Blaxploitation Films of the 1970s PDF Download

Author: Novotny Lawrence
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135900361
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 146

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Book Description
This book examines a number of blaxploitation films – including Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970), Blacula (1972), and The Mack (1973) – and illustrates the manner in which 'blaxploitation' came to be understood as a separate genre.

Author: Mikel J. Koven
Publisher: Oldacastle Books
ISBN: 1842434101
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 176

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Book Description
Fully updated to include Baadassss and The Hebrew Hammer and to cover the deaths of Isaac Hayes and Rudy Rae Moore In the early 1970s a type of film emerged that featured all-black casts; really cool soul, R 'n' B, and disco soundtracks; characters sporting big guns, big dashikis, and even bigger 'fros; and had some of the meanest, baddest attitudes to shoot their way across the screen. An antidote to the sanitized "safe" images of blackness that Sidney Poitier and Bill Cosby presented to America, these films depicted a reality about the world which African-American audiences could identify with, even if the stories themselves were pure fantasy. This guide reviews and discusses more than 60 Blaxploitation films, considering them from the perspectives of class and racial rebellion, genre, and Stickin' it to the Man. Subgenres covered include Blaxploitation horror films, kung-fu movies, westerns, and parodies.

Author: Peter Lev
Publisher: University of Texas Press
ISBN: 0292778090
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 358

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Book Description
While the anti-establishment rebels of 1969's Easy Rider were morphing into the nostalgic yuppies of 1983's The Big Chill, Seventies movies brought us everything from killer sharks, blaxploitation, and disco musicals to a loving look at General George S. Patton. Indeed, as Peter Lev persuasively argues in this book, the films of the 1970s constitute a kind of conversation about what American society is and should be—open, diverse, and egalitarian, or stubbornly resistant to change. Examining forty films thematically, Lev explores the conflicting visions presented in films with the following kinds of subject matter: Hippies (Easy Rider, Alice's Restaurant) Cops (The French Connection, Dirty Harry) Disasters and conspiracies (Jaws, Chinatown) End of the Sixties (Nashville, The Big Chill) Art, Sex, and Hollywood (Last Tango in Paris) Teens (American Graffiti, Animal House) War (Patton, Apocalypse Now) African-Americans (Shaft, Superfly) Feminisms (An Unmarried Woman, The China Syndrome) Future visions (Star Wars, Blade Runner) As accessible to ordinary moviegoers as to film scholars, Lev's book is an essential companion to these familiar, well-loved movies.

Author: Novotny Lawrence
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135900353
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 284

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Book Description
During the early years of the motion picture industry, black performers were often depicted as shuckin’ and jivin’ caricatures. Specifically, black males were portrayed as toms, coons and bucks, while the mammy and tragic mulatto archetypes circumscribed black femininity. This misrepresentation began to change in the 1950s and 1960s when performers such as Dorothy Dandridge and Sidney Poitier were cast in more positive roles. These performers paved the way for the black exploitation or blaxploitation movement, which began in 1970 and flourished until 1975. The movement is characterized by films that feature a black hero or heroine, black supporting characters, a predominately black urban setting, a display of black sexuality, excessive violence, and a contemporary rhythm and blues soundtrack. Blaxploitation films were made across varying genres, but the questionable elements of some of the pictures caused them to be referred to as "blaxploitation" films with little or no regard given to their generic categorization. This book examines how Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970), Blacula (1972), The Mack (1973), and Cleopatra Jones (1973) can be classified within the detective, horror, gangster, and cop action genres, respectively, and illustrates the manner in which the inclusion of "blackness" represents a significant revision to the aforementioned genres.

Author: Josiah Howard
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 244

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Book Description
Dazzling, highly stylised, excessively violent and brimming with sex, blaxploitation films enjoyed a brief but memorable moment in motion picture history. Never before, and never since, have so many African-American performers been featured in films, not in bit parts, but in name-above-the title starring roles. Here's a new and appreciative look back at a distinctly American motion picture phenomenon, the first truly comprehensive examination of the genre, its films, its trends and its far-reaching impact, covering more than 240 Blaxploitation films in detail. This is the primary reference book on the genre, covering not just the films' heyday (1971-1976) but the entire decade (1970-1980). Includes: film posters and ads

Author: Novotny Lawrence
Publisher: Wayne State University Press
ISBN: 0814340776
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 266

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Book Description
Beyond Blaxploitation is a much-needed pedagogical tool, informing film scholars, critics, and fans alike, about blaxploitation's richness and complexity.

