Link to the Moynihan Report ("The Negro Family--The Case for National Action")

http://www.dol.gov/oasam/programs/history/webid-meynihan.htm

Village Voice article on Ousmane Sembene by J. Hoberman

http://www.villagevoice.com/film/0748,hoberman,78462,20.html

Some information on REVOLUTION '67 and the film series

DISPARTIES AND MISCONCEPTIONS
A Film Series sponsored by America's Black Holocaust Museum, UWM'sCommunity Media Project, and UWM's Cultures and Communities

The Community Media Project (CMP) is an arts outreach program that wascreated by film faculty in collaboration with The Inner City ArtsCouncil and Great Lakes Film and Video (now defunct) in 1985. Directedby Portia Cobb, this program is an affiliate program of the UWM filmdepartment and the Peck School of the Arts. The mission of the CMP isto provide artistic programming and outreach for under-servedaudiences--at UWM and in Milwaukee's central city. We do this byoffering free film screenings and film and video workshops. Forliterally two decades, the CMP has provided programming that isdiverse and inclusive in its scope. Much of what we have accomplishedhas been facilitated through partnerships with community-basedagencies.

The "Disparities and Misconceptions" film series at America's BlackHolocaust Museum will highlight films that magnify struggles thatAfrican-Americans face in attempts to overcome disparities in accessto resources, often met with forceful resistance. Topics that thesefilms will explore include removal from one's land, urban revolt inresponse to racial injustice, and petitioning the government to retainone's resources.All screenings will take place at 7:00pm at America's Black HolocaustMuseum (2233 N. 4th St.--off 4th and North). Admission is free, but adonation to the museum of $5 for adults and $3 for students issuggested. Specifics of events are subject to change.

"Revolution '67" - Film and Discussion Thursday November 29, 2007 @7pm (co-sponsored by docUWM)
The American struggle with race, inequality, idealism, and power in the1960s is explored through the untold story of the riots that erupted inNewark, New Jersey, in 1967. What really happened is told through archivalfootage and from the mouths of the people who lived it. The filmmakersinterview the Activists (Tom Hayden, Amiri Baraka, Sharpe James) and thePower Structure (Brendan Byrne and representatives from the Police and theNational Guard). While points of view differ and the media may have fannedthe flames, it's true that 26 people died and many other cities soonexperienced similar disturbances. "Accurately and effectively captures themood, the pain, the loss, the ambiguity, the fear and the continuing impactof the violent unrest of the summer of 1967. This film helps us to remembera time that still inspires and haunts America." - Historian Lonnie G. Bunch,Founding Director, Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of AfricanAmerican History and Culturehttp://www.bongiornoproductions.com

A discussion will follow with the filmmakers, MarylouTibaldo-Bongiorno and Jerome Bongiorno, and James Criss of theMilwaukee County Sheriff's Department

There is no charge for viewing the film, but the museum suggestsdonations of $5 for adults and $3 for students. Running time for thefilm is 90 minutes.For more information, please call 264-2500

FINAL PAPER (due 12/10--paragraph with argument and outline due 12/3)

Film 301Cobb/McFadden
11/26

Final Paper
Monday, December 10th (paper due)

In a couple of weeks, your final paper assignments will be due.Your assignment is to write a paper (6-8 pages) that offers ananalysis about two films, at least one that we have seen in class. The purpose of this assignment is to examine either a theme or a use of a convention (i.e. narrative/cinematography/editing/soundtrack) that persist through both films. You are to discuss how they are used either similarly, differently, or both. You can also discuss these themes in regards to historical significance of the films either in the period they were released or in the broader lineage of Black independent cinema.

For your papers, you must follow these guidelines:-12 point font size (font either Times New Roman or Arial)-double-spaced-MLA citation format (Guide to MLA style available in library)-At least three scholarly sources must be used, with at least one source from the course reader (Wikipedia may NOT be used as a source. Internet sources mustbe cleared with either instructor).-Film titles must be either italicized or underlined.

As you post your responses on the blog for next week, also post a paragraph (6-8 sentences) that contains the central argument in your paper and the topics you want to explore within that paper. If you need for me to read what you're going to submit before you post it, please feel free to send it to me.

