Imaging Blackness
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Imaging Blackness is the complex concept of expressing, recognizing, or assigning specific sets of ideas or values used in the depiction of
Black people Black is a racial classification of people, usually a political and skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid- to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have dark skin and often additional phenotypical ...
. This depiction can be shown through various forms of media: film, television, literature. More specifically in film, the portrayal of Black people has been imaged and captured since the dawn of the medium.


Origin of term

"Imaging Blackness" is a term first used by Audrey T. McCluskey in her 2007 book ''Imaging Blackness: Race and Racial Representation in Film Poster Art''.


Historical overview

From the beginning of modern cinema, images of
African Americans African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa ...
have played a primary role in the cinematic imagination of the West. These negative images have promoted a demeaning and undignified image of African Americans as a general group. However, simultaneously film has enabled African Americans to covey their creativity and originality, despite some intentions of White people to confine Black humanity or use the African American race as a scapegoat. The beginning of Black presence in American film, started with the concept of "
blackface Blackface is the practice of performers using burned cork, shoe polish, or theatrical makeup to portray a caricature of black people on stage or in entertainment. Scholarship on the origins or definition of blackface vary with some taking a glo ...
". Instead of hiring Black actors to play Black characters, White actors would paint their faces black and accentuate their lips by covering them with bright red lipstick. Their outer appearance reflected White society's curiosity around Blackness. The concept of Blackness was initially used to ridicule African Americans, showing an imagined White superiority to Black people, but over time society became attracted to the controversial concept. Consequently, blackface became a popular fad in American culture.


