Introduction

This annotated bibliography blog is for my final project for ENG 8125: Research and Writing Methodology. Although this is a partial list of my sources, I feel it is a mix of scholarly articles and books from a variety of disciplines. My project and these subsequent sources focus on issues in blaxploitation-films of the 1970’s targeting black audiences starring mostly all-black casts which combined racial, political, and social issues. 

Specifically, my project deals with perceptions of race and class by Generation X African-American and their reactions to blaxploitation films with female leads. Several articles in this annotated bibliography have extensively discussed some of these films, such as Coffy and Cleopatra Jones. I plan to take a feminist (black feminist) approach and advocacy standpoint in my research project. I also plan on incorporating the actual films into my research project by having both a film viewing and survey/interviews of Generation X African-American women to gauge their reactions to blaxploitation films with female leads. 

My research serves to answer the question (s): What are the modern reactions and interpretations of Generation X African American Woman (ages 30-40 specifically) to female-centered/female-lead Blaxploitation films? Based on modern black feminist aesthetics, will these reactions toward these films be skewed more positively, negatively or impartially?

(Film Trailer  for  Cleopatra Jones available at Youtube.com )

Prototypes of Race and Gender: The Invisibility of Black Women

Biernat, Monica and Amanda K. Sesko. 2009.  Prototypes of Race and Gender: The Invisibility of Black Women.  Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 46: 356-360.

Biernat and corresponding author Sesko in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology present a quantitative research study that examines racial and gender stereotyping and prejudice experienced by black women in relation to the perceptions of white women and black and white men. The study works on the hypothesis that black women are “forgettable” and the least likely to be recognized, hereby going unnoticed.  In addition to quantitative methods, the study also relies on feminist theories of “black invisibility” by bell hooks and other noted black feminist scholars.

 The study was divided into two parts. First, 131 white undergraduates, which included 50 white females, were shown 56 photos of black women’s headshots.  Secondly, participants were asked to distinguish if the photos were old or new. The first study provided evidence that black women’s faces were “forgettable” to white participants, garnering a small percentage of those who correctly identified photos.

 In the second study, participants were asked to identify “who said what” (358-359), which yielded higher errors as the black women in the study were the group most misunderstood among the black male and white male participants. Biernat and Sesko state limitations of the study such as: participants were aware that they were to pay attention to what was said and the definition of “invisibility” may have been too broad.

Although this study is mostly quantitative and from an advocacy worldview, the idea of “invisibility” can be applied to my own research interest. In reading this study the following questions arose: Are women featured in blaxploitation “invisible” and “unheard”? If so, how can we give them a “voice” beyond their physical presence?  Is it because of the “black invisibility” of black women that black women in blaxploitation films have been virtually ignored by the mostly male scholars and film critics? It is my hope that with this research project presenting reactions to blaxploitation films it gives a voice, visibility, and identity to the characters that these women portrayed beyond their stereotypes.

Black Sexual Politics

Collins, Patricia Hill. 2004. Black Sexual Politics. New York: Routledge Press

Patricia Hill Collins follows up her previous work on black feminism with a book examining race and gender and how images of black sexuality have been used to further a divide between black men and women as well as reinforcing racist ideals on a global scale.  Collins examines current media (videos, film, and literature) and American culture to define how blacks (male and female) are sexualized and categorized based on stereotypes that are the antithesis of the ideal “white purity”. Collins defines this work as relying heavily on discourse analysis (4-5) to define the specifics of gender-based racism. Collins is methodical in her approach to the subject, drawing on her familiar lens of black feminism as well as sociological theories as it relates to gender, race and political implications.

