Last year in my Film Genres class is when I discovered how impactful the Blaxploitation genre was to the film industry and the black community. It was like a new door opened in my mind when I read this article by Joe Bob Briggs titled “Who Dat Man? Shaft and the Blaxploitation Genre.” Most of these talented contributors graduated from top schools and a majority of the list is African Americans. This is important because the most credible side when it comes to the subject of blaxploitation are black people themselves as they were the ones being exploited. On the first page Briggs states, “If ever a single movie transformed a whole culture, Shaft was that movie. This was no black-pride wussy buy trucked in for the high school assembly. Shaft was a tough loner who dealt with the world on his own terms…” The article does a good job of also tying in the main points of the genre’s history while combining it with popular modern day blaxploitation film Black Dynamite. This article also talks about the exaggerated sexualization in Blaxploitation and in Shaft. Shaft is shown as an invincible and larger than life character. Black sexuality was oppressed in the industry at the time so him being sexually active is also a first in cinema. The sex scenes between Shaft and the white woman would have previously been illegal and unable to have been shown because of society’s disapproval of interracial relationships.
This leads us into Ed Guerrero’s “Framing Blackness” book that also touches on this and the importance of politics for African Americans in the industry. Shaft showed a big step forward for black filmmakers and actors as a major studio picture with a majority black cast and black director was unheard of at the time. The film Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song (1971) was made with clear political aim in showing a black protagonist “beating” white supremacy and racial oppression. Shaft actually shows black politicians in a pretty bad light. Also important to note that Shaft directly contrasts with Moses Gunn’s character Ben Buford, the leader of a group of black activists who are useless against Shaft. Shaft was rebooted nearly thirty years later starring Samuel L. Jackson. Shaft (Singleton, 2000) uses certain images and characters from “hood movies” but are used in different ways. In hood movies, gangs are used to protest against the system but in Shaft (2000) they are used to condone it. Shaft (2000) is another example of the revival movies. But here, it has the most to do with reviving shaft himself than reviving 70s pop culture and revives very little from the 70s except the music.
In Harry M. Benshoff’s article he talks about the the early silent period of cinema’s five basic archetypes for black characters: the Tom, the Coon, the Mulatto, the Mammy, and the Brutal Black Buck. These five archetypes would rule in black cinema for the next 50 years. Black directors during the 70’s took all of these stereotypes of the era before and modernized them. Uncle Tom in Edwin S. Porter's Uncle Tom's Cabin (1903) was film’s first black character, but it was only a white man in blackface. This was common practice by theater and carried over like a large number of other various techniques to silent film. It's talked about in the article how “Tom's presence and the appearance of the four negro archetypes which were to follow served the same purpose, to entertain by stressing negro inferiority.” Despite the backlash the Tom character started a new chapter for black actors. Before this research, my goal at the end of this was to find out if Hollywood has continued to exploit racism and stereotypes for profit simply because they are too lazy to figure out an alternative. With all the genius and money that flows through this industry, it seems as if studies and experiments can be made to reduce offending content. This corruption has been apparent since whitewashing started and also the Blaxploitation period of the 1970’s where for the first time ever, Hollywood was making films for a specific ethnic audience.
Corruption of the film industry is something that is complained about by many, but is a topic not many people take action to help make better. Although it is widely known how screwed up Hollywood can be, there are specific issues more important than others. The near-monopoly we have existing today is called Disney. For a long time they have reigned supreme in showbiz for their appeal to all ages but the company could grow to be a problem soon as they are set to acquire juggernaut company 21st Century Fox. Not only is this problem economical, but the general public highly underrates the power films/media have on societies. Having one big company that controls the majority of what is show to the public gives them a lot of power and TOO much power. The country is already manipulated enough by leftist politics and would be even more so left leaning with the addition of more acquisitions by Disney. This also ties into the racial issues still being dealt with today. Blaxploitation and whitewashing have been offending to a large number of citizens and rightfully so. A company like Disney who was created on anti-semitism and continues to exploit all racial culture stereotypes for profit still today isn't a good idea.
Outside the Panel – Race in America’s Popular Imagination: Comic Strips Before and After World War II by Bruce Lenthall is an article about the racism against African-Americans in cartoons and comic strips. By today's standards, cartoons and comics made around this time depicted black people very, very stereotypical. African Americans were portrayed with very large noses and lips, along with poor grammar and much less lifelike compared to white characters. This was the norm at the time and ordinary white Americans didn't bat an eye. It was what everyone was used to. “Comic strips from immediately before and after WWII show that American visions of race, most particularly of African Americans and their place in society, changed significantly during the intervening war years. White and black cultures alike adapted their understandings of race to incorporate American ideas of equality and unity.” (pg.40 WWII Comics). World War II sparked a big race change in the country. African Americans became much more accepted in society than before which provided them with more rights. After this big change happened, more blacks were buying newspapers and people realized how offensive and bad these comics were. Black characters in comics written by white people went from being lazy, dirty and weak minded caricatures to sleek, normal looking and smart minded people. Comics written by black Americans were much more aggressive and served a large purpose by defending their race along with depicting blacks as white people would depict themselves. Earlier in Chapter 20, Foner mentions how filmmakers tried to spread images of "the American way of life" across the globe. This censorship and manipulation of society is still highly relevant to today. A big example is the aggressive pursuit on spreading left leaning politics to the youth due to the majority of the industry being democrat/liberal. This is something big I noticed while growing up and now being more mature and intelligent, it is so obviously noticeable. Cartoons centered around families with positive influences almost always have democratic beliefs or “lessons” while families portrayed as negative influences tend to be controversial Conservatives. An example would be in the tv show South Park. One of the main characters named Kenny has the most economically poor family in the show. His parents are depicted as scumbag rednecks and their house is much worse than the other houses in the show owned by the left leaning families. The creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone cover a number of topics during the shows 20+ year history and use their show almost as a platform to preach their opinions. Our country simply seems too large for everyone to have the same opinion and a big factor into one's beliefs is where they grow up. The conservatism and religion is clearly far more twisted in the United States compared to the rest of the world.
With all the genius and money that flows through this industry, it seems as if studies and experiments can be made to reduce offending content. This corruption has been apparent since whitewashing started and also the Blaxploitation period of the 1970’s where for the first time ever, Hollywood was making films for a specific ethnic audience.