Poster art

In the 1890s a new form of visual representation was introduced to America and international audiences. The high
literacy rate Literacy is the ability to read and write, while illiteracy refers to an inability to read and write. Some researchers suggest that the study of "literacy" as a concept can be divided into two periods: the period before 1950, when literacy was ...
at the beginning of the twentieth century caused the creation of
advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a Product (business), product or Service (economics), service. Advertising aims to present a product or service in terms of utility, advantages, and qualities of int ...
for newly animated films. The first forms of advertising were vividly colored crates or switchboards used to promote an upcoming film. Seen as a way to preview a story with visual highlights, these advertisements enticed viewers and attracted audiences to movie theatres. This concept created the modern day
movie poster A film poster is a poster used to promote and advertise a film primarily to persuade paying customers into a theater to see it. Studios often print several posters that vary in size and content for various domestic and international markets. The ...
. The invention of the movie poster itself is attributed to a Frenchman named
Jules Chéret Jules Chéret (31 May 1836 – 23 September 1932) was a French painter and lithographer who became a master of ''Belle Époque'' poster art. He has been called the father of the modern poster. Early life and career Born in Paris to a poor bu ...
. He applied a printing process called stone
lithography Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the miscibility, immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by ...
for the creation of his poster. As film technology progressed, there became a need for more movie posters, and it became a standardized process used to promote every new movie. The
General Film Company The General Film Company was a motion picture distribution company in the United States. Between 1909 and 1920, the company distributed almost 12,000 silent era motion pictures. It was created as part of the Edison Trust to monopolize film dist ...
standardized the size of a film poster at 27'' x 41'', allowing the poster to fit within the glass casing outside theatres. This was called the "one sheet" poster. These posters included texts and images supplied by the movie production company. A constant dispute among associates in the production company was whether to showcase star actors on their movie posters. The producer's objective was to sell their product, the movie, through advertising. On the other hand, the stars demanded that these posters should be a reflection of them and their talents. Movie studios hired illustrators to produce posters that were artistic and inventive, constantly trying to find ways to appeal to the biggest audience. During the pre-television era of the 1950s, poster art became the typical medium for movie advertising, consisting of the desirable image of a movie star alongside text or other images explaining a part of the movie history. The portrayal of Black Americans on these movie posters was very different from that of White Americans. American posters tended to marginalize Black presence and limit romantic images between African Americans. However, foreign posters showcased African Americans more and highlighted their romantic roles. Early American films were concerned with racial imagery. Some films made for Black audiences by White producers exhibited extreme racial stereotypes and
caricatures A caricature is a rendered image showing the features of its subject in a simplified or exaggerated way through sketching, pencil strokes, or other artistic drawings (compare to: cartoon). Caricatures can be either insulting or complimentary, ...
. The "hero" of these films was often a White male of upper-class status. For instance, a poster for the Norman Studio-produced film ''Regeneration'' (1923) displayed a poster that was a preview for the movie but also reflected a societal stereotype. It showed a light-skinned White woman fearing the advanced of an intimidating dark-skinned man. This implied the threat of
rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...
, which negatively portrayed the African-American man as an inherently malicious and predatory individual. These posters spoke to and perpetuated a social fear of Black people among White communities, and specifically a fear of Black male sexuality encroaching on the imagined purity of White women, and this dynamic and stereotype (sometimes referred to as " Mandingo") would continue on in various forms into the 21st century. Yet, some studios created posters to rebut the negative images of African Americans. Some showed Black men as hardworking, which was atypical of Hollywood's defined image of the African-American male. In later decades, poster images reflected social issues presented by "message films". "These included 'passing' in '' Lost Boundaries'' (1949), interracial romance in '' Island in the Sun'' (1957), and ''
Jungle Fever ''Jungle Fever'' is a 1991 American romantic drama film written, produced and directed by Spike Lee. Starring Lee, Wesley Snipes, Annabella Sciorra, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Samuel L. Jackson, Lonette McKee, John Turturro, Frank Vincent, ...
'' (1991), and the youthful experience of racial prejudice in ''
The Learning Tree ''The Learning Tree'' is a 1969 American coming-of-age film written, produced and directed by Gordon Parks Gordon Roger Alexander Buchanan Parks (November 30, 1912 – March 7, 2006) was an American photographer, composer, author, poet, an ...
'' (1969)."McCluskey, Audrey T., ''Imaging Blackness: Race and Racial Representation in Film Poster Art'' (2007), p. 5. These images differed from the earlier images of the negative portrayals of African Americans. The new representation of African Americans on film posters showed social, controversial figures, which created an inquisitive, yet uncomfortable society. By the 1960s, during the Civil Rights Movement, the first African-American Hollywood movie star,
Sidney Poitier Sidney Poitier ( ; February 20, 1927 – January 6, 2022) was a Bahamian-American actor, film director, activist, and diplomat. In 1964, he was the first black actor and first Bahamian to win the Academy Award for Best Actor. Among his ot ...
, emerged. The inoffensive posters of his movies, such as '' Lilies of the Field'' (1963), depicted him as harmless, and further as a protector over others. Thereafter, White society became more accepting to non-violent, optimistic images of African Americans. During
Spike Lee Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and author. His work has continually explored race relations, issues within the black community, the role of media in contemporary ...
's filmmaking career, topics such as race and sex were presented provocatively in poster art. He wanted the posters to be as "racy" as his films. He hired graphic artists such as Art Sims, who specialized in specifically marketing Black films. Among controversial posters he created was the film poster of ''
Jungle Fever ''Jungle Fever'' is a 1991 American romantic drama film written, produced and directed by Spike Lee. Starring Lee, Wesley Snipes, Annabella Sciorra, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Samuel L. Jackson, Lonette McKee, John Turturro, Frank Vincent, ...
'', a 1991 movie about an interracial love affair. The first version of the poster had the actors
Wesley Snipes Wesley Trent Snipes (born July 31, 1962) is an American actor and martial artist. In a film career spanning more than thirty years, Snipes has appeared in a variety of genres, such as numerous thrillers, dramatic feature films, and comedies, th ...
and Annabella Sciorra sucking each other's fingers. This image was rejected because it was seen as too sexual and was replaced by the image of the couple interlocking fingers while holding hands. Another Lee film, ''
Bamboozled ''Bamboozled'' is a 2000 American satirical black comedy-drama film written and directed by Spike Lee about a modern televised minstrel show featuring black actors donning blackface makeup and the resulting violent fallout from the show's succe ...
'', was promoted with a poster of a graphical satire. When the film was released in 2000, the advertising was thought of as too offensive and was turned away by many newspapers including ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
''. Ironically, the film itself exposes and retells the history of African-American treatment and portrayal in American entertainment. "Film posters illustrate the artistic and thematic range of racial representation in the American film industry. They present a history that is preserved and partially documented by a clash of art and commerce. As such, these posters are imbued with a broad array of social meanings that continue to engage us."