It is important that you have a central argument/thesis for your paper, rather than have 6-8 pages full of random trivial information that offers little insight into the topic. Use this final paper to expand on a theme you either heard or discussed in class or read in a blog posting or in the assigned readings. Provide insight into how your topic can give us a new perspective about the film that we have not considered. And please avoid making arguments that you cannot support with documented evidence.

Please contact Professor Cobb or myself with any questions you have. Thanks.

Week #10--Examining and Rewriting History

Both Illusions and Daughters of the Dust demonstrate that Julie Dash is privileging a presence of Black women onscreen in a historical context that has never been granted. In her writings and interviews that she has given, Dash does not hesitate to acknowledge that much of her content is speculative fiction. She understands that Mignon’s limitations as a studio executive loom much larger than her film presents, but the point of her film is to realize a Black woman within the position and to consider, from the perspective of a Black woman, how she would handle herself in such an environment. I would argue that Dash’s references to Hollywood stock conventions during that period, particularly the aggressively romantic male lead and the White female characters who exist to “beautify” the office, further complicate Mignon’s motives, as well as the presence of Black female subjectivity within this context. As with Daughters of the Dust, Dash’s poetic license is supplemented by her extensive research of the region, its history, and the culture it produced through readings, archival searches, and familial accounts. Dash’s greater purpose extends beyond what she sought to do in Illusions, which is to provide a multiple subjectivity of Black women. She presents them in a variety that ranges amongst ages and cultural perspectives. For Dash and her characters, particularly Yellow Mary, Nana and Eula, knowledge of one’s ancestral history provides a basis of empowering self-identity, and it enables them to confront the pain that they have faced in their lives.

As with Dash, Cheryl Dunye presents herself in The Watermelon Woman as a filmmaker in search of validating her own identity as a Black lesbian. Dunye fictionalizes her journey within a documentary format that combines formal research and interviews with moments of her life that eventually find their way into the project. While some arguments may arise about whether Dunye’s use of documentary conventions undermines the sincerity of her project, the point is not so much about fooling the spectator as it is using strategies with which the spectator is familiar to magnify the absence of Black lesbians in film, whether it is in a fictional or non-fictional context. Her exploration of her fictionalized subject, Fae Richards, looking beyond her designated name, “The Watermelon Woman,” opens up not only a history of the Black lesbian community in Philadelphia, but also responses to interracial romance within the lesbian community. Given that the love interest in the film, Guinevere Turner, co-wrote and appeared in Go Fish, a groundbreaking lesbian-themed film in the early ‘90s, it also references how Black lesbians can find agency in other cinematic representations of lesbian romance. Yet Dunye also raises anxieties as to what role her fictionalized self plays within this dynamic. As Thelma Willis Foote explains, “Cheryl does begin to suspect that Diana desires her because she, Cheryl, is black. If that were so, dating Diana exposes Cheryl to the peril of being the fetishized black object of white racist desire, regardless of Cheryl’s own self-assertive and affirmative identification with racial intentions haunt their relationship” (7). It is important to think about this dilemma Cheryl faces as her own degree of “Blackness” is questioned for pursuing such a relationship.

As you think about The Watermelon Woman in relation to films that we’ve either already seen or will see, think about how Dunye, by making a mockumentary about the marginalization of its subject, privileges other marginalized issues and subjects. As Foote puts it, “Here, the documentary impulse, the desire to recover and to tell the stories of marginalized people, especially those who share her gender and racial identity, motivates Cheryl’s pursuit of a career in documentary filmmaking. In this way, Dunye’s film introduces its thematic concern with identity politics” (2). In respect to this, think about how she subverts the presentation of stereotypes through filmmaking to ultimately offer it as a tool for self-empowerment.

