In a year that has seen African-American actors receive more top honors than ever, Blackface revisits the efforts of black filmmakers and the portrayal of African-Americans in cinema. As a film critic for the Village Voice, Nelson George has analyzed films and reported on the careers of black directors and actors; as the screenplay writer for Strictly Business and the co-author and executive producer for CB4, George experienced Hollywood from the inside, meeting with studio execs and creating movies that didn't turn out as he hoped. George shares a candid and personal perspective on 30 years of African-American cinema in Blackface--both the films he saw and the films he made. Blackface includes essays on 2002's honorary Academy Award winner Sidney Poitier, the Black Filmmaker Foundation, Spike Lee, and George's CB4 partner Chris Rock. George also discusses the impact of African-American independent films since the 60s, the blaxploitation craze, and the influence of white money on black artists. New to this edition are pieces on the Hughes brothers, Richard Pryor, and African-American cinema at the beginning of the 21st century, as well as George's own encounters with Hollywood.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
According to the publisher, this book caps George's trilogy on black popular culture, after Elevating the Game, on basketball, and The Death of Rhythm and Blues, on music. But even the author acknowledges that Blackface is "more a memoir than a critique," and although his observations are often worthy and his style entertaining, his take is too scattershot to do his subject justice. He begins with memories of his Brooklyn youth, offering pointed reflections on Sidney Poitier and The Godfather. George became a music journalist and wound up in Brooklyn's Fort Greene, where he met Spike Lee and soon segued into the burgeoning 1980s world of black film as a writer and producer. He devotes a chapter to comments on early 1990s black films, from New Jack City to Daughters of the Dust, then a long chapter to the making of the "rapumentary" CB4, which he produced. George sums up by suggesting that innovations-through independent distribution or a "direct-to-home-video market"-are needed to get more black films to their targeted audience. Interspersed amid the chapters is a lengthy, annotated time line on black film. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
Critic George (Buppies, B-Boys, Baps, & Bohos, LJ 1/93) presents a lively history of the African American film scene. [Reviewed on p. 78.]
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
strong Book,
This review is from: Blackface: Reflections on African Americans in the Movies (Paperback)
Nelson George does a Great job of showing through the history of FIlm How African-American Actors&Actress's are portrayed.the power of Image in front&behind the camera is on display here.very detailed of how African-American Image's translate from head too toe with audience's.this book holds nothing back.Nelson George brings another Winner here.
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