Action/ Crime

The 1970s era began with a revolutionary representation of African Americans. Beginning with
Melvin Van Peebles Melvin Van Peebles (born Melvin Peebles; August 21, 1932 – September 21, 2021) was an American actor, filmmaker, writer, and composer. He worked as an active filmmaker into the early 2020s. His feature film debut, ''The Story of a Three-Day Pa ...
's film ''
Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song ''Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song'' is a 1971 American independent blaxploitation action thriller film written, co-produced, scored, edited, directed by, and starring Melvin Van Peebles. His son Mario Van Peebles also appears in a small ro ...
'' (1971), where a Black man fights back against racial injustice, Hollywood began showing powerful Black men as heroes in action films. '' The Flying Ace'' (1926) claimed the title as the "greatest airline thriller ever filmed". It inspired many African-American aviators to fly and form aviation clubs. '' Odds Against Tomorrow'' (1959) is noted as one of the last
film noir Film noir (; ) is a style of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood Crime film, crime dramas that emphasizes cynicism (contemporary), cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of Ameri ...
s and was directed by
Robert Wise Robert Earl Wise (September 10, 1914 – September 14, 2005) was an American filmmaker. He won the Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Picture for his musical films ''West Side Story'' (1961) and ''The Sound of Music'' (1965). He was als ...
. It is one of the first films to address White racism towards African Americans. Regardless, some Black action films also created controversy because they were based on negative stereotypical representations of African Americans. African American actors were primarily directed by Whites, so their characters usually appeared and acted in the stereotypical ways in which Whites viewed African Americans.


Comedy

Comedy has been helpful in advancing the careers of individual African Americans, while also often mocking their demeanor or appearance. In the American tradition of minstrelsy, White men painted their faces and falsely portrayed African-American culture. "Black people and black life was the joke."McCluskey, ''Imaging Blackness'' (2007), p. 21. The White stage performers suggested their superiority over African Americans by using minstrel shows as a daily mockery to their former position in society. Even the representation of African-American children as pickaninnies became the humor for White audiences. Because of the subjugation of African Americans through comic films, comedy became an extremely sensitive topic, especially for independent race films intended for Black audiences. There was much confusion on how to provide a comic performance for the audience while not ridiculing the African-American race. In the 1930s, African-American film directors produced comedy films of the same context; however. They mocked African Americans and because of this their black audiences diminished. Frustrated, race filmmakers sought to create a more complex character for African Americans and wanted to positively portray African-American culture. Comedy films became the way African Americans entered into the movie industry, even though their beginning performances were degrading. Yet, some African Americans overshadowed and outperformed white actors, showing new talent on stage. The early independent Black comedy films that were popular amongst African Americans told stories about black life and culture, revealing the aptitude of Black comedians. In the late 1900s, Black comedies thrived and became especially popular.
Bill Cosby William Henry Cosby Jr. ( ; born July 12, 1937) is an American retired comedian, actor, and media personality. Often cited as a trailblazer for African Americans in the entertainment industry, Cosby was a film, television, and stand-up comedy ...
and
Sidney Poitier Sidney Poitier ( ; February 20, 1927 – January 6, 2022) was a Bahamian-American actor, film director, activist, and diplomat. In 1964, he was the first black actor and first Bahamian to win the Academy Award for Best Actor. Among his ot ...
became a comic duo in '' Uptown Saturday Night'' (1974), attracting black audiences from various areas. '' Richard Pryor: Live in Concert'' (1979) starring
Richard Pryor Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor Sr. (December 1, 1940 – December 10, 2005) was an American stand-up comedian and actor. Known for reaching a broad audience with his trenchant observations and storytelling style, he is widely regarded ...
, who became the most popular African American comedian in Hollywood, changed the industry. He set the path for other African-American comedians such as modern-day
Eddie Murphy Edward Regan Murphy (born April 3, 1961) is an American actor, comedian, and singer. He had his breakthrough as a standup comic before gaining stardom for his film roles; he is widely recognized as one of the greatest comedians of all time. H ...
, The Wayans Brothers,
Martin Lawrence Martin Fitzgerald LawrenceStated in interview on '' Inside the Actors Studio'' (born April 16, 1965) is an American actor and comedian. Lawrence began his career doing comedy shows, including in '' The Improv''. After his first acting role in t ...
,
Chris Rock Christopher Julius Rock (born February 7, 1965) is an American comedian, actor, and filmmaker. He first gained prominence for his stand-up routines in the 1980s in which he tackled subjects including race relations, human sexuality, and obse ...
,
Chris Tucker Christopher Tucker (born August 31, 1971) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. Tucker made his debut in 1992 as a stand-up performer on the HBO comedy series '' Def Comedy Jam'', where he frequently appeared on the show during the 1990 ...
, and
Bernie Mac Bernard Jeffrey McCullough (October 5, 1957 – August 9, 2008), better known by his stage name Bernie Mac, was an American stand up comedian, actor and film producer. He joined fellow comedians Steve Harvey, Cedric the Entertainer, and D. L. H ...
.