Link to Charles Burnett Profile

http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/03/burnett.html

Week #6--Films from the African Diaspora

Week #6—Films Throughout the African Diaspora
As the organization of the screening schedule suggests, Killer of Sheep is very much a response to the so-called blaxploitation films of the 1970s. Burnett’s film is more focused on defying the conventions of films that were circulated heavily through the mid-‘70s than what is identified as the template for this genre, Melvin Van Peebles’ Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song. Moving outside of a conventional narrative structure, Killer of Sheep presents an episodic tale of its protagonist, who is becoming increasingly apathetic due to fatigue from the long hours he works at a demanding job that pays a substandard wage. The structure of the film also offers a portrait of a community suffering from moral decline by way of deteriorating resources, children who don’t obey their inattentive parents but mimic their behavior, and women whose gratifications are continuously denied, whether it be intimacy or validity of one’s opinion. These details are what make Burnett’s film more than just a mere response, but as an example of how cinema can honestly convey conditions that threaten the human condition.

In his essay, as well as his interview with bell hooks, Burnett communicates his urgency to express his concerns amidst an increasing landscape of Black images onscreen that deny reality and entice a vicarious engagement that can be potentially dangerous. He writes,

The commercial film is largely responsible for affecting how one views the world. It reduced the world to one dimension, reducing taboos to superstition, concentrated on the ugly, creating a passion for violence and reflecting racial stereotypes, instilling self-hate, creating confusion, rather than offering clarity; to sum up, it was demoralizing…In essence, this cinema is anti-life; it constantly focuses on the worst of human behavior to provide suspense and drama, to entertain” (224).

Burnett offers this observation amidst a situation where a middle-class presence and effective Black leadership has disappeared from these communities. He and his colleagues, the Los Angeles School of Black Filmmakers, wanted to establish a cinema that documented these realities in a fictional setting. What was at stake for Burnett and this collective was control over resources, images, and the presentation of reality that emphasized the vitality of history and memory. The characters in Killer of Sheep, including Stan, are primarily migrants from the South. While many narratives about migration reflect on what people gain when they relocate, Burnett is more concerned with what is lost in regards to culture and values, as well as why they are afraid to confront their immediate past.

History and memory are as important in Euzhan Palcy’s Sugar Cane Alley. To escape the plight of the cane fields, José learns to converge his ability to learn within a formal setting with the ancestral knowledge he gains from an elder in Black Shack Alley, Medouze. The tension between these two settings is articulated in a different context in Stuart Hall’s essay, “Cultural Identity and Cinematic Representation. “ When watching this film, think of how Hall’s discussion of presence Africain, presence European, and presence Americain is identified within the narrative. Also, given these concepts, focus on the stark contrast between Fort-de-France and Black Shack Alley, as well as how Ma Tine and José adjust as they transfer between these different environments. In the scenes where José is at school, think of the constant conflict between cultural memory, as represented by José’s knowledge from Medouze’s stories, and official history, which is offered by these formal institutions. Finally, Keith Warner’s essay about the adaptation of Sugar Cane Alley from novel to film references how audiences from Martinique and throughout the Caribbean celebrated the film after it had become popular amongst international audiences. What are moments in the film in which Black people in Martinique, particularly in Fort-de-France, reflect this mentality?

Film Influences of the Los Angeles School

In Ntongela Masilela's piece on the L.A. School of Black Filmmakers, he mentioned some of the influences that persisted through the films of the L.A. School. Below are examples of films from their respective movements:

Soviet Montage:
The Battleship Potemkin (dir. Sergei Eisenstein)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8YQL2IYPzM

More on Soviet Montage: http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/filmnotes/eisenstein.html

Italian Neorealism:
The Bicycle Thief (dir. Vittorio di Sica)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zE3QEc03Wbo

More on Italian Neorealism: http://www.greencine.com/static/primers/neorealism1.jsp

French New Wave:
Breathless (dir. Jean-Luc Godard)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yt_3NHCwyds

More on French New Wave: http://www.greencine.com/static/primers/fnwave1.jsp

Cuban Cinema:
Memories of Underdevelopment (dir. Tomas Gutierrez Alea)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ac3LGgpo3h4

More on Cuban Cinema: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_of_Cuba

Cinema Novo (from Brazil):
Black God, White Devil (dir. Glauber Rocha)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWGu1bLwXL4

More on Cinema Novo: http://www.filmreference.com/encyclopedia/Academy-Awards-Crime-Films/Brazil-CINEMA-NOVO.html

