African American Film Analysis
Analyse the relationship between African American Cinema and Hollywood exploring the effect on ethnic representation in 2 key films
Today on the surface at least it is possible to say that black actors have reached stardom comparable to and in some instances well beyond their white counterparts. Will Smith is the current favourite for the blockbuster action movie moving away from his ethnic buddy movies such as Men in Black and Wild Wild West. There have been Academy awards for actress Halley Berry, nominations for Denzel Washington and there have never been as many African American film makers working within the industry. The man to credit for much of this is of course Spike Lee who revisited black new wave cinema in 1986 with the success …show more content…
of independent feature She’s Gotta Have it launching many of today’s stars with subsequent films and opening the doors for many new African American film makers. Lee however has been quoted recently in saying that “there are more black stars in cinema but I don’t know if there is very much diversity of roles” certainly the age for African American’s in cinema can be described as the best its ever seen however critics would argue that the effect of Hollywood hegemony upon these films have created something far away from what would be described as true ethnic representations.
Historically and predictably the relationship between the industry and African American cinema has been intrinsically linked with the civil rights movement. Certainly it is not a good sign of things to come when one of the industries most influential early national films Griffith’s The Birth of a nation is a controversial promotion of white supremacy and the Ku Klux Klan. Black representation in early Hollywood cinema stemmed around stereotypes and racism, comedy actors such as Stephin Fetchit who although reached high levels of fame did so through his portrayal of a “lazy, slow-witted jive-talkin’ “coon”” which greatly offended the African American community at the time. The early Hollywood studio system however had no place for African American film makers such as Oscar Micheaux mainly because of a perceived lack of a market for such productions and also because of the obvious racial connotations. It wasn’t until the 1950s integrationist films created by white film makers that black identity reached the big screen. Indeed even then it took ten years and the introduction of Sidney Poitier who as Denzin has said “was the first black star who could carry the integrationist films to a mass white audience” did the genre break populist moulds.
Dennis Greene writing in Cineaste 1994 has argued that it is the Hollywood model of a “relationship business” that prevents ethnic representations ever making it into the mainstream.
“The relationship business… is engulfed in a miasma of self-serving and self fulfilling myths based on the unspoken assumption that African-American Films can never be Vehicles of prestige, glamour or celebrity.
Examples of attempts to both harness and ignore African American cinema can be seen throughout the industries history the tail end of blaxploitation and a revisit of integrationist cinema in the early 90s for example. The power of Hollywood if anything, should the international market be any indication is certainly not that of integration but that of hegemony and forced change. I would argue that the unspoken goal of the industry over the years has been a policy of assimilation allowing for the creation of films which appeal to audiences on both sides, integrationist films, and racial male bonding films such as Lethal Weapon for example. What we can see from Hollywood’s offering is Black characters created by white writers and displaying in many ways “white” characteristics in order to promote social change. In relation to such productions Bogle has commented that “Films did all they could to make audiences forget the blackness of the black star”
Looking at it in terms of box office figures confirms Greene’s argument. Unlike the 1930s the modern market is proven to show the potential profit from the African American film market. Lee’s She’s Gotta have it in 1986 proved this as a $175,000 production went on to gross 7 million on its domestic release. The further success of John Singleton and the coming of age “Hood” genre cemented this fact yet the industry refused to allow these films to break the mould and bring wider true African American issues into the mainstream.