I wanted to familiarize myself with other works by Collins and Black Sexual Politics also seemed like a natural fit to draw theory from for the type of theoretical “slant” in which I wanted to take my research project. With specific correlation to my project, Collins talks about the use of black women in 1970s blaxploitation film as either “sexual props” to black male heroes or in the case of Pam Grier, a “combination of beauty, sexuality and violence” (124). The conflict arises in the interpretation of the black female audience of Grier (and other blaxploitation female lead actors) to her portrayal of a black woman on screen? Is she what Collins calls a “black bitch” (125) or just asserting her authority in a male dominated celluloid world? Is Grier’s character authentic or contrived?  Furthermore, would modern, “Generation X” black women perceive characters such as Grier’s “Foxy Brown” or Dobson’s “Cleopatra Jones” in the same light?

The So-Called Fall of Blaxploitation

Guerrero, Ed.  2009. The So-Called Fall of Blaxploitation.  The Velvet Light Trap (University of Texas Press).  64: 90-91.

Ed Guerrero, a noted film scholar and historian, documents the fall in popularity (and financing) of blaxploitation films as part of The Velvet Light Trap’s series on “Perspectives on Failure”. Guerrero attributes the decline of blaxploitation to several factors: disinterest in funding by major studios who are mainly interested in larger, quick profits,  formulaic plots , resistance from  black activist organizations, and finally, Hollywood studios use of blaxploitation to save the film industry from bankruptcy in order to finance larger blockbusters (such as The Godfather). In essence, black actors, directors and writers were used and tossed aside due to profit and lack of interest. Furthermore, audiences for “mainstream” films became overwhelming black; therefore, studios felt that there was no need for films with black interests in mind (91).

In agreeing with Guerrero, I also feel that although blaxploitation is “dead” in a sense of financing from studios and also being somewhat culturally irrelevant as a genre, the genre does deserve critical examination as an important genre of film. In essence, the genre is responsible for many of the motifs we see in hip-hop music, gangster films, and were influential to other African-American film makers (such as Robert Townsend and Keenan Ivory Wayans-both who did spoofs of blaxploitation films).  I am also interested in what the article does not address: How did the fall of blaxploitation affect working actors, particularly the African-American women who had difficulty finding parts in “mainstream” films but found much success via the genre? What has been the impact of blaxploitation on the perceptions of African-American female audiences who were witness a virtual “white washing” of films for years after blaxploitation ended?

Blaxploitation Horror Films: Generic Reappropriation or Reinscription?

Benshoff, Harry M.  2000.  Blaxploitation Horror Films: Generic Reappropriation or Reinscription? Cinema Journal. 39(2): 31-50.

 Benshoff examines the racial, social and gender issues highlighted in the subgenre of horror within blaxploitation films. Aside from movies set against crime backdrops and ghetto life, horror was also a very popular genre within blaxploitaiton. Films such as Blackula  (a black retelling of Dracula) and JD’s Revenge were highly popular with black audiences. Benshoff argues that the images of monstrosity and normality correlate directly to what W.E.B. Dubois called the concept of “twonesss” in the African American psyche-two social identities struggling to coexist (39).  In addition, these films further echoed black nationalistic themes of “black power”, black “rightness” and white being seen as bad.

Although I have no intention of using horror movies within my research project dealing with blaxploitation and women, Benshoff’s article was indeed helpful. His section on “Gender and Sexuality” (40-43) delved greatly in the portrayal of African-American women in horror blaxploitation.  For example, once possessed with an evil “spirit” the women become hypersexualized monsters, ravenous creatures, “ethnically” blatant, and demonic women.   Once relieved of their possession, women become demure, complacent and traditional in their gender roles.   This echoes the same “twoness” of identity defined by Dubois that Benshoff points out with male characters in horror blaxploitation (although he does not elaborate on that idea with regard to women characters). Very few of these films stared black women in lead roles, but women are used (as they are in most horror films) as objects of sexual desire at the expense of black, patriarchal violence. There is no sense of empowerment in horror blaxploitation as there is in more “mainstream” blaxploitaiton films such as Coffy or Cleopatra Jones.   However, both horror and action blaxploitaiton films often subjugated women to roles of mere sexual objects. Thus, there is a slight contrast in the use of women in blaxploitaiton horror versus other subgenres within blaxploitation.

