Blaxploitation
Black Cinema faded away in the late forties and that is usually attributed to the rise of integrationist politics, particularly the Civil Rights Movement that achieved African Americans gaining legal protection against discrimination. Unfortunately, the Civil Rights Act did not do much to change the culture of racial inequality in America. The 1960s were not only a turbulent time for race relations in America, but also for Hollywood as well. "With the insurgence of television and the rapid decline in popularity for musicals, the film industry was bleeding out and facing the possibility of bankruptcy. With the proud proclamations of "Black Power" becoming progressively more audible throughout America, it became impossible for Hollywood to ignore African American society, making it easier for black filmmakers and actors to begin to penetrate the system" (Haughton 2021). In the context of film, Black people were also not enjoying the portrayals that still existed after the Civil Rights Movement. Black characters in films were still being portrayed as secondary characters to White characters. This led to the creation of Blaxploitation films in the 1970s. Blaxploitation films are independently produced, low-budget films. These films had Black actors as the lead roles and the films often focused on the Black protagonists overcoming oppressive White authority figures. These films typically had lewd, violent, and taboo subject matters meant to bring in an audience to view the movie through controversy. Blaxploitation films leaned into Black stereotypes but still emphasized the belief of Black empowerme
The first item is Melvin Van Peeble’s Sweet, Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song (1971) his film and the other Blaxploitation films meant to reclaim the image of Black people and re-appropriation of the stereotypes that Hollywood made about Black men being aggressive and violent. Instead Black masculinity in Blaxploitation was portrayed as pro-active and anti-establishment. Sweet, Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song was revolutionary for how it portrayed a Black male lead fighting against the system and White authorities, and actually winning. “Prior to Sweetback, there had never been a film where a black man running from the police got away, and so the film made a justifiable splash within the African American community. It managed to gross 15 million dollars” (Haughton 2021). Sweet's success would inspire the next item in this exhibit that showed that it is possible for Black led films in Hollywood to be successful.
Shaft (1971) and other Blaxploitation films became popular both inside and outside of the Black community this caused disagreements on if these films were only helping to enforce stereotypes. The term Blaxploitation actually originated from the Nation Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) because of these criticisms. Despite the disagreements Shaft’s success saved MGM from liquidation showing Hollywood that Black directors can be successful in Hollywood. “Shaft gave audiences a more commercially accessible brand of Blaxploitation, one that boasted a catchy, energetic score, a hip hero, and a depiction of urban life that was previously unseen in Hollywood films” (Haughton 2021). The Blaxploitation genre grew in popularity and profits throughout the mid to late 70s, but it was being almost completely made by white producers and white directors. The genre kept receiving backlash because of how it was reinforcing negative stereotypes that White society had about Black culture. By the 1980s the genre was no longer popular as people no longer were interested in the Black portrayals presented on screen.
Despite the genre dying out in the 1980s it still had a lasting impact on filmmakers. One of the largest contributors to the revival of Blaxploitation was Quentin Tarantino's films being inspired by the genre. Pam Grier is known as The Queen of Blaxploitaiton due to starring in many Blaxploitation films during the era. She would later on star in Tarantino's film Jackie Brown that was heavily inspired by the Blaxploitation films of the 70s and revitalized her career for the second time. This shows how the genre even after losing its popularity by the 80s still had an influence on cinema as a whole even outside of Black filmmakers.
Works Cited
Sharman, R. (2020, May 18). African Americans in Cinema. Moving Pictures. Retrieved April 25, 2023, from https://uark.pressbooks.pub/movingpictures/chapter/african-americans-in-cinema/
Haughton, A. (2021, February 16). The history of Blaxploitation Cinema. Viddy Well. Retrieved April 27, 2023, from https://www.viddy-well.com/articles/the-history-of-blaxploitation-cinema