Argentine Cinema:
The Hour of the Furnaces (dirs. Fernando Solanas and Octavio Gettino)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oM7vgNq5MuU

More on Argentine Cinema: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_of_Argentina

Week #5--Challenging Revamped Stereotypes of Blacks in Hollywood

As gathered from last week’s screenings of Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song and the documentary Baadasssss Cinema, films marketed towards a predominantly Black audience in the ‘70s marked an abrupt shift from previous presentations of Black people onscreen. As America’s social fabric was changing due to the magnification of economic and social disparities along the lines of race and class, Hollywood unintelligently presented itself as a refuge for escapism, distributing long-dated genre films such as musicals, westerns and romantic comedies. The film industry’s inability to transform its practices also illustrated how inadequate it was to present images of Black people that were a departure from the prevalent stereotypes displayed throughout American cinema. While Sidney Poitier was, and still stands as, a trailblazer in becoming a dominant leading man of African descent, people responded to his presence as sterile and accommodating, even if as Mr. Tibbs he slapped a plantation owner in In the Heat of the Night. Black audiences were most critical about how Poitier’s characters were presented as asexual, something that was completely disrupted by Melvin Van Peebles’ portrayal as Sweetback. The character’s transformation from a complicit sex laborer to someone actively escaping his situation can be read as a transitional point in how the Black male lead is portrayed in American cinema.
But while Black men were depicted onscreen as physically and sexually aggressive, unflinching in the presence of authority, and able to survive to the end of the movie, these portrayals would themselves present new stereotypes. In spite of making his film as explicitly political as it was violent and sexual, he still faced criticism, particularly from Haile Gerima. Gerima took Van Peebles to task for creating a character that prompts vicarious thrills rather than political consciousness, as well as presenting physical recklessness as legitimate political resistance. Black male leads in blaxploitation films would be read as the contemporary version of the Black buck, whose virility is as carnally desired by women as it is threatening to men, justifying why he must be controlled or terminated. By emulating their male counterparts, Black female leads would reduce active resistance to patriarchy to nothing more than a brutal revenge fantasy.
A collective of aspiring Black filmmakers who attended UCLA, the Los Angeles School of Black Filmmakers, had access to both education, resources, and correspondence with filmmakers and theorists throughout the African and Latino/a diaspora that was rarely available to the previous generation of Black independent filmmakers. They saw their counterparts, the Black filmmakers and actors in mainstream films, as confined by structures in both storytelling and industry practices that offered illusory empowerment. As film scholar Ed Guerrero remarked in Baadasssss Cinema, the era of blaxploitation films stood as nothing more than a cultural moment. The filmmakers and actors did not benefit from bringing the film industry out of a long economic slump. Even the most famous performers of this era were not able to find consistent work until nearly two decades later.
The filmmakers from the L.A. School took heed of how they felt Hollywood saw Blacks in the film industry as expendable, and they wanted their films to demonstrate a commitment to their community through their narratives, their filmmaking process and how they circulated their films. Much like the filmmakers of FEPACI, they wanted control over their own ideas and resources, which could only be possible working outside of the system. Their work displays the consequences of using impulsive force to settle matters, the gender and generational conflicts that exists in the Black community, the deterioration of economic opportunity, and the confining presence of excessive monitoring by systematic structures that represent government bureaucracy and law enforcement. In terms of form, these filmmakers, like Oscar Micheaux, relied on non-linear narratives to privilege Black characters, yet, unlike their predecessor(s), their training in film school enabled them to master their craft in spite of using substandard film equipment.
As you think of Charles Burnett’s Killer of Sheep while preparing your blog entries, consider the similarities and differences with other films we’ve seen in class this semester, in terms of form and content. What is emphasized in Burnett’s film that differs from those other films, in both his filmmaking style and the characters in the film? What commentary does Killer of Sheep offer about the state of the Black community that goes further than what is offered in either Sweetback or Murder in Harlem, or any film outside of class you can think of? How does Burnett’s essay, as well as his interview with bell hooks, inform us about his approach?
If there is something to learn from the presence of the L.A. School of Black Filmmakers in American cinema, it is that it isn’t so much about increasing the number of Black people in the film industry as it is about more control over telling one’s stories and offering a more diverse portrayal of African American life, whether it be realistically or fictionally. While the output of African American films through Hollywood may somewhat reflect the racial demographics of the country, something that this observation overlooks is that in the interest of making a profit off of a particular demographic, industry executives can be audacious enough to assume authority that they know more about a population they have no engagement with than to whom they are trying to market their products. Such approaches in both film and music present a detrimental scenario in which those populations comfortably place authority in the hands of gatekeepers in the culture industry because of the power they possess (as evident in a film being screened in the Union Theatre in December, Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes). Throughout the semester, it is important to understand how the film industry, or cultural production in general, becomes a battleground for not only how images are presented, but also cultural expression.