In order to better explore the effect of Hollywood hegemony on African American cinema I will closely analyse the ethnic representations of two key films, the already mentioned She’s Gotta Have it by Spike Lee and Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song the defining film of the blaxploitation genre. To do so we must first look at one of the main criticisms of black representation in American cinema, the roles within the films. What makes up much of the intertext between the various generational film movements is how the stereotypes have been adapted or used to either integrationist or separatist effect. All the criticized rolls can be shown to have been drawn from very early stereotypes predating that of the cinema and going back to the tales from cotton fields. Examples where the black “mammies” exemplified by Hattie McDaniels character in gone with the wind, the black buck, the lazy coon of Stephin Fetchit fame and of course that of the singing/dancing minstrel. The first adaptation came in the form of what has been described as the “Ebony Saint” a non-threatening and non-violent black character whose purpose was to effect change in the minds of a white audience. It was however clearly a very idealistic and certainly unrealistic portrayal of ethnic identity and did indeed offend many in the civil rights movement later on. In many ways it can be said that Hollywood’s use of the “Ebony Saint” was the trigger for many of the later black film movements which utilized counters of this roll in order to express ideals of separatism. The main characters within the blaxploitation movements where a direct counter to that of the Ebony saint and what Bogle has described as the “brutal black buck” a reworking of the buck stereotype which focuses of the use of masculinity and sexuality often being the object desire for female white side characters a link back to the character Gus, the black-faced villain from Birth of a Nation. Characters in this vein such as Sweetback and Shaft are particularly problematic when presented in what was technically seen as the first authentic representation of African Americans on film. Opposed to the appeasement of the ebony saint the brutal black buck was a distinctively threatening figure of rebellion. Frequently violent it offered a counter position a character created by black film makers yet just as stereotypical and problematic, in many ways even more so considering their status among African American audiences. After blaxploitation the industry recognized the dip in the market and there was a brief revisit to integrationist style films but utilizing elements of the characters popularized within blaxploitation films. Beverly Hills Cop, Lethal weapon as examples featuring slightly more anti-hero qualities than that of the clean cut Mr Tibbs. The final and most modern role criticized is that of the Hood gangster which sees many similarities to the black bucks of the blaxploitation genre. The hood films created by black film makers, like the blaxploitation genre show intertextual similarities in contrasting Hollywood’s integrationist cinema and I would argue that they are indeed created to counter misrepresentation on film in the mainstream.
Sweet Sweetbacks Baadasssss song by Melvin Von Peebles laid the way for the first black new wave.
It showed that there was an audience out there for films created by and for African Americans and that commercial success could be achieved. It was however somewhat of a mixed blessing for the advancement of ethnic representation. On the one hand it was opening the doors for black film makers to work within the industry however it achieved this through negative stereotyping of both black and white character. Pimps, Hookers, bent often Irish police officers, drugs, and sex the antithesis of integrationist ideals. The films themselves however still serve as important signifiers in viewing African American representation on the big …show more content…
screen.
Sweet Sweetback and the films that followed where the first to use what would be described as “black” music a rhythm, jazz and funk sound track coupled with these gritty films promoted the idea of ethnicity as well as any plot point or character device could. The music in fact was written by Van Peebles who could not read or write music and ended up numbering his keyboard in order to remember the melodies. Stylistic realism also promotes the idea of authentic reality, already shot on a very low budget characters would often be shown leaving the frame and re-entering at times something the Hollywood would never consider, the countless shaky shots of Sweetback running through L.A for example. The new equipment used was very cheap and previously only associated with either b-movies or importantly documentary films and as such created and air of realism. In pre-production this wasn’t something Van Peebles had intended, in his initial ideas for the film he has said it “must look as good as anything chuck ever did”
“One of the problems faced by a black filmmaker (in fact any American independent filmmaker who wants to produce his own feature, just more so for a brother) is that Hollywood polishes its product with such a great deal of slickness and expensive production that it ups the ante”
He was committed to not only make a film that showed a black victory over “the man” but to make it a true commercial success, certainly in this way it makes it difficult to place the film within the genre that followed it.
Despite this, stylistically the film showed more similarities to counter Hollywood genres such as the French new wave utilising unusual lighting effects jump cuts breaks in continuity and fast paced montages. The unusual lighting which is used primarily around shots of Sweetback on the run illustrates his continued alienation and the psychedelic effects and quick editing come together to give his journey a very distorted and paranoid feel. By defying all traditional genre expectations Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss song was able to achieve the true counter and alternative to Hollywood that Van Peebles desired. While clearly revolutionary in style it was the mise en scene, locations and background situations that provided what could be described as the most authentic representation of African American life in L.A. The films starting on-screen text demonstrates this nicely “dedicated to all the Brothers and Sisters who had enough of the Man," followed by the credit, "Starring: The Black Community.” Bit characters and explorations of scenes as Sweetback wonders through gives us a very specific view of the black Community in LA, impoverished and gritty in each house, scenes of oppression from the police and riots breaking out around his capture offer a
previously unseen view of the community through the gaze of an African American.
