Have the blaxplotaion films of the 1970s perpetuated stereotypes of people from African decent? Many of the films targetted to "black audiences" today are clearly heavily influenced by the blaxplotaion film genre. What do you think?
share[deleted]
Not really. I think it actually got the ball rolling as far as blacks being in film. Everybody needs to start somewhere.
shareI don't really think of COTTON as a blaxploitation flick; it was based on one of Chester Himes's potboilers and thus had a solid foundation. Yes, it did have some of the aspects of what came to be known as blaxploitation (graphic violence, sexpot females, white villains), but was leavened with a grim (dare I say "black") humor that I often found lacking in blaxploitation. I have little desire to watch COFFY or SUPERFLY TNT again, but I just watched COTTON again this past weekend.
shareNo, not at all. It gave Blacks the opportunity to ourselves, be ourselves, on screen. Let alone make our own movies and prove to the big studios that we could. White audiences loved blaxploitation, which is why the genre didnt last long. Once the big studios saw the turnout to these predominately independently financed movies, especially after the Sidney Poitier/Bill Cosby movies, they started making them. Blaxploitation movies turned out to be very important to the history of cinema.
shareUnfortunately, many of those associated with blaxploitation weren't allowed to grow once the genre burned out. People like Gloria Hendry, Carol Speed, Jim Kelly, Tamara Dobson, and Max Julien disappeared. Pam Grier went into limbo for about 15 years. Fred Williamson kept it going with cheapo European productions.
shareAfrican descent?
LMAO!
Isn't that ALL of us?
As if ANY of these actors (or grandparents even) have ever been near Africa!
I don't know about keeping the brother man down
but "Black Belt Jones" and "Dolamite 2 The Human Tornado"
are my favorites
in Dolamite 2 all the southern people are white racists
these movies are like cartoons brought to life
check out dolamite and Cleopatra Jones's Kung Fu its SOOooooo fake
but Black belt Jones his Kung Fu KICKS ASS!!!
blaxplotaion films are SOOOoooooo Damn FUNNY
Like I said Cartoons brought to life
hey Superfly is good too
so is Blacula
all these movies put blacks on the screen
money in their pockets
exposer gets you fame and money
so ITS ALLL GoooooD
The problem that plagued blaxploitation (as it does with every genre) is that after the good ones came like Shaft, Sweet Sweetback's Baaadassss Song and this movie, came the total and inferior knock-offs. There were a few gems in the lumps of coal (Black Caesar is a particularly good one), but they just became more and more absurd until, finally, the genre collapsed under its own self-parodied weight.
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And directors like Ossie Davis and Mark Warren weren't able to sustain careers, unlike a Spike Lee. Always wondered what Davis was thinking when he worked as an actor for Spike ("Damn, if I were 25 years younger, this mighta been MY movie.")
shareDavis might have been thinking "Wow, Gordon Parks, Melvin Van Peebles, and me helped pave the way for the likes of Lee, John Singleton, and the Hughes Brothers. I feel so honored for that."
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Here I am, stuck in the middle with you!