Ms. Grier over the years

As I watched Pam Grier in Bad Ass Cinema speaking about her roles in Blaxploitation films, and her later role as Jackie Brown, I remembered that recently (or in the past 3 years)she took on the role as sister to one the main characters in a HBO miniseries about lesbian life called the L-Word. The interesting connection is that that Grier (and mind you I haven't seen Foxy Brown or Jackie Brown outside of what we saw in class) was and still is taking roles that are somewhat independent of mainstream Hollywood ideals, or you might call them mildly edgy, but far from revolutionary. The L-word is as revolutionary to lesbians as Foxy Brown or Shaft seemed to have been for Van Peebles and others working for real change in cinema and representation. Blaxploitation films gave African American audiences the images that they deserved to see, and actors, the jobs that they deserved, but Hollywood with Blaxpoitation films like with HBO and queer life will eventually discard what they deem too edgy or thought provoking. I'm not sure if the show on HBO is still being produced, but there was a time in which queer people craved that imagery but sadly were disappointed with the product.

A Little Black Panther History

Baadasssss Cinema discussed the birth of Blaxploitation in the early 1970's, however the documentary assumes the viewer understands the context of the genre and even the people commenting. Without understanding the importance of the Black Panthers it could be hard to realize how much of an impact the genre had.

One of the first people we see in the film is Afeni Shakur. Most people quickly identify her with her son Tupac, but she should be known for her own actions. Afeni was recruited into the Black Panthers by Bobby Seale in the late 1960's and was quickly targeted by the U.S. government for her involvement. She was jailed on conspiracy to murder policemen in 1969 when she was pregnant with Tupac. She was released, but had to stand trial (she was later acquitted). During the trial Shakur appeared in Philadelphia where the Panthers called for a "Revolutionary People's Constitutional Convention" where a new constitution would be written. At that time Bobby Seale was being tried for murder and Shakur urged, "When the fascist pigs get ready to murder Bobby, I want you in the streets." At the same event, another Panther addressed the problem of informants, infiltrators, and agent provocateurs saying, "if they want to kick off a war tonight, we're ready for them." (New York Times, June 20, 1970)

The Black Panthers weren't paranoid. The FBI under J. Edgar Hoover engaged in every day criminal activity and actively attempted to destroy political movements in the United States as a part of COINTELPRO (look it up, you'll be enlightened on the true character of the U.S. government). A prime example of political repression and state sponsored murder in the United States can be found 90 miles South in Chicago, IL. December 4th, 1969, Fred Hampton was asleep with his pregnant wife. He had been drugged earlier that night to ensure he would be asleep. A Chicago police raid began with police opening fire into Hampton's apartment. When they found Hampton wounded in bed, they dragged him into the hallway and executed him by firing two rounds point blank into his head.



You can watch the 1971 documentary, The Murder of Fred Hampton to learn more about the man and the murder.

If you want to see Bobby Seale speak, watch for information on his tentative Spring visit at http://www.sdsmilwaukee.org/