What’s in a Name?: Womanism, Black Feminism, and Beyond

Collins, Patricia Hill . 1996. “What’s in a Name?: Womanism, Black Feminism, and Beyond”.  The Black Scholar.  26(1): 9-17.

Noted black feminist scholar Patricia Hill Collins seeks to define and specify the terms in which black women can define their unique experiences and scholarly.  In the scholarly community there is great debate on which terms are all encompassing to the African-American female experience. Is it womanism (as defined by Alice Walker), black feminism, or simply part of the greater feminist experience? As Collins notes, most African-American women see no great different between the two terms as both terms are concerned with the intersection of racism and sexism (10).  Collins explores both terms and the theoretical implications (both negative and positive) of their use to define the viewpoint of black women. As defined by Collins (using Alice Walker’s previous definitions), “womanism” is the theory of the black woman’s experience which is concrete in the history of racial and gender oppression specific to African-American women while “black feminism” is more global ideology and encompassing social, sexual, political and economic issues that impact black women (12).  Both terms try to define the experience of black women outside of the terms of “feminism” which traditionally has been seen as a “movement for and about white and lesbian women”  (15), which remains problematic for black women. Collins argues that the debate should shift from issues of naming to how overlapping themes can be used for the greater good of drawing attention to issues concerning black women.

Collins’s definitions of both terms have been helpful in shaping my own lens within my own research. For the purposes of my research project, I choose to use the term “black feminism” in defining the ideology and theoretical approach I want to take in my assessment of blaxploitaiton. I take this stance mainly because I am dealing with the medium of film: a globally accessible item that can be viewed by black women across the Diaspora. Furthermore, I believe by examining films I can raise issues that are uniquely both important to feminist theory and important to discussions on race and gender; therefore, a unique juxtaposition between race and gender is at work in blaxploitaiton films. In addition, there appears to be more familiarity with the term “black feminist” than with the term “womanism”.

Film as a Medium to Study the Twentieth-Century Afro-American Experience

Hyatt, Marshall and Cheryl Sanders. 1984.  Film as a Medium to Study the Twentieth-Century Afro-American Experience. The Journal of Negro Education.  53 (2): 161-172

Written almost 25 years ago, Hyatt and Sanders advocate for courses on African-American film to teach the African-American experience (as employed by their own African-American studies department at Harvard University) and examine social historical and political implications of each film. They outline a clear, pedagogical approach for a course that would combine reading (several non-fiction texts from Fred Silva and Daniel J. Leab as well as fiction that reflects the time/era) and chronological film studies (From 1920s- early 1980’s).  In addition, Hyatt and Sanders give a historical account of the rise of African-American film making as a response to D.W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation as well as modern cinematic responses to historical climate (such as blaxploitation being a response and reflection of Black Power movements).  The information is cursory and serves simply as a basis for the type of films that a course on African-American film could possibly cover.

As a future professor of English with research interests in both film and literature, I found this helpful in formulating future syllabi and lesson plans for discussions, critiques of  the intersection film and literature. The section on blaxploitation was short and gives a short critique on the genre as being seen as negative, glorifying violence and ghetto societies. However, there is no suggestion of using these films in conjunction with literature and examining the historical climate (civil rights movements, black power movements, etc) that lead to the development of the genre as a whole. I see a definite void that could be filled with a class on Blaxploitation and feminism, for example or blaxploitation and advocacy issues. I am aware that this article is much older than previous ones and lays a foundation for such a course, but I have yet to see many universities employ this model in teaching courses on film; therefore,  it may be a bit outdated.

(Note: Baruch College, CUNY in New York does have a special topics class on blaxploitation that combines  modern rhetoric/ technical composition techniques we have discussed such as podcasting, blogging, and contemporary cinema theory for undergraduate students which I feel is a fresh approach.)