Documentary

Only recently in the late 1900s did the topic of African-American life in the United States become a topic of interest to White society. Documentary films gave African Americans a chance to voice their opinions about the injustices they felt. These films also showed detailed insight to African American lives that were not known to society.
William Greaves William Garfield Greaves (October 8, 1926 – August 25, 2014) was an American documentary filmmaker and a pioneer of film-making. After trying his hand at acting, he became a filmmaker who produced more than two hundred documentary films, and w ...
became a famous filmmaker after his television documentary on the lives of African Americans in the United States, called ''Black Journal''. His other documentaries on prominent figures like
Booker T. Washington Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856November 14, 1915) was an American educator, author, and orator. Between 1890 and 1915, Washington was the primary leader in the African-American community and of the contemporary Black elite#United S ...
and
Malcolm X Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little, later el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz; May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965) was an African American revolutionary, Islam in the United States, Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a prominent figur ...
show how documentaries serve as a historical source. Greaves' intention was to capture the struggles and triumphs of African Americans in a realistic technique. His view filled a void that was missing in Hollywood's representation of African Americans. He concentrated on issues specific to African-American communities, such as gender differences, racial hierarchies, and family relationships. Documentaries were used as a powerful method to portray African Americans as complex individuals, explaining significant events in their lives.


Drama

The " separate cinema" of race films directed for Black audiences used the drama genre to combat the popular, accepted view of African Americans. The Lincoln Motion Picture Company, established in 1915, was the first Black film company to produce films that showed positive qualities in their illustration of African-American lives.Separate Cinema — The Vintage Years - 20 years of Race Film , http://www.separatecinema.com/exhibits_vintageyears.html African-American filmmakers used dramatic works to uplift Black morale, inspire African Americans and represent Black life in an encouraging way. In earlier dramatic films in Hollywood, African-American characters would commonly be seen as being disposable to whites. They would either have to sacrifice their lives or their families for the triumph or success of Whites. The underlying message told by Hollywood was the importance and dominance of white life over the lives of African Americans. However, in the 1900s independent films including ''
Daughters of the Dust ''Daughters of the Dust'' is a 1991 independent drama film written, directed, and produced by Julie Dash. It is the first feature film directed by an African-American woman to receive a theatrical release in the United States.Michel, Martin (No ...
'' (1991), '' Beloved'' (1998), and ''
Bamboozled ''Bamboozled'' is a 2000 American satirical black comedy-drama film written and directed by Spike Lee about a modern televised minstrel show featuring black actors donning blackface makeup and the resulting violent fallout from the show's succe ...
'' (2000) showed the history of African Americans in the United States, the challenges they faced, and the benefits they gained from overcoming racial injustice. These films exemplify how dramatic films can be used as an instrument for African Americans to envision and hope for a better and improved future.


Musical

"Several cultural critics claim that, in U.S culture, music is one of few arenas within blacks are allowed greatness. This phenomenon is clearly evident in the inception of the all-black cast musical in the Hollywood film tradition, in musicals in race films from the late 1920s and 1930s, and in contemporary culture".McCluskey, ''Imaging Blackness'' (2007), p. 56. The earliest sound films, ''Hearts if Dixie'' (1929) and ''Hallelujah!'' (1929) allowed African Americans to perform and showcase their supposed "natural abilities" for song and dance. Rather than the earlier Hollywood musicals where Whites put on a blackface, these musicals consisted of all Black casts performing black roles. Hollywood studios constructed all Black cast musicals designed for White audiences. Even though these films confirmed society's belief of the Negro as the bottom of the social hierarchy, musicals gave African Americans an opportunity to add to the limited role of "Blackness" labeled by whites. In Hollywood musicals, African Americans were prominently used for the amusement of whites. Including all Black cast musicals, Hollywood's musicals were intended for white audiences. Contrasting the "separate cinema", where race films were shown to Black audiences throughout the South. These films developed a narrative that demonstrated the strengths of African-American performers. These race films also provided African Americans with the opportunity to play lead roles rather than the limited Hollywood roles of servants, maids, or clowns. The existence of the musical genre in both Hollywood and race films generated a segregated society. This segregation allowed society to witness the discrepancies between both sources of entertainment, Hollywood and independent race filmmakers.