As already pointed out as a character Sweetback was the antithesis to integrationist ideals, who was a revolutionary character later revered by the black panthers. Found shocking by even the black members of the audience at the time was the ending of the film where Sweetback effectively gets away and escapes victorious from the manhunt something defiantly new and unusual. One of the characters most important points of counter racial stereotyping was that of sexuality and masculinity. Previous black roles with cinema especially early American cinema always tended to emasculate the black characters and the theme of interracial sexuality made taboo, to the point of villainy in Birth of a Nation, the defiler of innocuous white maidens. Sweetbacks counter was controversial for a number of reasons at the time not least the films treatment of women; one of the biggest criticisms of the film is the opening scene of Van Peebles son Mario at a strikingly young age loosing his virginity to one of the prostitutes in the whore house. Later in Sweetbacks journey he enlists the help of the hells angels after giving one of its female members multiple orgasms. The un-simulated and graphic sex scenes stylistically akin to that of a porn film serve to destroy the emasculated stereotype yet also help create new ones.
Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss song was unarguably a revolutionary film, its meaning and symbolism within the context of the times granted it a huge albeit controversial reception. Huey P. Newton leader of the Black Panther movement championed the film and its revolutionary implications claiming it gave the first truly authentic picture of African American identity from the gaze of an African American. However, in its aims at countering Hollywood’s perceived misrepresentation Van Peebles went too far and rather than correcting negative stereotypes only served to enforce new ones. The revolutionary power and indeed the films existence can be attributed to Hollywood’s portrayal and indeed oppression through representation and industry bias of African Americans in cinema.
Towards the end of the 70s early 80s the blaxploitation genre died out, Hollywood cashed in on the success of the early films and helped fund a series of very poor if anything exploitation films of the exploitation films. Overt black themes where thrown into classic storylines to produce films such as Blackula with white directors and writers creating their own “brutal black bucks”. Hollywood noticed that audience’s attention had instead adverted to the new blockbuster, with movies such as Star Wars and the Godfather commanding enough attention to see the end of the blaxploitation heyday. With the brief return to integration involving the buddy movies African American representation in film seemed to be reverting to pre-70s levels despite the considerably higher levels of black stars and workers within the industry.
It wasn’t until 1986 with She’s Gotta have it by Spike Lee that the black new wave was revisited and ethnic identity was brought back into the mainstream. This time however with the hindsight of both Hollywood’s dominance and the problematic counters it created. The films reception once again reminded both Hollywood and African American film makers that there was a market for black produced features smashing all box office expectations off of a very small budget. I chose to look at She’s Gotta have it, because the characterization in relation to the use of roles and counter roles is I would argue a very poignant look back at the previous male representations and stereotypes. The film revolves around Nola Darling’s juggling of three suitors who all display very different character traits. As with blaxploitation Lee plays with the older media stereotypes we have Jamie Overstreet and Greer Childs both display characteristics of the black buck and Uncle Stereotypes. Overstreet exuding sexuality and black culture while remaining the “ebony saint”. Greer mixing both the styles of the brutal black buck and the embodiment of white integration and the more modern stereotype Mars Blackman played by lee as the impoverished street kid listening to Hip-Hop and displaying very prophetic characteristics considering the films that followed in the wake of She’s Gotta Have it. While recognizing the best of each character Nola is unable to choose between each of the stereotypes, a rejection of the representation of the African Americans on screen thus far.
His films that followed where more overt in their challenge of Hollywood dominance and using previous success went to work on production of a number of socio-political movies, the first of which Do the Right thing creating most of the controversy as white reviews concluded in the papers that the film may incite the black community to riot. A view which greatly angered Lee who criticised the white reviewers for suggesting that black audiences could not restrain themselves while watching fiction. Following this was Malcolm X a biopic of the Black Nationalist and Jungle Fever, a film addressing an interracial romance. Lee if anything is really the first in a long line of black film makers that was able to truly achieve independence from Hollywood, portraying authentic ethnic representations without baying to the pressure of Hollywood while still answering the problem of subsequent cinematic representations.
