Expanding the black film canon : race and genre across six decades / Lisa Doris Alexander.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Alexander, Lisa Doris, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

African Americans in motion pictures.

Race relations in motion pictures.

Racism in motion pictures.

African Americans in the motion picture industry.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (256 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Lawrence, Kansas : University Press of Kansas, [2019]

Summary:

If the sheer diversity of recent hits from Twelve Years a Slave and Moonlight to Get Out, Black Panther, and BlackkKlansman tells us anything, it might be that there's no such thing as "black film" per se. This book is especially timely, then, in expanding our idea of what black films are and, going back to the 1960s, showing us new and interesting ways to understand them. When critics and scholars write about films from the Blaxploitation movement-such asCotton Comes to Harlem, Shaft, Superfly, and Cleopatra Jones-they emphasize their importance as films made for black audiences. Consequently, Lisa Doris Alexander points out, a film like the highly popular, Oscar-nominatedBlazing Saddles-costarring and co-written by Richard Pryor-is generally left out of the discussion because it doesn't fit the profile of what a black film of the period should be. This is the kind of categorical thinking that Alexander seeks to broaden, looking at films from the 60s to the present day in the context of their time. Applying insights from black feminist thought and critical race theory to one film per decade, she analyzes what each can tell us about the status of black people and race relations in the United States at the time of its release. By teasing out the importance of certain films excluded from the black film canon, Alexander hopes to expand that canon to include films typically relegated to the category of popular entertainment-and to show how these offer more nuanced representations of black characters even as they confront, negate, or parody the controlling images that have defined black filmic characters for decades.

Contents:

I ain't fit to live with no more: Nothing but a man revisited

"Hey, where are the white women at?": the presentation of racism and resistance in Blazing saddles

Harlem nights, awkward framing, and complicated gender politics

Who's the real gangsta?: The glass shield and the politics of black communities and police relations

"If you're going to tell people the truth ... make them laugh": C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America as mockumentary and truth-telling

Ladies first: Ava DuVernay and black- female-centered narratives

Who's the hero of the piece?: ollywood's representation of Jackie Robinson's legacy

Are we allowed to be children?: black teen films, trauma, and the race to adulthood.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 213-233) and index.

ISBN:

9780700628414

070062841X

OCLC:

1378934998