Mystery/ Thriller

"Mystery/ Thriller films allowed both black- and white- owned race film production companies the opportunity to showcase a wide range of black characters in roles such as doctors, attorneys, judges, bankers, and policemen, depictions that went against the grain of the limited roles mainstream Hollywood films afforded black characters".McCluskey, ''Imaging Blackness'' (2007), p. 64. Black characters were able to transform their mediocre roles as a "spooked servant" into central elements of the film. For instance, in the 1940s
Stepin Fetchit Lincoln Theodore Monroe Andrew Perry (May 30, 1902 – November 19, 1985), better known by his stage name Stepin Fetchit, was an American vaudevillian, comedian, and film actor of Jamaican and Bahamian descent, considered to be the first black ...
and
Mantan Moreland Mantan Moreland (September 3, 1902 – September 28, 1973) was an American actor and comedian most popular in the 1930s and 1940s. He starred in numerous films. His daughter Marcella Moreland appeared as a child actor in several films. Ear ...
played unforgettable roles in the
Charlie Chan Charlie Chan is a fictional Honolulu Police Department, Honolulu police detective created by author Earl Derr Biggers for a series of mystery novels. Biggers loosely based Chan on Hawaiian detective Chang Apana. The benevolent and heroic Chan ...
mysteries, and their characters even become more popular than Charlie Chan himself. Contemporary mystery/thriller films cast African American like
Eddie Murphy Edward Regan Murphy (born April 3, 1961) is an American actor, comedian, and singer. He had his breakthrough as a standup comic before gaining stardom for his film roles; he is widely recognized as one of the greatest comedians of all time. H ...
,
Morgan Freeman Morgan Freeman (born June 1, 1937) is an American actor, producer, and narrator. In a career spanning six decades, he has received numerous accolades, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award, as well as a nomination for a Tony ...
, and
Denzel Washington Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. (born December 28, 1954) is an American actor, producer, and director. Known for his dramatic roles Denzel Washington on screen and stage, on stage and screen, Washington has received List of awards and nominations ...
in leading roles.


Western

During the early 1900s Western movies became the most popular genre in Hollywood.
Herbert Jeffrey Herb Jeffries (born Umberto Alexander Valentino; September 24, 1913 – May 25, 2014) was an American actor of film and television and popular music and jazz singer-songwriter, known for his baritone voice. He starred in several low-budget "ra ...
noticed the interest and appeal of the White singing cowboys on screen and the lack of African Americans that were cast in that role. Even though, about one third of all cowboys that settled in the West were in fact African Americans. These cowboys escaped slavery and were often offered safehouses with various Native American tribes. Consequently, after Herbert Jeffrey's hard work, the first Black cowboy, Jeff Kincaid, made his first appearance on film in '' Harlem on the Prairie'' (1937). Despite segregation laws, ''Harlem on the Prairie'' was nationally distributed to both Black and White theatres across the country. The success of the film inspired many similar films and bettered the view of African Americans to society. For instance, following, the film '' The Bronze Buckaroo'' (1939), the first Black Western full-length musical, the African-American cowboy acts as the lead hero, saving the damsel in distress and then slowly riding off into the sunset.


