype persisted, they were less one dimensional characters than those that went before. They were also seen as a positive change from the asexual, accommodationist roles of Sidney Poitier. This is because in their action oriented roles they reflected the black power movement of the time from groups such as The Black Panther Party. Black people who were tired of seeing images of themselves being beaten up on the news wanted to see them triumphing over white people. Also black women, who had traditionally been represented as being sexless, were for the first time given erotic appeal. Furthermore black cultural expression was also discernible in these films, for example, through the diegetic soul music within the films, to the ‘afros’ on show and black patois. White people on the whole were reflected as representing evil, which gave an insight into the way whiteness, which is never usually signified, was perceived as threatening to black people.

In the second chapter I discussed gender representation within Blaxploitation. I pointed out that while there were negative representations of females within the earlier Blaxploitation films, they changed with the arrival of characters such as Coffy, Foxy Brown and Cleopatra Jones. These were active action heroines who to a certain extent contradicted the theory of Laura Mulvey. While these characters were still objectified by a male gaze, they were certainly not passive as they carried forward the narrative in action roles. I also highlighted the sexist attitudes of black men, who were unable to see the parallels between their oppression of black women and the oppression they suffered from white patriarchy. In terms of black males, drawing of the work of Steven Neale I saw how homoerotic potential between the characters was supressed through aggressive looks and the spectacle of combat.

From my research I was able to discover for the third chapter that Blaxploitation cinema left a legacy with lasting effects.  Action heroines were introduced into Hollywood blockbuster films such as Alien (1979) and Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991), as Hollywood picked up on the appeal and success of the earlier Blaxploitation films starring Pam Grier and Tamara Dobson. Black filmmakers were inspired resulting in a short neo Blaxploitation boom in the early 1990’s with many similar stylistic features and political themes. Post-modernist films were influenced and paid homage to the genre through the key postmodern attributes of pastiche or parody.

Ultimately, the Blaxploitation genre, produced out of both economic necessity by Hollywood and the social political climate of the time, has left an indelible mark on cinema and will continue to do so.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bibliography

Aaron, M. (2007). Spectatorship, the power of looking on, short cuts. London. Wallflower Press

Belton, J. (1994). American cinema, American culture. London. McGraw, Inc

Benshoff, H.M and Griffin, S. (2004). America on film, representing race, class, gender and sexuality at the movies. Oxford. Blackwell Publishing Ltd

Bobo, J. (1995). Black women as cultural readers. New York. Columbia University Press

Bogle, D. (2001). Toms, coons, mulattoes, mammies & bucks, an interpretive history of blacks in American films. London. Continuum International Publishing Group

Bordwell, D. and Thompson, K. (2010). Film art, an introduction, ninth edition. Wisconsin. McGraw Hill.

Carson. D, and Dittmar. L, and Welsch, J.R. (ed) (1994). Multiple voices in feminist film criticism. London. University of Minnesota Press

Cohan, S. and Hark, I.R. eds. (1993). Screening the Male: Exploring Masculinities in Hollywood Cinema. London: Routledge.

Cook, P. ed. (2007). The cinema book, third edition. London. British Film Institute

Coven, M.J. (2010). Blaxploitation films. Harpenden. Kamera Books

Cowie, E. (1997). Representing the woman: cinema and psychoanalysis. Minneapolis  Macmillan press ltd

Diawara, M. ed. (1993). Black American cinema. London. Routledge

Doane, MA. (1991). Femme Fatales, feminism, film theory, psychoanalysis. London. Routledge

Docker, J. (1994). Postmodernism and popular culture, a cultural history. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press

Dunn, S. (2008). Baad bitches & sassy supermamas, black power action films. United States of America. University of Illinois Press

Dyer, R. (1993). The matter of images, essays on representation, second edition. London. Routledge

Dyer, R. (1997). White. London. Routledge

Easthope, A. ed. (1993). Contemporary film theory. Essex. Longman Group Limited

Easthope, A. (1990). What a man’s gotta do: the masculine myth in popular culture. London. Routledge