Hollywood has had an undeniable affect on the African American film in industry. It has served to both stifle independent black productions and attempted to present its own more commercially viable representations. Clyde Taylor notes that
“The hot rage that suffuses Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss song is one clue that the film itself is allegorical of the furious ordeal of a black person trying to make a mentally independent film.”
This is certainly something I would agree with, the one continued effect from the industry was the social and industrial pressure that it applied to African American film making community. Through Greens relationship business model the old guard of the Hollywood system refuse to accept true black film making within its industry even today despite clear indications that ethnic representation has the proven power to be commercial viable and in some clear cases extremely profitable. It has instead through its promotion of idealistic and unrealistic characters forced black film makers moving with the flow of the civil rights movement to create powerful counters and adopt revolutionary ideals. What we get are films that are answers to previous Hollywood productions, intertextual productions which fail to truly escape Hollywood’s grip in creating independent cinema. I would indeed argue that Hollywood is therefore, in a way, directly to credit for the content of the black new wave cinema of the 70s and 80s.
Word Count: 2937
Denzin, Norman K. 2002 Reading Race: Hollywood and the cinema of racial Violence, Sage publications ltd.
Rocchio, Vincent 2002 Reel Racism: Confronting Hollywood's Construction of Afro-American Culture American Sociological Association.
Bogle, Donald 1992 Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies & Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films Continum, New York.
Taylor Clyde 1983 Jump cut No. 28 pp46-48, 41 New US black Cinema Jump Cut: A Review of Contemporary Media
Green, Dennis 1994 Cinaste v20, No.4 Tragically Hip: Hollywood and African-American Cinema Cinaste publishers Inc
Johnson, Lynne D. Accessed 2007 The Distribution of Black Films brightlightsfilm.com http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/36/distribution1.html Howell, Amanda 2005 Spectacle, Masculinity and music in the blaxploitation genre http://www.latrobe.edu.au/screeningthepast/firstrelease/fr_18/AHfr18a.html Akbar, Arifa 2002 Spike Lee honored by Bafta for 'kicking down doors' for black film-makers The independent, http://arts.independent.co.uk/film/news/article128773.ece
Van Peebles, Melvin 1971 Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song
Lee, Spike 1986 she’s gotta have it
Today on the surface at least it is possible to say that black actors have reached stardom comparable to and in some instances well beyond their white counterparts. Will Smith is the current favourite for the blockbuster action movie moving away from his ethnic buddy movies such as Men in Black and Wild Wild West. There have been Academy awards for actress Halley Berry, nominations for Denzel Washington and there have never been as many African American film makers working within the industry. The man to credit for much of this is of course Spike Lee who revisited black new wave cinema in 1986 with the success …show more content…
of independent feature She’s Gotta Have it launching many of today’s stars with subsequent films and opening the doors for many new African American film makers. Lee however has been quoted recently in saying that “there are more black stars in cinema but I don’t know if there is very much diversity of roles” certainly the age for African American’s in cinema can be described as the best its ever seen however critics would argue that the effect of Hollywood hegemony upon these films have created something far away from what would be described as true ethnic representations.
Historically and predictably the relationship between the industry and African American cinema has been intrinsically linked with the civil rights movement. Certainly it is not a good sign of things to come when one of the industries most influential early national films Griffith’s The Birth of a nation is a controversial promotion of white supremacy and the Ku Klux Klan. Black representation in early Hollywood cinema stemmed around stereotypes and racism, comedy actors such as Stephin Fetchit who although reached high levels of fame did so through his portrayal of a “lazy, slow-witted jive-talkin’ “coon”” which greatly offended the African American community at the time. The early Hollywood studio system however had no place for African American film makers such as Oscar Micheaux mainly because of a perceived lack of a market for such productions and also because of the obvious racial connotations. It wasn’t until the 1950s integrationist films created by white film makers that black identity reached the big screen. Indeed even then it took ten years and the introduction of Sidney Poitier who as Denzin has said “was the first black star who could carry the integrationist films to a mass white audience” did the genre break populist moulds.
Dennis Greene writing in Cineaste 1994 has argued that it is the Hollywood model of a “relationship business” that prevents ethnic representations ever making it into the mainstream.