Author: Yvonne D. Sims
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 0786451548
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 233

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Book Description
With the Civil Rights movement of the sixties fresh in their perspective, movie producers of the early 1970s began to make films aimed toward the underserved African American audience. Over the next five years or so, a number of cheaply made, so-called blaxploitation movies featured African American actresses in roles which broke traditional molds. Typically long on flash and violence but lacking in character depth and development, this genre nonetheless did a great deal toward redefining the perception of African American actresses, breaking traditional African American female stereotypes and laying the groundwork for later feminine action heroines. This critical study examines the ways in which the blaxploitation heroines of the early 1970s reshaped the presentation of African American actresses on screen and, to a certain degree, the perception of African American females in general. It discusses the social, political and cultural context in which blaxploitation films emerged. The work focuses on four African American actresses--Pam Grier, Tamara Dobson, Teresa Graves and Jeanne Belle--providing critical and audience response to their films as well as insight into the perspectives of the actresses themselves. The eventual demise of the blaxploitation genre due to formulaic plots and lack of character development is also discussed. Finally, the work addresses the mainstreaming of the action heroine in general and a recent resurgence of interest in black action movies. Relevant film stills and a selected filmography including cast list and plot synopsis are also included. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.

Author: Stephane Dunn
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
ISBN: 0252091043
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 194

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Book Description
Blaxploitation action narratives as well as politically radical films like Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song typically portrayed black women as trifling "bitches" compared to the supermacho black male heroes. But starting in 1973, the emergence of "baad bitches" and "sassy supermamas" reversed the trend as self-assured, empowered, and tough black women took the lead in the films Cleopatra Jones, Coffy, and Foxy Brown. Stephane Dunn unpacks the intersecting racial, sexual, and gender politics underlying the representations of racialized bodies, masculinities, and femininities in early 1970s black action films, with particular focus on the representation of black femininity. Recognizing a distinct moment in the history of African American representation in popular cinema, Dunn analyzes how it emerged from a radical political era influenced by the Black Power movement and feminism. Dunn also engages blaxploitation's legacy in contemporary hip-hop culture, as suggested by the music’s disturbing gender politics and the "baad bitch daughters" of Foxy Brown and Cleopatra Jones, rappers Foxy Brown and Lil' Kim.

Author: Gerald Martinez
Publisher: Miramax Books
ISBN:
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 220

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Book Description
"From Shaft to Superfly, Foxy Brown to Cleopatra Jones, What It Is...What It Was! presents a vivid pictorial and oral history of the best movies to emerge from a singularly American film movement. The book explores this film explosion. Between 1970 and 1980 over 200 films with Black themes including family dramas, mysteries, horror films, comedies, and action films, were released by both major and independent studios. The book preserves cinema history with the first book to highlight the movie poster artwork while presenting the people who created this history on screen. With the increased use of photography, this period would be the last time that top artists would draw and paint the vibrant bold movie poster images that in themselves were classics. Groundbreaking producer-director-writer Melvin Van Peebles, actors Fred Williamson, Pam Grier, and William Marshall, composer Isaac Hayes, along with many other artists, talk about this body of cinema that has withstood the test of time and influenced American culture. The films are described as powerful, funky, sexy, exuberant, violent, hip, and just plain fun. They also became a target of debate as some coined the sweeping term "blaxploitation." Samuel L. Jackson, John Singleton, Reginald Hudlin, Ice-T, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Quentin Tarantino, and others offer insightful commentary into the history and impact of the films in their work."--back cover.

Author: Pam Grier
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
ISBN: 0446564702
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
Some may know her as hot, gutsy, gun-totin' Foxy Brown, Friday Foster, Coffy, and Jackie Brown. Others may know her from her role as Kit Porter on The L Word. But that only defines one part of the legend that is Pam Grier. Foxy is Pam's testimony of her life, past and present. In it, she reveals her relationships with Richard Pryor, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Freddie Prinze Sr., among others. She unveils her experiences as a backup singer and a blaxploitation star. In particularly candid and shocking chapters, she shares-for the first time-her view of those films and the persecution that blacks, especially women, needed to endure to make a name for themselves . . . including how it felt to be labeled one of the most beautiful women alive, yet not be permitted to try on clothes in a department store because of the color of her skin. And in words sure to inspire many, she tells the story of her ongoing battle with cancer. From her disappointments to her triumphs, nothing is held back. With FOXY, Pam wishes to impart life lessons to her readers-and hopes to touch their hearts.