Representation of African Americans in the

American film of the Twentieth Century

While the authors main objective is to study how the dominant cinema has constructed - and circumscribed - the image of
Americans of African descent in a variety of genres in the course of the twentieth century, he also deals with alternatives, such as
the phenomenon of the race movies of the 1!"s and 1#"s or the more recent wave of blac$ independent filmma$ers from %&A&
'sing studies of established scholars in the field as his point of departure ()onald *ogle, +homas ,ripps, -usan .ubar, /d
.uerrero, 0enry %ouis .ates, 1r&, or the late documentary filmma$er 2arlon 3iggs4 the author attempts to illustrate how the African-
American screen image evolved from a set of earlier notions about race, in most cases dating bac$ as early as the pro-slavery and
anti-slavery debates in the first half of the 1
th
century&
+he main body of the project is devoted to detailed analyses of individual film te5ts in their respective historical, social and
cultural conte5ts& +hus )&W& .riffiths widely popular masterpiece Birth of a Nation (1164 is highly illustrative not only of the
pervading racist views of a genius filmma$er with a -outhern upbringing, but also of inherently racist attitudes of his audience in the
7rogressive era& An additional aspect in the discussion of this film is the power of the new medium to convey historical lessons -
mar$ed by gross racial stereotyping and distortions of historical reality - to its popular audience& 8t was through films such as
.riffiths epic spectacle (or its more politically advanced variation Gone with the Wind (1#4, which is discussed ,hapter 884 that
the American audiences, many of who were recent immigrants, found out about their new nations history&
+he following chapter represents a slight digression from the genealogy of films made in 0ollywood& 'sing the e5ample of
one of the best $nown e5tant race movies, the 1!9 feature Scar of Shame, the author discusses this alternative to dominant
cinema& 0e also presents the personality of :scar 2icheau5 and finally demonstrates how the legacy of this enterprising and prolific
race filmma$er has become heavily contested terrain in todays competitive and rapidly developing academic world&
;e5t stages in the evolution of the African American screen image were the war years of the early 1<"s, when the
necessity of creating national unity across racial boundaries prompted the coming into e5istence of the military propaganda feature
The Negro Soldier (1<<4 as well as a number of commercial films about '- units with an important blac$ character in them& /ven
the enormously popular cult classic Casablanca (1<!4 can be used as an e5ample of a changing mood of the '- society in matters
of race&
,losely related to these developments are achievements of the late 1<"s and the 16"s with the climate of conscience
liberalism in 0ollywood mar$ed by a hope for reform and gradual inclusion of African-Americans into the mainstream of '- society&
A discussion of the 1< movie Pinky shows various aspects of the conscience liberal formula& +he set of liberal e5pectations and
attitudes reached its apogee in the late 16"s and in the 1="s with the arrival of -idney 7oitier (Guess Whos Coming to Dinner
1=94, whose on-screen (as well as off-screen4 persona typifies the achievements, as well as pitfalls, of conscience liberalism&
+he chapter devoted to the phenomenon of the so-called *la5ploitation focuses on the cinematic landmar$ Sweet
Sweetback Baadaass Song by 2elvin >an 7eebles (1914& +his independent production forcefully redefined the image of blac$
masculinity - previously represented by 7oitier - and served as an inspiration for a wave of ine5pensive action flic$s about
triumphant blac$ heroes and heroines& +he fact that it was particularly the blac$ inner-city bo5 office that saved 0ollywood at a
moment of its most serious economic crisis is an ironic reminder of how the blac$ image has been continually e5ploited by the
dominant cinema&
+he discussion of the 196 film !andingo, set on a plantation in the ante-bellum -outh, naturally invites a comparison to
earlier cinematic e5plorations of the same thematic territory? this time around, however, the viewers were presented with a complete
ideological reversal of the perspective on slavery and the society that sustained it& +his change of interpretation came in the
aftermath of social upheavals and historical @uestionings of the radical 1="s& Attention is also paid to the high degree of se5 and
violence in the film as a conse@uence of the abandonment of the 0ays 7roduction code&
+he ne5t chapter is devoted to the personality of -pi$e %ee& +he author tries to assess the achievement of this
e5traordinary filmma$er and provide an e5tensive cultural analysis of his landmar$ film Do the "ight Thing (1A4, particularly in the
conte5t of the 3eagans America of the 1A"s&
%eeBs importance in current American cinema goes beyond the mere fact of having made perhaps the most interesting films
about the African-American condition so far& 0is success has also inspired a number of other blac$ filmma$ers to ma$e notable
features in their own right& +he chapter entitled .hetto 2ovies comments on a group of films that attempted to portray fran$ly the
everyday e5istence and social plight of African-American youths in the inner-cities&
+he final chapter is devoted to a detailed e5amination of 1ulie )ashs independent feature Daughters of the Dust& )ashs
unusual, rich and visually stunning film about the blac$ female e5perience at the turn of the !"th century is presented in the conte5t
of %os Angeles independent filmma$ing as well as in the conte5t of the 'nited -tates at the end of the millennium&