“The relationship business… is engulfed in a miasma of self-serving and self fulfilling myths based on the unspoken assumption that African-American Films can never be Vehicles of prestige, glamour or celebrity.
Examples of attempts to both harness and ignore African American cinema can be seen throughout the industries history the tail end of blaxploitation and a revisit of integrationist cinema in the early 90s for example. The power of Hollywood if anything, should the international market be any indication is certainly not that of integration but that of hegemony and forced change. I would argue that the unspoken goal of the industry over the years has been a policy of assimilation allowing for the creation of films which appeal to audiences on both sides, integrationist films, and racial male bonding films such as Lethal Weapon for example. What we can see from Hollywood’s offering is Black characters created by white writers and displaying in many ways “white” characteristics in order to promote social change. In relation to such productions Bogle has commented that “Films did all they could to make audiences forget the blackness of the black star”
Looking at it in terms of box office figures confirms Greene’s argument. Unlike the 1930s the modern market is proven to show the potential profit from the African American film market. Lee’s She’s Gotta have it in 1986 proved this as a $175,000 production went on to gross 7 million on its domestic release. The further success of John Singleton and the coming of age “Hood” genre cemented this fact yet the industry refused to allow these films to break the mould and bring wider true African American issues into the mainstream.
In order to better explore the effect of Hollywood hegemony on African American cinema I will closely analyse the ethnic representations of two key films, the already mentioned She’s Gotta Have it by Spike Lee and Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song the defining film of the blaxploitation genre. To do so we must first look at one of the main criticisms of black representation in American cinema, the roles within the films. What makes up much of the intertext between the various generational film movements is how the stereotypes have been adapted or used to either integrationist or separatist effect. All the criticized rolls can be shown to have been drawn from very early stereotypes predating that of the cinema and going back to the tales from cotton fields. Examples where the black “mammies” exemplified by Hattie McDaniels character in gone with the wind, the black buck, the lazy coon of Stephin Fetchit fame and of course that of the singing/dancing minstrel. The first adaptation came in the form of what has been described as the “Ebony Saint” a non-threatening and non-violent black character whose purpose was to effect change in the minds of a white audience. It was however clearly a very idealistic and certainly unrealistic portrayal of ethnic identity and did indeed offend many in the civil rights movement later on. In many ways it can be said that Hollywood’s use of the “Ebony Saint” was the trigger for many of the later black film movements which utilized counters of this roll in order to express ideals of separatism. The main characters within the blaxploitation movements where a direct counter to that of the Ebony saint and what Bogle has described as the “brutal black buck” a reworking of the buck stereotype which focuses of the use of masculinity and sexuality often being the object desire for female white side characters a link back to the character Gus, the black-faced villain from Birth of a Nation. Characters in this vein such as Sweetback and Shaft are particularly problematic when presented in what was technically seen as the first authentic representation of African Americans on film. Opposed to the appeasement of the ebony saint the brutal black buck was a distinctively threatening figure of rebellion. Frequently violent it offered a counter position a character created by black film makers yet just as stereotypical and problematic, in many ways even more so considering their status among African American audiences. After blaxploitation the industry recognized the dip in the market and there was a brief revisit to integrationist style films but utilizing elements of the characters popularized within blaxploitation films. Beverly Hills Cop, Lethal weapon as examples featuring slightly more anti-hero qualities than that of the clean cut Mr Tibbs. The final and most modern role criticized is that of the Hood gangster which sees many similarities to the black bucks of the blaxploitation genre. The hood films created by black film makers, like the blaxploitation genre show intertextual similarities in contrasting Hollywood’s integrationist cinema and I would argue that they are indeed created to counter misrepresentation on film in the mainstream.
Sweet Sweetbacks Baadasssss song by Melvin Von Peebles laid the way for the first black new wave.
It showed that there was an audience out there for films created by and for African Americans and that commercial success could be achieved. It was however somewhat of a mixed blessing for the advancement of ethnic representation. On the one hand it was opening the doors for black film makers to work within the industry however it achieved this through negative stereotyping of both black and white character. Pimps, Hookers, bent often Irish police officers, drugs, and sex the antithesis of integrationist ideals. The films themselves however still serve as important signifiers in viewing African American representation on the big …show more content…
screen.
