Framing Blackness: The African American Image in Film (Culture And The Moving Image) [Paperback]

Ed Guerrero (Author)

Book Description

Series: Culture And The Moving Image | Publication Date: November 19, 1993

From D.W. Griffith's "The Birth of a Nation" to Spike Lee's "Malcolm X", Ed Guerrero argues, the commercial film industry reflects white domination of American society. Written with the energy and conviction generated by the new black film wave, Framing Blackness traces an ongoing epic African Americans protesting screen images of blacks as criminals, servants, comics, athletes, and sidekicks. These images persist despite blacks' irrepressible demands for emancipated images and a role in the industry. Although starkly racist portrayals of blacks in early films have gradually been replaced by more appealing characterizations, the legacy of the plantation genre lives on in Blaxpoitation films, the fantastic racialized imagery in science fiction and horror films, and the resubordination of blacks in Reagan-era films. Probing the contradictions of such images, Guerrero recalls the controversies surrounding role choices by stars like Sidney Poitier, Eddie Murphy, Whoopie Goldberg, and Richard Pryor. Throughout his study, Guerrero is attentive to the ways African Americans resist Hollywood's one-dimensional images and superficial selling of black culture as the latest fad. Organizing political demonstrations and boycotts, writing, and creating their own film images are among the forms of active resistance documented. The final chapter awakens readers to the artistic and commercial breakthrough of black independent filmmakers who are using movies to channel their rage at social injustice. Guerrero points out their diverse approaches to depicting African American life and hails innovative tactics for financing their work. Framing Blackness is the most up-to-date critical study of how African Americans are acquiring power once the province of Hollywood alone: the power of framing blackness. Author note: Ed Guerrero, Assistant Professor of English at the University of Delaware, lectures and publishes widely on black cinema and has worked on documentary film projects for PBS and Island Records.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Ed Guerrero writes broadly and insightfully about the creation and domination of the black image in commercial cinema. This book is a must-read for anyone wishing to develop an understanding of black films and filmmaking in the U.S."
—Julie Dash

"This well-written and well-argued book offers both an historical survey of representations of blacks in American films and an argument about the relationship between social life and popular culture.... [It] fills an important need within the fields of cinema studies, Afro-American studies, and cultural studies, and will appeal to a broad range of readers."
—George Lipsitz, University of California, San Diego

From the Publisher

A challenge to Hollywood's one-dimensional images of African Americans

Honorable Mention Theatre Library Association Award

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 255 pages
• Publisher: Temple University Press (November 19, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566391261
• ISBN-13: 978-1566391269
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 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: #199,639 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 enjoyed it, May 8, 2008

By 

Clover (Detroit, MI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Framing Blackness: The African American Image in Film (Culture And The Moving Image) (Paperback)

I enjoyed this book. It is not meant to be a history of film, but rather, as the title implies, a close look at Black representations in popular film. Guerrero can give the reader some refreshing looks on films we all know and may love, and the reader will gain a more critical eye of the images of Blackness in our current society. A good book to own, even if you only read the chapters that sound interesting to you.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A very ambitious book, May 26, 2004

By 

Daniel Clausen (Ft. Luaderdale, FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Framing Blackness: The African American Image in Film (Culture And The Moving Image) (Paperback)

Guerrero writes a very ambitious book, attempting to outline the entire history of the representation of blackness in cinema. Although, the book is well researched, and for the most part clearly written, its revolutionary ambitions often outstrip complex readings of cultural texts.

Guerrero uses technical marxist language like hegemony, overdetermination, and ideology without fully integrating or explaining how they work within his polemic, inflating what is otherwise highly accessible prose--even to non-academic readers.

One further caveat: this is clearly a book concerned as much about overturning white "domination" of black representation, and prescribing alternative film "languages" as it is a book on film "History." Therefore, one should not read this book as film "History," but as "a history" of film...and let your reading Guerrero's book remind you that any other History, should also be regarded as "a history" as well.

Daniel Clausen

danielclausen dot com