article Related Topics:
Blaxploitation
 

Blaxploitation is a film genre that emerged in the United States in the early 1970s when many exploitation films were made that targeted the urban African American audience; the word itself is a portmanteau, or combination, of the words "black" and "exploitation". Blaxploitation films starred primarily black actors, and were the first to feature soundtracks of funk and soul music. Although criticized by civil rights groups for their use of stereotypes, they addressed the great and newfound demand for Afrocentric entertainment, and were immensely popular among black audiences. The blaxploitation genre officially began in 1971 with the release of Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song. This film is also noteworthy in that it was written, directed, produced, and funded by Melvin Van Peebles, an African American. This remained the premise of the early blaxploitation films; film by, for, and about black people. *

Common qualities

Almost all blaxploitation films featured exaggerated sexuality and violence. When set in the North or West Coast of the U.S., they tended to take place in the ghetto and dealt with pimps, drug dealers, and hit men. In all these films, it was common to see drugs, the Afro hairstyle, "pimpmobiles," and crooked and corrupt white police officers. When set in the South, the movies most often took place on a plantation and dealt with slavery and miscegenation. [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE2DD103FF93AA35755C0A9669C8B63&pagewanted=print

Stereotypes

These films were made for an African American audience and often showed negative depictions of Caucasian characters; whites were often cast as crooked and racist police officers or government officials, and the racial slur "honky" was frequently used toward them. Italian Americans were frequently portrayed negatively as drug dealing members of the Mafia whom black characters would often rip off. Anti-Italian epithets such as 'dago' and 'wop' were used in conjunction with 'honky' against these characters.

At the same time, the films also created a negative stereotype of African Americans, the audience they were designed to appeal to, as pimps and drug dealers. This stereotype fit with common white stereotypes about black people, and as a result many called for the end of the Blaxploitation genre. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and the Urban League joined together to form the Coalition Against Blaxploitation. Backed by many black film professionals, this group received much media exposure and quickened the death of the genre by the late 1970s.

Though still regarded as racist by many, some film scholars defend the cinematic genre as instrumental in bringing greater screen presence to African Americans. Furthermore, blaxploitation films laid the foundation for future filmmakers to address racial controversies regarding inner city poverty. In the early 1990s, a new wave of acclaimed African-American filmmakers focused on African American urban life in their films (particularly Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing and John Singleton's Boyz N the Hood, among others).

Famous blaxploitation films

see also List of blaxploitation films

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Blaxploitation".

Home Page • arts • business • computers • games • health • hospitals • home • kids & teens • news • physicians • recreation• reference • regional • science • shopping • society • sports • world