With the Civil Rights movement of the sixties fresh in their perspective, movie producers of the early 1970s began to make films aimed toward the underserved African American audience. Over the next five years or so, a number of cheaply made, so-called blaxploitation movies featured African American actresses in roles which broke traditional molds. Typically long on flash and violence but lacking in character depth and development, this genre nonetheless did a great deal toward redefining the perception of African American actresses, breaking traditional African American female stereotypes and laying the groundwork for later feminine action heroines. This critical study examines the ways in which the blaxploitation heroines of the early 1970s reshaped the presentation of African American actresses on screen and, to a certain degree, the perception of African American females in general. It discusses the social, political and cultural context in which blaxploitation films emerged. The work focuses on four African American actresses—Pam Grier, Tamara Dobson, Teresa Graves and Jeanne Belle—providing critical and audience response to their films as well as insight into the perspectives of the actresses themselves. The eventual demise of the blaxploitation genre due to formulaic plots and lack of character development is also discussed. Finally, the work addresses the mainstreaming of the action heroine in general and a recent resurgence of interest in black action movies. Relevant film stills and a selected filmography including cast list and plot synopsis are also included.
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Yvonne D. Sims is an assistant professor of English at South Carolina State University.
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This review is from: Women of Blaxploitation: How the Black Action Film Heroine Changed American Popular Culture (Paperback)
Women of Blaxpolitation is an important treatise into an often overlooked topic in film studies and broader cultural studies. Exploitation cinema was a major force in 1970's culture that yields its influence on modern film and popular culture in movies like Quentin Tarrantino's Death Proof and thousands of B-grade films produced on the independent front. Too often people assume that women in these films were simply eye candy or lambs to the slaughter but in reality power exudes from many of these women . . . super heroes of the feminine upheaval that came with the women's liberation movement. It is refreshing to see a book on this subject exploring the power to transfrom that these women had written by a female scholar, rather than the male perspective. This is a thoughtful book worth adding to your library.
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very compelling,
This review is from: Women of Blaxploitation: How the Black Action Film Heroine Changed American Popular Culture (Paperback)
one of the kind of books that is so long overdue. the soul sisters featured in this book were more charlie's angels than what tv was putting out now and even till this day. this book deals with the racial aingle which hollywood still has today especially when it comes to african american female leads. i never understood why a term like Blaxploitation was coined when hollywwod then and still to this day isn't nearly properly balanced on the big screen.
very well put together book and a must read on so many levels.
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This review is from: Women of Blaxploitation: How the Black Action Film Heroine Changed American Popular Culture (Paperback)
Women of Blaxpolitation illuminates the role of African American women in film from a historical perspective while exploring the evolution of the modern heroine from these roots. The work is insightful and flows in a serious, but engaging way. This book led me to a deeper understanding of the feminine character in modern film and the cultural pathways forged by strong, admirable women.
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