The Returns of “Cleopatra Jones"

Brody, Jennifer DeVere. 1999 The Returns of “Cleopatra Jones".  Signs:  Journal of Women in Culture and Society 25 (1): 91-121

Brody takes a queer and feminist theory approach in her assessment of the blaxploitation films Cleopatra Jones and Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold starring Tamara Dobson.  In her critical analysis, Brody tries to explain the appeal of Dobson’s iconic role to hip-hop (“Generation X”) women as a model of feminism as well as analyzes the film Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold in terms of queer  properties. Brody compares the character of Cleopatra Jones (played by the 6’2” Dobson) through a queer lens in stark contrast to other female driven Blaxploitation films such as Coffy and Friday Foster (both starring Pam Grier). These films, all produced by white studios with white directors, were exploitive but showed women who were independent, courageous, and strong (95). But unlike her counterparts, Dobson’s portrayal of Cleopatra Jones is distinctly working within the male action hero formula. From assessment of the dialogue to the costuming, Brody recontextualizes Cleopatra Jones and Tamara Dobson’s portrayal working in several parameters: female, masculine, queer, and finally black (with a theoretical assesment via both queer and black feminist lenses)

This article, I found, was most helpful as the basis of my research project. First, it was only one of a few articles that explicitly spoke about a blaxploitation film with a female lead (and it is the film I plan on showing for my qualitative survey assessment/film viewing).  It was not merely the queer lens that Brody is operating from, but her thorough assessment of Cleopatra Jones (Tamara Dobson) as a woman who was different from other  female leads of the blaxploitation era, who is distinctly masculine and feminine, gendered yet not conforming to gender roles. The ideas of spectatorship are distinctly important to my research project. How do outsiders view issues of race and gender? How do insiders (those of the targeted audience of black women) view race and gender? For my project, I plan on working within the parameter of “insider” feedback and spectatorship. Although I do not plan to use the “queer” lens as Brody has, I found her specific narrowing of an advocacy worldview helpful in trying to identify the scope of my own research.