Week #4--Challenging the Conventions of Hollywood Cinema

In Ousmane Sembene’s Black Girl, as important as it is to identify the oppressive treatment Diouana received from the family she served in a domestic setting, it is also important to identify the relationships that this particular situation in the narrative has with both the colonial situation between Africa and Europe. Diouana’s suicide resulted from her disillusionment with Western perceptions of beauty and leisure, as well as how naïve and oblivious she was to how she was perceived by the family she worked for. This can be directly paralleled to the situation that Sembene and other filmmakers throughout Africa had faced. Last week’s class I had mentioned that Sembene was not able to screen this or any of his films in Senegal for many years, largely because European colonialism had a stranglehold on all resources regarding production (the making of the film), distribution (circulation of the film), and exhibition (screening of the film) that denied these filmmakers complete access. Government propaganda filmmaking was the only opportunity these filmmakers could be part of the industry, as their original projects would not be supported by organization responsible for enabling access to such resources. This rejection would inspire African filmmakers to unify and establish organizations (i.e. FEPACI) and film festivals (i.e. FESPACO) so that they would not only challenge these gatekeepers, but also establish film-related events that they could control.

Also mentioned last week were the different approaches to African filmmaking: semi-documentary (films that depict and denounce European colonialism); didactic-fictional (narratives that reflect African moral tales that focus on good and evil); and research (films that are more analytical about the subject matter). This is something to keep in mind as we transition from African films of the early ‘60s to African-American films of the early ‘70s. I’m sure that you observed that there was roughly a thirty-year difference between when Black Girl was released (1965) and when the previous film we saw, Murder in Harlem (1935), was initially screened. As you can recall from Classified X, Melvin Van Peebles mentioned that after the ‘40s, there went a good two decades where not a single film was released directed by an African-American. As more African-Americans took the reins behind the camera, it was during a moment in which there was correspondence amongst people throughout the African Diaspora. Many people of African descent throughout the world were challenging the governmental establishment and were using forceful action to fight against systems of privilege that unjustifiably subjugated these populations. One level of correspondence amongst people of African descent was through artistic expression, particularly through music, literature and film. It is important to consider throughout the semester how African-American filmmakers and others throughout the Diaspora approach their projects in a similar fashion as African filmmakers regarding the three approaches to filmmaking they utilized.

Reflecting on the activities of African filmmakers to control their own production, distribution and exhibition, it is important to consider how African-American filmmakers faced similar challenges and utilized similar strategies and objectives. This week, we will discuss how, at least regarding production, African-Americans used film as a tool to magnify their situations that had not been shown in commercial film. During the ‘60s, Hollywood had experienced a financial slump because studio executives failed repeatedly to effectively respond to challenges brought upon by television, which not only had shown classic films, but had also become a reliable source to learn what turmoil the country was facing at the time. Slowly realizing that churning out westerns, musicals, and other irrelevant genre films would not make Hollywood competitive, studios began to slowly respond to the counterculture, primarily by lifting what had once been stringent censorship regarding language and the depiction of violence and sexuality. Films that reflected the American counterculture of the late ‘60s (i.e. Bonnie and Clyde, Easy Rider, The Wild Bunch) would become a reliable economic boost for the movie industry.

Another reliable source was what would become known as “Black Exploitation” (or blaxploitation) films. The formula for many of these films is often attributed to the film Sweet Sweetback’s Baaadasssss Song, Melvin Van Peebles’ project about a sex laborer who transforms from his passive state to becoming someone who becomes deeply concerned about his community and is not hesitant to fight on its behalf. Along with its depiction of sex and violence, Sweetback is also known for reflecting the social, cultural, and political sentiments of Black communities throughout the ‘60s through both its form (i.e. its visual display and approach to editing) and content (i.e. what certain characters represent). As we watch an excerpt from Sweetback, think of why Van Peebles’ approach to form and content would be considered as radical, and why others would consider it (particularly the content) to be exploitative. Think of how the film itself is a departure from a film like Murder in Harlem. As we transition to the documentary Baadassss Cinema, we learn more about the blaxploitation era, directly from the filmmakers and performers. Pay close attention to what marked the transition from a film like Sweetback to something like Shaft. Also, consider why Hollywood produced so many of these films (and why they would ultimately abandon them afterwards), and why they received so much criticism from Black social organizations. Also, why would it be considered a double-edged sword for Black actors to take upon these roles? As you read the offerings from Yearwood (from a conference panel amongst Black filmmakers and critics in 1980) and Massood, think of the issues Black filmmakers raise amongst themselves regarding how to effectively reach a Black audience, as well as what an urban landscape meant for offering a different portrayal of Blacks onscreen.

