Black Film as a Signifying Practice: Cinema, Narration and the African American Aesthetic Tradition [Paperback]

Gladstone L. Yearwood (Author)

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From the Back Cover

In Black Film as a Signifying Practice, Galdstone Yearwood explores cinema as part of the black cultural tradition. he argues that black film criticism is best understood as a 20th century development in the history of African-American aesthetic thought, which provides a substantive and accumulative aesthetic and critical tradition for black film studies. The book examines the way black filmmakers use expressive forms and systems of signification that reflect the cultural and historica priorities of the black experience. It delineates howthe African-American expressive tradition utilizes its own vernacular space and time for story telling in the cinema and how black film narration draws on the formal structures of black experience to organize story material.

Yearwood focuses on signifying practices in the cinema and the symbol-producing mechanisms tht inform black fimmaking.The book proves valuable insghts into the narrational processes at work in African-American expressive forms and in black culture. Using the frameworkds of an Afrocentric model, Black Film as a Signifying Practice moves away from a preoccupation with balck film as deefined by the dominant society to emphasize how the expressive startegies and cultural mechanisms that have been critical to black survival influence in black fimmaking.

Part on epresents an overview of black film and an introduction to black film culture. It surveys the emergence of the black independent film movement from the perspective of the black culturea tradition, and it presents a criticque of the major theories, concepts and issues that have shaped the history of the black independent film movement. Part two undertakes an intensive examination of problems in black film narration through an analysis of selected films. Black Film as a Signifying Practice is a useful resource for students of film studies, African-American studies, cultural studies, and the arts.

About the Author

Gladstone L. Yearwood is an associate professor of Film and Director of the African-American Studies Program at the University of Central Florida. His publication include Black Cinema Aesthetics: Issues in Independent Black Filmmaking.

Product Details

• Paperback: 284 pages
• Publisher: Africa World Press (September 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0865437157
• ISBN-13: 978-0865437159
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #739,798 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The importance of Black cinema, December 29, 2000

By 

Ryan Krausmann (University of Central Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Black Film as a Signifying Practice: Cinema, Narration and the African American Aesthetic Tradition (Paperback)

Dr. Yearwood is a well-known figure in the area of black film criticism and studies. He's goal is for the rest of the world to recognize the aesthetic values of black film and black culture. I've had him for a professor twice so far and found the depth of his knowledge on film and culture to be staggering.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Read, February 22, 2007

By 

Big Sistah Patty (USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Black Film as a Signifying Practice: Cinema, Narration and the African American Aesthetic Tradition (Paperback)

I totally enjoyed reading the short biographies of the various filmmakers, documentarians, and producers. It was like reading many short stories. I would say if you have any interest in black film making or African American history this book is a worthy read.