Erens, P. ed. (1990). Issues in feminist film criticism. United States of America. Indiana University Press

Evans, J and Hall, S. eds. (1999). Visual culture: the reader. London. Sage Publication Ltd

Gamman, L. and Marchment, M. eds. (1988). The female gaze, women as viewers of popular culture. London. Women’s Press

Guerrero, E. (1993). The African American image in film, framing blackness. Philadelphia. Temple University Press

Halberstam, J. (1998). Female masculinity. United States. Duke University Press

Hall, S. ed. (1997). Representation, cultural representations and signifying practices. Milton Keynes. Sage publications Ltd

Humm, M. (1997). Feminism and Film. Edinburgh University Press

Hutcheon, L. (1989). The politics of post modernism. London. Routledge

Hooks B. (1992). Black looks, race and representation. Boston. South End Press

Hooks, B. (1996). Reel to real: race, sex and class at the movies. London: Routledge

Hooks, B. (1990). Yearning, race, gender and cultural politics. Boston. South End Press

Howard, J. (2008). Blaxploitation cinema, the essential reference guide. Surrey. FAB Press Ltd

Jameson, F. (1991). Postmodernism or, the cultural logic of late capitalism. London. Duke University Press

Kaplan, EA. ed. (2000). Feminism and film.Oxford. Oxford University Press

Kramer, P. (2005). The new Hollywood, from Bonnie and Clyde to Star Wars, short cuts. London. Wallflower Press

Koven, MJ. (2001). Blaxploitation films. Herts. Pocket Essentials

Lawrence, N. (2008). Blaxploitation films of the 1970s, blackness and genre. New York. Routledge

Lebeau, V. (2001). Psychoanalysis and cinema, the play of shadows. London. Wallflower Press

Lyotard, JF. (1979). The postmodern condition: a report on knowledge. Manchester. Manchester University Press

MacCabe, C and West, C. eds. (1994). White screens, black images, Hollywood from the dark side. London. Routledge

McCabe, J. (2004). Feminist film studies, writing the woman into cinema. London. Wallflower Press

McKissack Jr, F. (1997). Blaxploitation is back. Progressive. E-Journal. 61 (9). (p.40). Available through Wolverhampton University Library website (http://www.wlv.ac.uk/lib/) (Accessed 3rd April 2013)

Merelman, R. (1995). Representing black culture, racial conflict and cultural politics in the United States. London. Routledge

Nelmes, J. ed. (1996). Introduction to Film Studies, 4th Edition. Oxon. Routledge

Pines, J. (1975). Blacks in films. London. Studio Vista

Rausch, A.J. (2004).Turning points in film history. New York. Kensington Publishing Corp

Richardson, Cv. (1991). Blaxploitation, phase 2. American Visions. 6 (2). (p.44). Available through Wolverhampton University Library website (http://www.wlv.ac.uk/lib/) (Accessed 3rd April 2013)

Sieving, C. (2011) Souls searching, black themed cinema form the march on Washington to the rise of Blaxploitation. Connecticut. Wesleyan University Press

Stacey, J. (1994). Star gazing, Hollywood Cinema and Female Spectatorship. London. Routledge

Storey, J. (2006). Cultural theory and popular culture. Harlow. Pearson Education Limited

Sims, Y.D. (2006). Women of Blaxploitation, how the black action film heroine changed American popular culture. London. McFarland & Company Inc

Thornham, S. ed. (1999). Feminist film theory, a reader. Edinburgh. Edinburgh University Press

Yearwood, GL. (2000). Black film as a signifying practice, cinema narration and the African American tradition. Trenton. Africa World Press Inc

Young, L. (1996). Fear of the dark, Race, Gender and Sexuality in the Cinema. London. Routledge

Ward, G. (1997). Teach yourself postmodernism. London. Hodder Headline Plc

Woodward, K. ed. (1997). Identity and difference. Milton Keynes. Sage publication Ltd

Woods, T (1999). Beginning Postmodernism. Manchester. Manchester University Press

