ipl-logo

Blaxploitation In African American Movies Research Paper

1543 Words7 Pages

Within African American cinema, Blaxploitation has left one of the biggest impacts in the film industry. Following the 1970’s many filmmakers took elements from Blaxploitation to use in their own films. Many of these elements and narratives have been parodied and imitated by filmmakers in the 1980’s, 1990’s, 2000’s and even today. Filmmakers such as Spike Lee, John Singleton, Mario Van Peebles, etc. owe a debt to this very influential genre. Blaxploitation can span many film genres. The genre can be an action film such as Shaft (1971), a comedy picture like Uptown Saturday Night (1974), a horror movie such as Blacula (1972) or a drama film like Black Caesar (1973). There are certain themes and elements which make a Blaxploitation picture. These elements include being released in the 1970’s, having an African American leading actor or actress, a predominantly African American cast, focus on themes and elements prevalent in the African American community and showing …show more content…

The most notable films would be I’m Gonna Git You Sucka (1988), Shaft (2000), The Wash (2001), and Undercover Brother (2002). Each of these films treat the Blaxploitation genre in different way. The first film, I’m Gonna Git You Sucka (1988) parodies the genre. It mostly parodies the films Shaft (1971), The Mack (1973) and Three the Hard Way (1974) by taking the “pimp”, “martial artist” and “bad negro” characters from each film and making it funny. The second film Shaft (2000) is a pseudo remake of Shaft (1971) where this film follows the story of John Shaft’s nephew while keeping the spirit of the original. The third film The Wash (2001) is a remake of Car Wash (1976), where they slightly tweaked the plot and set it in present day. The final film, Undercover Brother (2002) is another parody of the genre, where the characters are taken from typical action Blaxploitation films such as a Black Belt Jones (1974) and Slaughter

Show More
Related

Stereotypes In The Film Girl's Trip

1443 Words | 6 Pages

The film Girl’s Trip has been applauded for being a celebration of blackness in the primarily white film industry. The majority of the cast and the writers for Girl’s Trip are people of color. The film was much more successful than its “white counterpart” Rough Night in box office revenue and reviews. However, most of the black characters in Girl’s Trip shift through various controlling images throughout the movie. The reason these stereotypes are less obvious than they are in some other films is because each characters portrays multiple stereotypes and different times throughout the film.

Read More

Boyz N The Hood Communication Styles

656 Words | 3 Pages

While watching this movie it does not take long to realize that most of the characters are black men. Also the communication style between the characters is very different from an average American that may be watching the movie. Through viewing the culture and communication styles of the characters it is very easy to tell that the director of the film has some experience in this type of life style. A good example of this is when Tre tells the story about hooking up with a girl. He tells a story about sneaking into a girl’s house then the grandma coming in and almost catching him (Singleton, 1991).

Read More

The Transcoding Of Blaxploitation Films: Jackie Brown And Foxy Brown

700 Words | 3 Pages

The plot is changed but keeps the theme of blaxploitation within the story. Instead of using the same plot as “Foxy Brown,” Tarantino takes a different lead on the story that has more focus on the plot itself. Jackie plays a more serious role of chasing a large amount of money against others. ("The 50 Best Blaxploitation Movies - 49. Disco Godfather” (1979).

Read More

African-American Involvement In Blaxploitation Films

1847 Words | 8 Pages

Throughout the 70s, innovative and impactful movies featuring heavy African-American involvement hit the scene of thousands of theaters across the United States. The overall positive perception of Blaxploitation films provided many opportunities for black involvement in America’s entertainment industry that Hollywood failed to provide. Audiences positively perceived things that were not brought to light in the white dominated entertainment industry such as, new stereotype defying roles, uplifting messages, and the exposure of different communities and their issues. Blaxploitation was a result from African-Americans having a very strong desire to “see themselves empowered” in films (Christian). This genre of 70s cinema, were mostly set

Read More

Movie Analysis: Boyz N The Hood

1872 Words | 8 Pages

The film I choose is title “ Boyz n the Hood” Directed by John Singleton. The plot of the movie is about ten-year-old Tre Styles who lives with his single mother in the hoods of Inglewood, California. This African American director this movie based on this story, and this movie end up being one of the top-grossing feature ever made by an African American director.

Read More

Race And Social Inequality In Horror Films

2096 Words | 9 Pages

Horror films have always been a popular genre for filmmakers and movie-goers alike. However, in recent years, there has been a growing trend of horror films that center around the theme of racism. This is not a new concept, as racism has been depicted in horror films for decades. However, the way in which it is portrayed has evolved over time. The aim of this paper is to explore the ways in which filmmakers are addressing racism through horror cinema.

