Redefining Black Film (Paper)

1. Auflage 1993
ISBN: 978-0-520-07902-1
Verlag: University of California Press

Buch, Englisch, 170 Seiten, Trade Paperback, Format (B × H): 151 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 303 g

Can films about black characters, produced by white filmmakers, be considered "black films"? In answering this question, Mark Reid reassesses black film history, carefully distinguishing between films controlled by blacks and films that utilize black talent, but are controlled by whites. Previous black film criticism has "buried" the true black film industry, Reid says, by concentrating on films that are about, but not by, blacks.

Reid's discussion of black independent films—defined as films that focus on the black community and that are written, directed, produced, and distributed by blacks—ranges from the earliest black involvement at the turn of the century up through the civil rights movement of the Sixties and the recent resurgence of feminism in black cultural production. His critical assessment of work by some black filmmakers such as Spike Lee notes how these films avoid dramatizations of sexism, homophobia, and classism within the black community.

In the area of black commercial film controlled by whites, Reid considers three genres: African-American comedy, black family film, and black action film. He points out that even when these films use black writers and directors, a black perspective rarely surfaces.

Reid's innovative critical approach, which transcends the "black-image" language of earlier studies—and at the same time redefines black film—makes an important contribution to film history. Certain to attract film scholars, this work will also appeal to anyone interested in African-American and Women's Studies.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Reid, Mark A.

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Theater- und Filmwissenschaft | Andere Darstellende Künste Filmwissenschaft, Fernsehen, Radio Filmtheorie, Filmanalyse
• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Volkskunde Minderheiten, Interkulturelle & Multikulturelle Fragen
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziologie Allgemein Feminismus, Feministische Theorie
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Soziologie von Migranten und Minderheiten

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgments
Introduction

1 Early African-American Film Companies
Foster Photoplay Company's Black Comedies
Lincoln Motion Picture's Black Family Films
Oscar Micheaux and Black Action Films
The Decline of the Indies

2 African-American Comedy Film
Blackface Minstrelsy Processes of Production and
Reception
Hybrid Minstrelsy and Black Employment as Comic
Types
Hybrid Minstrel Film
Satiric Hybrid Minstrelsy
Satiric Hybrid Minstrel Film
Toward a Critical Theory of African-American Film

3 Family Film: Black Writers in Hollywood
Literary Forces Encouraging the Use of Black
Writers
Take a Giant Step
Race, Sexuality, and a Black Matinee Idol
A Raisin in the Sun
Textual Dialogue in A Raisin in the Sun

4 Black Action Film
From Bitterness to Anger
Black Power and Urban Revolts
The Making of a Hero Called Sweetback
The Studio-Produced Black Action Film

5 Black Comedy on the Verge of a Genre Breakdown
She's Gatta Have It
School Daze
Do the Right Thing

6 Black Feminism and the Independent Film
Black Womanism as a Form of Resistance
Reception: Resistance, Accommodation, Assimilation
Black Womanist Film Praxis
The Womanist Film and the Black Professional

7 Male-Directed New Black Independent Cinema

Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index
Index of Film Titles

Über Autor(innen)

Mark A. Reid is Assistant Professor of English at the University of Florida, Gainesville. He has written extensively on black cinema.