CIN270Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Haile Gerima, Blaxploitation, Hyphenated American
11 May 2018
School
Department
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Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017
CIN270Y1
CLASS 13
CLASS 12 Screening of Italian –American Documentary + Rocky
BLAXPLOITATION
• 1967-1977 = a key decade for Black cinema
• Blaxploitation one part of this wider phenomenon
• Independent Black production (non-Blaxploitation) works existed
• “The L.A. Rebellion School”
• Charles Burnett, Haile Gerima, Julie Dash, etc.
• The Horse, Bush Mama, Killer of Sheep
Blaxploitation: “Gratuitous” Violence & Freedom
• Blaxploitation films accused of “gratuitous violence”
• “gratuitous” unwarranted, unjustified, needless, senseless…
• “gratuitous” has a different resonance regarding the history of slavery
• the slave is SUBJECTED to senseless violence
• she is vulnerable to gratuitous violence
New Hollywood: The “White Ethnic Revival”
• the mobilization of Black Power was historic
• group-based victories (1964-1965)
• it was a challenge to American “civil society”
• but is also provided a MODEL for political action
• “ethnic groups” started to mobilize, too
RESHAPING THE NATIONAL NARRATIVE: “HYPHEN NATION”
• the nation as “mosaic”, not “melting pot”
• new pluralist idioms for national belonging “particularism”
• ethnic “roots” the discovery of ethnic forebears
• “A New Myth of Origins”
The Iconography of Immigration
• a national pedigree originating in “steerage”
Ex. Godfather Pt. 2
• early-20th century Ellis Island the nation’s “origin”
• NYC’s crowded, chaotic tenements/hardships
• Successful incorporation as a hyphenated American
“CINEMA OF WHITE GRIEVANCE”
• The 1960s mobilization of Black Power was threatening
• The ethnic revival was partly a reaction the “white sufferer”
• Ethnic = the “downtrodden”; the struggling greenhorn
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Class 12 screening of italian american documentary + rocky. Independent black production (non-blaxploitation) works existed: 1967-1977 = a key decade for black cinema, blaxploitation one part of this wider phenomenon, the l. a. Rebellion school : charles burnett, haile gerima, julie dash, etc, the horse, bush mama, killer of sheep. Reshaping the national narrative: hyphen nation the nation as mosaic , not melting pot : new pluralist idioms for national belonging particularism , ethnic roots the discovery of ethnic forebears, a new myth of origins . The iconography of immigration: a national pedigree originating in steerage . 2: early-20th century ellis island the nation"s origin , nyc"s crowded, chaotic tenements/hardships, successful incorporation as a hyphenated american. Cinema of white grievance : the 1960s mobilization of black power was threatening, the ethnic revival was partly a reaction the white sufferer , ethnic = the downtrodden ; the struggling greenhorn.
