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Phenomena: Blaxploitation

Blaxploitation is a film genre, which came to life as part of the African-American cinema, which reached its peak popularity in 1970s. The name of the genre is a combination of two words, i.e. blax (meaning “blackness”) and exploitation. The name was coined by Junius Griffin, member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

Blaxploitation films are characteristic for their low budget and rather poor quality of workmanship, as well as quick production of successive productions. All films in this genre are schematic, which is manifested by the presence of specific types of characters, including: pimps, gangsters, drug pushers, prostitutes and tough women, who have fighting skills, e.g. know karate. Films are always set in Harlem — the black district of New York. The films of the genre were always relevant and made very quickly, commenting events of the time, e.g. the war in Korea of Vietnam. They were blatantly literal and celebrated eroticism. They became the favourite film genre of the African American community that wanted to see films without any censorship. The grindhouses and drive-in cinemas of 1960s and 1970s were all dominated by violence, sex and degeneration. American film expert Jeffrey Sconce classified the “exploitation” genre as an element that belongs to “paracinema”, i.e. something that is not exactly a film and breaks with the standard definition of a film.

The blaxploitation genre cannot be analysed without the context of the fight for the rights of black Americans, in 1960s and 1970s. The movement started in 1960s and demanded full and real civil rights for the black portion of the society. The most radical faction was the Black Panther Party — an American political organisation, established to protect the black minority in the USA. The organisation was perceived as the centre of “black racism” and it was actively fighting (often with arms) for the rights of African Americans.

The Black Panther activists were regarded as icons of pop culture and rebellion, in America. Eventually, the party focused on social problems. Its supporters appealed to black filmmakers to take interest in the subject of the African America society, which became the starting point for the birth of the blaxploitation genre.

Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song (1971), directed by Melvin Van Peelbes, who also played the main character, is traditionally regarded as the first film of the new genre. The film was very successful, in the commercial aspect and gained very enthusiastic recognition, although it was a very low-budget production. The hero in the film was a black criminal, who fought against “white” police. Rumour has it that after the film was released, P. Newton, one of the founders of the Black Panther Party made every candidate for the organisation watch the film carefully, before they were accepted for the organisation.

The blaxploitation films made in the years 1970–1975 focused on presenting black men and women as antiheroes, who fought the world of big business, which they saw as corrupted by white people. However, the first blaxploitation films did not bring about the change that was so much required. African Americans have always been presented in stereotypical ways, in American films, i.e. as waitresses, servants, workers or shoeshiners. This stereotype was changed with the making of Shaft (1971) by Gordon Parks. The film was highly acclaimed all around the world and is still considered as the most important film of the genre. It made 13 million dollars, while its total budget was only 500,000 dollars. The main character, detective John Shaft, was portrayed by Richard Roundtree. The scale of success was manifested in many ways, including the Oscar for the Best Original Song, Golden Globe and Grammy Award (all awarded in 1972), for the main music theme from Shaft, composed by Isaac Hayes (Theme from Shaft). It was the first Oscar in history for an African American in a non-actor category. The film has had two sequels: Shaft’s Big Score (1972), Shaft in Africa (1973) and a remake in 2000, titled Shaft with Samuel L. Jackson in the leading role.

Such films as Blacula by William Crain (1972), Blackenstein by William A. Levey (1973) or Dr. Black, Mr. Hide by William Crain (1976) are also considered as being part of the blaxploitation genre.

Blaxploitation films were based on soul, rhythm and funk music. The already mentioned composer Isaac Hayes made an enormous impact on the entire generation of African American musicians, throughout his long-time career. He first and foremost composed soul, rhythm & blues and urban music. Hayes is also considered as one of forerunners of rap. He has become the symbol of pride to be one of Black Americans.

The blaxploitation cinema has also made a significant impact on the emancipation movement of black women. It portrayed black women as independent from the “wealthy white master” and having a lot of sex appeal. Women were becoming protagonists in action films, more and more often, taking on the roles of “superwomen”, thus putting the period of male domination to an end. One of the most important actresses who became popular in the blaxploitation films is Pam Grier, whom we can remember from the contemporary films of Quentin Tarantino. Her roles in Coffy (1973) and Foxy Brown (1974) have become particularly memorable. The women she portrayed were independent, stubborn and unmoved, fighting with bandits and powerful criminals. They made impression on both men and women, the latter of whom were envious of the courage presented by the characters in films. As Pam Grier has one put it in an interview: “It makes me proud to know that people see me a strong black women, although I am a mixture of various nationalities: Spanish, Chinese and Philippine. My father was black and my mother was born in India. I was raised in Catholic faith, baptised as a Methodist and married as a Muslim”. In her book Women of Blaxploitation, Yvonne D. Sims makes an observation that one could not imagine the figure of Ellen Ripley played by Sigourney Weaver (the Alien series), had it not been for blaxploitation films with women.

The films of the blaxploitation genre satisfied the appetite for entertainment among the black people (as the films focused on black protagonists) and became very popular with the black audience. However, the genre resembled classic gangster films, which met with strong opposition from some of African American organisations. They believed that blaxploitation films popularised the negative stereotype of African Americans, who were commonly identified with gangsters.

In 1980s, African Americans become common characters in film productions and the film industry lost its fascination with the blaxploitation genre. Nonetheless, blaxploitation films are a significant part of the history of American cinematography. They reflect the historical progress of the black people in America. Many filmmakers have made references to the blaxploitation genre, including Quentin Tarantino and his Jackie Brown (1997), Kill Bill (2003) and Death Proof (2007). The genre has also had its impact on hip-hop and artists of this music genre have used the blaxploitation convention in their music videos.

In 2000, this film genre saw its peculiar tribute with the making of the mentioned remake of Shaft, starring Hollywood star Samuel L. Jackson, as detective Shaft. It was a tribute paid by big film studios to the blaxploitation genre and also a contemporary interpretation of that classic film. The original Shaft made in 1971 was officially listed in the American National Film Registry, also in 2000.

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