Black Film/White Money [Paperback]

Jesse Algeron Rhines (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1996

Why are there so few Black filmmakers who control their own work? Why are there scarcely any Black women behind the camera? What happens to Black filmmakers when they move from independent production to the mainstream? What does it mean for whites to control Black images and their distribution globally? And, was it always so? Could it be different? In this vivid portrait of their historic and present-day contributions, Jesse Rhines explores the roles African American men and women have played in the motion picture business from 1915 to the present. He illuminates his discussion by carefully linking the history of early Black filmmaking to the current success of African American filmmakers and examines how African Americans have been affected by changes that have taken place in the industry as a whole. He focuses on the crucial role of distribution companies, the difficulty of raising money for production, the compromises that directors and writers must make to get funding, and the effect of negative, sensationalistic images on the Black community. Rhines surveys significant eras in film history and their impact on African Americans, from the silent era through the emergence of the Black-owned Lincoln Motion Picture Company, and the later introduction of sound, to the postwar era, the antitrust suit against Paramount Pictures, the introduction of television, and blaxploitation movies. Rhines interviews many well-known directors, including Spike Lee and Reginald Hudlin, and producer Grace Blake, giving readers an inside look at how deal-making does--or does not--work.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In sober, almost fatigued prose, Rhines, a professor of political economy in the African American and African studies department at Rutgers's Newark campus, traces the roles that African Americans have played-or not played-in all aspects of the movies from 1895 to the present. Rhines efficiently covers an impressive breadth of subjects through considerable original research. He relates an entire troubled history of blacks in cinema from Edison's experiments, silent movies such as The Birth of a Nation and a response to it, Birth of a Race, to Depression and WWII era films, to blaxploitation movies of the '70s such as Shaft and the "gangsta" blockbusters of the '80s and early '90s such as Boyz N the Hood. But Rhines also discusses Hollywood's discriminatory employment practices, the special concerns of black female filmmakers, Spike Lee's failure as a "responsible social critic" and how film distribution "is the greatest obstacle to broad-based success for African American feature filmmakers, film crews, and film cast members." Rhines consistently treats "art" as a product in a "system of economic relations that pits one group against another in the interest of singular economic gain." Neither humanism nor aesthetic experimentation is enough to counteract this colossal problem, he says. Despite this pessimism and his implication that the "system" has a life of its own, Rhines still encourages members of the "black urban underclass" to choose moviemaking as a career. Forty-seven b&w illustrations.

Copyright 1996 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Rutgers University Press; First Edition edition (June 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813522676
• ISBN-13: 978-0813522678
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #792,333 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Must Read For Actors and Independent Filmmakers., April 16, 2011

By 

Yuri Brown - See all my reviews

This review is from: Black Film/White Money (Kindle Edition)

I read this book straight through with a lot of enjoyment. I love this book. It has changed my film making aspirations. This book provides a historical context of the film industry that ties smartly to the economic context that we live in today. The author discusses how independent filmmakers have in the past taken advantage of imperfections in the competitive film system. He also shares the value in depicting the source of economic woes in films that center on the underclass. All in all this book is so well written and so easily read and so completely informative that it's a must read for any independent film maker. I learned so much. The only critique I have is the title because this book is so much more than what the title implies.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars informative and smart, June 13, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Black Film/White Money (Paperback)

This book chronicles the evolution of Black Film and Black people in films from the racist depiction of Blacks in Griffith's Birth of a Nation through the Black Diaspora to Spike Lee.

A great read

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding research, March 5, 1999

By 

David J. Bondelevitch "bondelev" (Burbank, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Black Film/White Money (Hardcover)

This is an extremely well researched book regarding the African-American film industry, which is a very neglected area of the business. I highly recommend it.