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Filmography

Alien (1979). Directed by Ridley Scott. 20th Century Fox

BaadAsssss Cinema, a bold look at 70’S Blaxploitation films. (2002). Directed by Isaac Julien. Independent Film Channel, Minerva Picture Company Ltd

Black Ceasar. (1973). Directed by Fred Williamson. American International Pictures

Black Dynamite. (2009). Directed by Scott Saunders. Destination Films

Boyz n the Hood. (1991). Directed by John Singleton. Columbia Pictures Corporation

Cleopatra Jones. (1973). Directed by Jack Starret. Warner Bros Pictures

Coffy. (1973). Directed by Jack Hill. American International Pictures Pictures

Foxy Brown. (1974). Directed by Jack Hill. American International Pictures

Jackie Brown. (1997). Directed by Quentin Tarantino. Miramax

Menace to society. (1993). Directed by Albert Hughes and Allen Hughes. New Line Cinema

New Jack City. (1991). Directed by Mario Van Peebles. Warner Bros Pictures

Original Gangstas. (1996). Directed by Larry Cohen. Po Boy Productions

Shaft. (1971). Directed by Gordon Parks. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Super Fly. (1972). Directed by Gordon Parks Jr. Warner Bros Pictures

Sweet Sweetback’s Badasssss Song. (1971). Directed by Marvin Van Peebles. Yeah

The Birth of a Nation. (1915). Directed by D.W Griffith. David W Griffith Corp

The Colour Purple. (1985). Directed by Steven Spielberg. Warner Bros Pictures

The Exorcist. (1973). Directed by William Friedkin. Warner Bros Pictures

The Godfather. (1972). Directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Paramount Pictures

Terminator 2: Judgement Day. (1991). Directed by James Cameron. Caralco Pictures

Why I believe we should fight every cut

The government claim they have no choice but to make the cuts (and Labour claim some cuts would have been needed) because of the budget deficit. £81 billion cuts to the national budget in 5 years are planned; £18 billion cuts are planned in welfare.

Here are some facts:

1- At the end of WW2 a Labour government created the NHS with a British deficit which was 180% of GDP, today it is 64% of GDP

2- Half the Tory parties funding comes from the banks.

3- Annual value of tax avoidance by big business and the rich= £70 billion

4- Amount that a 0.05% tax on financial transactions would raise in a year= £20 billion

So already that’s 90 billion pounds they could get within a year. In 5 years that would total to £450 billion and still hardly dent the bulging wallets of bankers/big buisness. Also the cost of the renewal of Trident comes to 70 billion pounds. Already you can see no cuts whatsoever are necessary and there could be plenty of money to spare to invest in jobs, manufacturing (etc) which would stimulate growth.

This is why we should resist, the cuts are ideological and unfair, the majority have to pay for the greed and irresponsibility of the few, the welfare state which helps people less fortunate is being attacked.

Quote -‘ Behind the windy rhetoric of Cameron’s Big Society is an ideological agenda which seeks to end the gains painfully achieved over the past century, supported by the likes of Lloyd George, Keynes, Beveridge, and the 1945-51 Labour government, based upon the notion that the state has a duty to protect the poor and vulnerable against the worst effects of free-market capitalism, and provide small but significant benefits which would slightly reduce the vast inequalities that it creates.’

Urban Prison

Just another wasted soul,

Being consumed by this black hole,

Suffocated by this internal misery,

Maybe im just a hopeless visionary,

Generally I embrace positivity,

But now and again I feel pain as I realise,

The injustice in this world as another child dies,

So much ignorance as I open my eyes,

So much destruction, so many lies,

Too many people constrained by conformity,

Turning there back on every deformity,

There lives are a delusion,

While there’s estates of deprivation and seclusion,

The rich, trapped in a web of apathy,

Happy with there own tapestry,

Before you blame the tree,

Analyse the roots,

Use your mind and see,

Instead of being reactionary,

I feel I have the solution,

Looking for revolution,

No longer am I living an illusion,

I’ve delved deep, come to my own conclusion,

My spirit has finally risen,

Finally risen from this urban prison.

by Dan Walker