Sweet Sweetback and the films that followed where the first to use what would be described as “black” music a rhythm, jazz and funk sound track coupled with these gritty films promoted the idea of ethnicity as well as any plot point or character device could. The music in fact was written by Van Peebles who could not read or write music and ended up numbering his keyboard in order to remember the melodies. Stylistic realism also promotes the idea of authentic reality, already shot on a very low budget characters would often be shown leaving the frame and re-entering at times something the Hollywood would never consider, the countless shaky shots of Sweetback running through L.A for example. The new equipment used was very cheap and previously only associated with either b-movies or importantly documentary films and as such created and air of realism. In pre-production this wasn’t something Van Peebles had intended, in his initial ideas for the film he has said it “must look as good as anything chuck ever did”
“One of the problems faced by a black filmmaker (in fact any American independent filmmaker who wants to produce his own feature, just more so for a brother) is that Hollywood polishes its product with such a great deal of slickness and expensive production that it ups the ante”
He was committed to not only make a film that showed a black victory over “the man” but to make it a true commercial success, certainly in this way it makes it difficult to place the film within the genre that followed it.
Despite this, stylistically the film showed more similarities to counter Hollywood genres such as the French new wave utilising unusual lighting effects jump cuts breaks in continuity and fast paced montages. The unusual lighting which is used primarily around shots of Sweetback on the run illustrates his continued alienation and the psychedelic effects and quick editing come together to give his journey a very distorted and paranoid feel. By defying all traditional genre expectations Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss song was able to achieve the true counter and alternative to Hollywood that Van Peebles desired. While clearly revolutionary in style it was the mise en scene, locations and background situations that provided what could be described as the most authentic representation of African American life in L.A. The films starting on-screen text demonstrates this nicely “dedicated to all the Brothers and Sisters who had enough of the Man," followed by the credit, "Starring: The Black Community.” Bit characters and explorations of scenes as Sweetback wonders through gives us a very specific view of the black Community in LA, impoverished and gritty in each house, scenes of oppression from the police and riots breaking out around his capture offer a
previously unseen view of the community through the gaze of an African American.
As already pointed out as a character Sweetback was the antithesis to integrationist ideals, who was a revolutionary character later revered by the black panthers. Found shocking by even the black members of the audience at the time was the ending of the film where Sweetback effectively gets away and escapes victorious from the manhunt something defiantly new and unusual. One of the characters most important points of counter racial stereotyping was that of sexuality and masculinity. Previous black roles with cinema especially early American cinema always tended to emasculate the black characters and the theme of interracial sexuality made taboo, to the point of villainy in Birth of a Nation, the defiler of innocuous white maidens. Sweetbacks counter was controversial for a number of reasons at the time not least the films treatment of women; one of the biggest criticisms of the film is the opening scene of Van Peebles son Mario at a strikingly young age loosing his virginity to one of the prostitutes in the whore house. Later in Sweetbacks journey he enlists the help of the hells angels after giving one of its female members multiple orgasms. The un-simulated and graphic sex scenes stylistically akin to that of a porn film serve to destroy the emasculated stereotype yet also help create new ones.
Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss song was unarguably a revolutionary film, its meaning and symbolism within the context of the times granted it a huge albeit controversial reception. Huey P. Newton leader of the Black Panther movement championed the film and its revolutionary implications claiming it gave the first truly authentic picture of African American identity from the gaze of an African American. However, in its aims at countering Hollywood’s perceived misrepresentation Van Peebles went too far and rather than correcting negative stereotypes only served to enforce new ones. The revolutionary power and indeed the films existence can be attributed to Hollywood’s portrayal and indeed oppression through representation and industry bias of African Americans in cinema.
Towards the end of the 70s early 80s the blaxploitation genre died out, Hollywood cashed in on the success of the early films and helped fund a series of very poor if anything exploitation films of the exploitation films. Overt black themes where thrown into classic storylines to produce films such as Blackula with white directors and writers creating their own “brutal black bucks”. Hollywood noticed that audience’s attention had instead adverted to the new blockbuster, with movies such as Star Wars and the Godfather commanding enough attention to see the end of the blaxploitation heyday. With the brief return to integration involving the buddy movies African American representation in film seemed to be reverting to pre-70s levels despite the considerably higher levels of black stars and workers within the industry.