Read More

The Black Buck Brute: Movie Analysis

97 Words | 1 Pages

In conclusion, all three movies, and the era of the “Buck” in Blaxploitation film: the white man’s perception of the all-powerful brutal black man. Shaft, Spade, and Slade were rebellious black men, who loved women, they weren’t slaves, had a confident grandeur about them. “With the release of Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song and Shaft (Parks, 1971), audiences witnessed a representational revolution where black masculinity, previously associated with impotence, now became synonymous with Machismo” (Sauers A. (21012). The Black Buck Brute had been redefined and gave a nation of people a new perspective on the African American

Read More

The Pros And Cons Of Blaxploitation Films

179 Words | 1 Pages

In reality movies of Blaxploitation era were just there to make a quick buck. Some of the Blaxploitation films were so bad, poorly shot, and did not do well at the box office. These films just tried to cash in, and just wanted to give black people what they wanted, and also make money off them. Some could say that Blaxploitation films and New Hollywood films killed the western films. Films like Jason, Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Alien were out in the theater, and paper wanted slasher films.

Read More

Black Girls: The Era Of Blaxploitation Films

1305 Words | 6 Pages

Black girls needed to spot with being sturdy and independent. They needed to be up to the mark of their lives and also the feminine protagonists of Blaxploitation films showed them that it absolutely was acceptable to try to to this. it absolutely was acceptable to take possession of your own gender and if you needed, use it to your advantage. The sense of powerfulness, independence and agency occurred owing to the portrayal of Black women as noticeable, tangible components of those terribly things in those films. The distinctive portrayal of Black girls in Blaxploitation films to it of the slavery era shows however the shift in representations will have an effect on the values, identities and ideologies for these

Read More

The Controversy Of Afro-American Cinema

777 Words | 4 Pages

The emergence of the Afro American cinema consequently leans on the controversy of Griffith’s movie. The Afro American filmmakers want to create their own studios, they want to be independent from Hollywood. “On one hand, they felt the need to screen a positive image of the Black Man, an image damaged by the stereotypes from the early movies. On the other hand, they want to touch and satisfy the Black public, an abandoned public”. (Crari, 2011, p55).

Read More

In Living Color: Race And American Culture

1000 Words | 4 Pages

Ethnicity and Hollywood Racism is always issues which take a huge part of American history. Until the twenty-first century, although people tried to make the country becomes the freedom and equality nation, these issues are still happening everywhere. According to "In Living Color: Race and American Culture," Stuart Hall argues that racism is still widespread in the society and "it is widely invisible even to those who formulate the world in its terms" (qtd. in Omi 683). Indeed, situations about race quietly exist in the movie industry, which "has led to the perpetuation of racial caricatures" to the majority audiences and even minority audiences (Omi 629).

Read More

Tarantino's Impact On Culture

870 Words | 4 Pages

HIP-HOP,BLAXPLOITATION AND ITS IMPACTS ON THE CULTURE AND MOVIES It 's crucial to mention that Tarantino is a product of the hip-hop generation. Hip-hop an another important cultural phenomenon which took America by the storm in 70 's was discovered in black neighbourhoods of Bronx, New York. Black people couldn 't relate to rock and roll elite culture which was prominent in the American society at the times. In the ghetto parties at Bronx DJ 's invented this new music by remixing and resampling the existing music and creating beats out of them.

Read More

Straight Outta Compton Film Analysis

698 Words | 3 Pages

The movie “Straight Outta Compton” includes police brutality, frustration among the N.W.A group, and their distrust of the system to bring justice. Police brutality has been a universal

Read More

Analysis Of The Film 'Men In Black'

847 Words | 4 Pages

In science fiction films many different races are represented: African Americans, Italians, Asians, Aboriginals, etc. For this essay, I am going to observe how this movie genre portrays African Americans by analyzing the film series Men in Black. Furthermore, I believe these films view this race negatively which indicates a racial divide in society. But first I am going to identify how this movie genre depicts the race and culture of African Americans.

Read More

Mise-En-Scene In Lemonade

805 Words | 4 Pages

The chapter of Denial highlights and show us the experience of black women trying hard to change themselves to fit in with the society. The use of the techniques of mise-en-scene in the visual film provide the audience with with the reality in which black women are safe and comfortable. Black women should be fearless and learn to make decisions for themselves without the influence of the society and what the media says about them. And buy us standing together as women we can help each other in the challenges we have by supporting one

Read More

More about Blaxploitation In African American Movies Research Paper

Related Topics

Open Document