Blacks in Films - Hardcover

Pines, Jim

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0289703263 ISBN 13: 9780289703267

Publisher: Studio Vista, 1975

Synopsis

The history of blacks in the American film is a controversial one. For the most part it is a history of injurious stereotyping and humiliating images. The story starts as early as 1894, with Thomas Edison's Kinetoscope movies depicting 'dancing darkies' and 'pickaninnies', and ends with Shaft and Cleopatra Jones. What happened in between? How effective has the movie image of blacks been in creating a social attitude towards blacks in American society? How 'the Negro image' has changed over the years is not a straight-forward question of simple progression towards liberation. It is true that the majority of the depictions - mostly by whites, of course — have either been downright offensive, or they have been well-intentioned liberal portrayals closely linked to the demands and achievements of the civil rights movement. But the whole expanse of racial images in films has only helped to erect and nourish notions about 'Negroes'. Indeed, the recent phase of black-slanted film-making is the aggressive outcome of seventy-five years of exploitation. But along the line there have been odd divergencies from this pattern. For example, the objectionable Birth of a Nation provoked a counter-irritant movie made by blacks called The Birth of a Race; while Hollywood was promoting the myth of the servile but happy Negro on the southern plantations, Oscar Micheaux and others were organizing their own 'ethnic' production and distribution system specifically for the evolving ghetto communities; and while Sidney Poitier was proud and race-conscious, one still found the 'tragic mulatto' myth being presented in contemporary films. Jim Pines treats all aspects of this fascinating story; he discusses, for example, the ways in which films create racial images, as well as the various elements cinema employs to create racial myths and conceptions about black people. His survey ends, of course, with a discussion of the 'blaxploitation' movies playing a major role in the survival of the Hollywood film industry. Yet while this phase represents a remarkable shift, the almost total absence of sensitive black characters who express genuine regard for other blacks is a distressing factor. Indeed, super-duper heroism cannot be said to represent any form of liberation, but only a revolutionary form of servitude.

About this title

About the Author

Jim Pines was born and educated in Boston. He is 28 and has lived in England for several years. He worked for 4 years in the British Film Institute's Education Department, and has been active in various aspects of the media, including organizing film programmes for black youths at the community level, film-making, lecturing and so on. He has written many articles, reviews and interviews on films and political cinema, which have appeared in Time Out, Cinema Rising, and Screen.

Edition details

• Publisher: Studio Vista
• Publication date: 1975
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0289703263
• ISBN 13: 9780289703267
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 144