It wasn’t until 1986 with She’s Gotta have it by Spike Lee that the black new wave was revisited and ethnic identity was brought back into the mainstream. This time however with the hindsight of both Hollywood’s dominance and the problematic counters it created. The films reception once again reminded both Hollywood and African American film makers that there was a market for black produced features smashing all box office expectations off of a very small budget. I chose to look at She’s Gotta have it, because the characterization in relation to the use of roles and counter roles is I would argue a very poignant look back at the previous male representations and stereotypes. The film revolves around Nola Darling’s juggling of three suitors who all display very different character traits. As with blaxploitation Lee plays with the older media stereotypes we have Jamie Overstreet and Greer Childs both display characteristics of the black buck and Uncle Stereotypes. Overstreet exuding sexuality and black culture while remaining the “ebony saint”. Greer mixing both the styles of the brutal black buck and the embodiment of white integration and the more modern stereotype Mars Blackman played by lee as the impoverished street kid listening to Hip-Hop and displaying very prophetic characteristics considering the films that followed in the wake of She’s Gotta Have it. While recognizing the best of each character Nola is unable to choose between each of the stereotypes, a rejection of the representation of the African Americans on screen thus far.
His films that followed where more overt in their challenge of Hollywood dominance and using previous success went to work on production of a number of socio-political movies, the first of which Do the Right thing creating most of the controversy as white reviews concluded in the papers that the film may incite the black community to riot. A view which greatly angered Lee who criticised the white reviewers for suggesting that black audiences could not restrain themselves while watching fiction. Following this was Malcolm X a biopic of the Black Nationalist and Jungle Fever, a film addressing an interracial romance. Lee if anything is really the first in a long line of black film makers that was able to truly achieve independence from Hollywood, portraying authentic ethnic representations without baying to the pressure of Hollywood while still answering the problem of subsequent cinematic representations.
Hollywood has had an undeniable affect on the African American film in industry. It has served to both stifle independent black productions and attempted to present its own more commercially viable representations. Clyde Taylor notes that
“The hot rage that suffuses Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss song is one clue that the film itself is allegorical of the furious ordeal of a black person trying to make a mentally independent film.”
This is certainly something I would agree with, the one continued effect from the industry was the social and industrial pressure that it applied to African American film making community. Through Greens relationship business model the old guard of the Hollywood system refuse to accept true black film making within its industry even today despite clear indications that ethnic representation has the proven power to be commercial viable and in some clear cases extremely profitable. It has instead through its promotion of idealistic and unrealistic characters forced black film makers moving with the flow of the civil rights movement to create powerful counters and adopt revolutionary ideals. What we get are films that are answers to previous Hollywood productions, intertextual productions which fail to truly escape Hollywood’s grip in creating independent cinema. I would indeed argue that Hollywood is therefore, in a way, directly to credit for the content of the black new wave cinema of the 70s and 80s.
Word Count: 2937
Denzin, Norman K. 2002 Reading Race: Hollywood and the cinema of racial Violence, Sage publications ltd.
Rocchio, Vincent 2002 Reel Racism: Confronting Hollywood's Construction of Afro-American Culture American Sociological Association.
Bogle, Donald 1992 Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies & Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films Continum, New York.
Taylor Clyde 1983 Jump cut No. 28 pp46-48, 41 New US black Cinema Jump Cut: A Review of Contemporary Media
Green, Dennis 1994 Cinaste v20, No.4 Tragically Hip: Hollywood and African-American Cinema Cinaste publishers Inc
Johnson, Lynne D. Accessed 2007 The Distribution of Black Films brightlightsfilm.com http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/36/distribution1.html Howell, Amanda 2005 Spectacle, Masculinity and music in the blaxploitation genre http://www.latrobe.edu.au/screeningthepast/firstrelease/fr_18/AHfr18a.html Akbar, Arifa 2002 Spike Lee honored by Bafta for 'kicking down doors' for black film-makers The independent, http://arts.independent.co.uk/film/news/article128773.ece
Van Peebles, Melvin 1971 Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song
Lee, Spike 1986 she’s gotta have it