Modern Black Representation
After the Blaxploitation era of Black Cinema the latest era of Black representation in film began with the independent film movement of the 1980s. Black fillmakers had access to cheaper equipment and creative control outside of the expectations of Hollywood. Many of the most well-known contemporary Black fillmakers today started as independent filmmakers who would later go on to make acclaimed films and studio films.
Filmmaker Spike Lee paved the way for other Black filmmakers when he began as an independent filmmaker in the 1980s. Independent films of this time were an alternative to the stereotypes of Hollywood. The result of this era of Black Cinema led to a generation of Black filmmakers who began outside of Hollywood. Spike Lee in a GQ interview talks about his experience as an independent filmmaker. “Because I understood, coming from independent filmmaking and being a black filmmaker, that the studios were not gonna spend millions and millions of dollars. They weren't gonna buy TV ads. So I had to be the person to bang the drum” (Baron 2018). Contemporary Black filmmakers have to work harder in order to be offered the same opportunites or film budgets that would be given to White filmmakers.
Director Ryan Coogler began his career as a small independent filmmaker with his next two films he directed being Creed and Black Panther. Coogler oversaw budgets of millons of dollars and has his films be box-office hits. It has been long held belief that Black-led films do not sell, films such as Black Panther disproved that notion that only White films sell. Not only was it proof of financial success, but it was praised for its representation. "It’s a movie about what it means to be black in both America and Africa—and, more broadly, in the world. Rather than dodge complicated themes about race and identity, the film grapples head-on with the issues affecting modern-day black life" (Smith 2018). Black representation in film should be allowed to tell stories like these and still be able to be marketed as mainstream.
Get Out (2017) is another example of the meaningful and varied portrayals of the Black experience within film. One of the films theme is the critique of colorblind racism. "The film is well recognised in its critique of liberal attitudes to race, which tends to overlook less overt forms of racism such as microaggressions, fetishism and cultural appropriation" (Martin 2021). The Civil Rights Act of 1964 has led many to believe that Black people have now automatically equally treated. This allowed the emergence of colorblind racism in our society where more covert forms of inequality exists. Peele's film is a critique of colorblind racism, but also a deconstruction of Black men in film. The history of blackness has been centered on whiteness and stereotypes which have shaped people's perception of what blackness is. Positive portrayals of Black people is not enough to cancel out negative portrayals to create change is to create a diverese portrayal of Black people in film. The character of Chris in Get Out is neither a stereotype or de-racialized. "Instead, Peele signifies Chris’ blackness culturally, (aside from Daniel Kaluuya’s phenotypic blackness obviously,) in terms of his subscription to certain characteristics and symbols of blackness―ways of acting, speaking, moving, positioning... He suggests that there is a culture of blackness that can be identified by a set of behaviours. De-racialised portrayals of black people are thus an issue Peele denounces" (Martin 2021). Modern Black representation has worked to show a diverse representation of Black identity and experiences that other eras of film lacked because of inequalties.
Works Cited
Baron, Z. (2018, July 30). Spike Lee just made the movie of the year. GQ. Retrieved April 27, 2023, from https://www.gq.com/story/spike-lee-blackkklansman-profile
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/
Martin, S. (2021, June 24). A Look at Liberal Racism and Representation in Jordan Peele's Get Out. GUAP The Home Of Emerging Creatives. Retrieved April 27, 2023, from https://guap.co.uk/a-look-at-liberal-racism-and-representation-in-jordan-peeles-get-out/
Smith, J. (2018, February 8). How marvel's Black Panther marks a major milestone. Time. Retrieved April 27, 2023, from https://time.com/black-panther/