Blaxploitation

"An examination of Black action films produced both independently by African Americans and by major Hollywood studios during the Black film explosion of the 1960s and 1970s raises important questions about the African-American film experience of visuality and identity formation, and the ways in which the look and the gaze of the African American are inextricably linked to a culture of oppression".Ongiri, Amy Abugo, ''Spectacular Blackness: the Cultural Politics of the Black Power Movement and the Search for a Black Aesthetic'', 2010, p. 164. Experts claimed that films could link the fantasies of youth with the visual depiction on film because the lack of nationalistic culture in society. The African-American audience often had trouble separating their existence from the visual imagination shown by Hollywood's films. Adult audiences and mature adolescents from middle-class families could view films in the fictional context indented. They, coming from a comfortable home with fulfillment of their needs, regarded films as merely fiction. Contrasting poor African Americans who were susceptible to idolize Hollywood films. The low-income adolescents who did not have a comfortable lifestyle or positive role-models viewed fictional films as reality. Discussions of the "
Blaxploitation In American cinema, Blaxploitation is the film subgenre of action movie derived from the exploitation film genre in the early 1970s, consequent to the combined cultural momentum of the black civil rights movement, the black power movement, ...
" films include "assumptions about the relation of an African American spectatorship to Hollywood in general often rely on the notion that Black spectatorship is either degraded, infantile, or polluted by the outside forces to which it is subjugated".Ongiri, ''Spectacular Blackness'' (2010), p. 165. Blaxploitation films provided a counter narrative to the idea of
white supremacy White supremacy is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White supremacy has roots in the now-discredited doctrine ...
and the traditional portrayals of African Americans in the Hollywood cinema. The Blaxploitation narrative of "ghetto despair" illustrated African Americans' response to the
Black Power Black power is a list of political slogans, political slogan and a name which is given to various associated ideologies which aim to achieve self-determination for black people. It is primarily, but not exclusively, used in the United States b ...
era. In addition, Blaxploitation films provided and developed the concept of masculinity, which was lacking in Hollywood films. Hollywood films had wide- ranging view of males from "the placid, asexual
Sidney Poitier Sidney Poitier ( ; February 20, 1927 – January 6, 2022) was a Bahamian-American actor, film director, activist, and diplomat. In 1964, he was the first black actor and first Bahamian to win the Academy Award for Best Actor. Among his ot ...
model to the plantation Sambo or the comical
Stepin Fetchit Lincoln Theodore Monroe Andrew Perry (May 30, 1902 – November 19, 1985), better known by his stage name Stepin Fetchit, was an American vaudevillian, comedian, and film actor of Jamaican and Bahamian descent, considered to be the first black ...
".Ongiri, ''Spectacular Blackness'' (2010), p. 167. Blaxploitation films' depiction of the destructive inner-city lives of African Americans and the hyper-masculine male character both countered and enforced the growing urban African American criminality of the 1960s. The release of the movie '' Shaft'' (1971) featured an African-American detective who used his Harlem street smarts to help him win a war waged against a street mob. The director,
Gordon Parks Gordon Roger Alexander Buchanan Parks (November 30, 1912 – March 7, 2006) was an American photographer, composer, author, poet, and filmmaker, who became prominent in U.S. documentary photojournalism in the 1940s through 1970s—particularly ...
, characterized an African American as the lead, authoritative role. He also employed many African Americans to help with the film, giving them positions from the
screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...
to casting them as extras in the film. The inclusion of African Americans in the film and during the filmmaking process added a more realistic urban feel. Including African Americans in filmmaking made a notable impact and set the precedent for future directors. The genre of Blaxploitation affected Hollywood's vision of African Americans as well as the existing political hierarchy in which they were placed in the United States. The increase in Blaxploitation films generally established and defined African Americans in the post-Civil Rights era in the United States. By creating the Blaxploitation genre, new representations of
Black Power Black power is a list of political slogans, political slogan and a name which is given to various associated ideologies which aim to achieve self-determination for black people. It is primarily, but not exclusively, used in the United States b ...
could be shown to audiences. Since the majority of African-American movie-viewers were adolescents, it was determined that horror and action movies sold best to these "ethnic" audiences. Between 1966 and 1975, around seventy Black action films were made either by Hollywood studios or first-time African-American production companies. These actions films varied in quality and ranged from creative narratives to low-budget films. Since during the 1960s and 1970s African Americans first came to become the focus of mainstream entertainment, the creation of the Blaxploitation era formed a visual tradition to refute the historical stigma that affected African Americans. These films also revealed the limitations and lack of opportunities African Americans were given in society during the post-segregation period. However, critics such as Clayton Riley from ''The New York Times'' argued that Blaxploitation films provided an overly simplistic view of African Americans, which could have had detrimental effects, potentially making African Americans more submissive to societal injustice.


See also

*
African-American culture African-American culture, also known as Black American culture or Black culture in American English, refers to the cultural expressions of African Americans, either as part of or distinct from mainstream American culture. African-American/Bl ...


Bibliography

* Kisch, John, and Edward Mapp. ''A Separate Cinema: Fifty Years of Black-cast Posters''. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1992. Print. * Locke, Brian. ''Racial Stigma on the Hollywood Screen from World War II to the Present: the Orientalist Buddy Film''. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009. Print. * McCluskey, Audrey T. ''Imaging Blackness: Race and Racial Representation in Film Poster Art''. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2007. Print. * Ongiri, Amy Abugo. ''Spectacular Blackness: the Cultural Politics of the Black Power Movement and the Search for a Black Aesthetic''. Charlottesville: University of Virginia, 2010. Print.


References

{{Reflist, 30em African-American cultural history African-American cultural appropriation History of racism in the cinema of the United States Stereotypes of African Americans Theatre characters Concepts