Week #3--Films from Continental Africa

Hi all,
I was supposed to have posted this immediately after class last week, so I apologize for the delay.

Also, I will be posting these writings on the blog from now on instead of distributing them in class. You will still receive the questions to consider while watching the film in class.

DONTE

Week #3—Films from Continental Africa

As we watched a couple of films last week from Oscar Micheaux, we saw an example of a Black filmmaker attempting to present Black people in a more dignified manner. His presentation of Black middle-class life, more so than anything as a model for other Black people to follow, was also designed to attack the caricatures that convinced dominant audiences that Black people were void of any humanity or responsibility. Moreover, it further justified people’s reasons for enabling a climate of racial terror. While Micheaux may present a diversity of Black people onscreen in terms of class stratification, it nevertheless is impacted by an internalization of White supremacy, as the lighter-skinned characters demand more identification and empathy throughout the film.
As important as the topics addressed by Locke, Green, and Bernstein are, something that is also important in relation to class is how filmmakers overall fit in class stratification. Green argues that Black filmmakers were denied access into mainstream bourgeois society because their films didn’t circulate as widely with those audiences as they did with Black audiences, magnifying the different class scale that exists within these disparate racial communities. What contributed to this limited circulation was the fact that Black filmmakers such as Micheaux had to take on so many responsibilities in order to get their films made, working outside the margins of the Hollywood system while it was in its infancy. In addition to writing, producing and directing, Micheaux also had to court studios and theatres in order to garner an audience for his films, even if it was just a predominately Black one. Until the boom of Blaxploitation films (which we will begin to discuss next week), Black filmmakers were limited to this path to gain an audience.
The readings that pertain to today’s film (by Pfaff, Diawara, and Vieyra) discuss issues concerning distribution, solidarity amongst filmmakers, and transferring ancient African traditions to cinema within a colonial context. Today’s film, Black Girl, directed by Ousmane Sembene, provides a commentary on colonialism and its legacy as it focuses on Diouana, a Senegalese woman deceptively hired to be a domestic as opposed to being a child care giver, her initial reason for taking the job. As the French family she works for position her in condescending situations, Diouana silently resists their demands in spite of how vulnerable it makes her. While it is important to think about the historical moment in which this film is set, especially given the fact that it was made during a time where African countries were gaining independence from European colonialism (note the reference to Patrice Lumumba, the president of Congo who was brutally murdered after being forcefully removed from office), it is also important to think of this film in the context of the other topics mentioned above. Once you have watched the film, think of how the oral tradition of storytelling is reconfigured through cinema, especially in particular to Sembene. What do his characters represent, and how does this narrative reflect what is common in African storytelling? Also, given the transitional period of African liberation, why was it considered important for African filmmakers throughout the continent to unify in terms of production, distribution, and exhibition? Plus, consider what barriers were placed to keep African filmmakers from showing films in their own country.

Diouana: Anti-Mammy

During the film Black Girl, I noticed significant features in the character of Diouana. She was almost the exact opposite of the stereotypical Mammy figure. She was unhappy while doing work for the family whereas the Mammy was always cheerful and even singing at times. Diouana was never caught singing or even being in a good mood unless she thought of people in Dakar. She was also given sexuality in the scene in which she changed to get ready to go to sleep. The Mammy had no sexuality at all; she was often large and had no positive attention drawn to her looks.

I also noticed the mise-en-scène while Diouana was in France. It seemed that everything was extremely white: the walls, bathroom, kitchen. Basically everything that she had to use or clean was white. She stood out against the background colors. One of the only things I noticed that was dark was her bed. It seemed this was put in to show where she belonged and wanted to be. She hated cooking in the kitchen and cleaning in the bathroom, but she could always get away when she was in her bedroom. I am sure there were more radical aspects of the film, but these were a couple that really stuck out to me.

Safety : Do gooders doing some good

After our screening of Black Girl on Monday we touched briefly the issues surrounding safety and I can't stop thinking about that concept. I remember listening to Portia speak a little about why Sembene might have chosen for the white people to talk about that during the dinner party scene. Since safety really depends a lot upon a person’s specific situation (race, class, age, political situation) I thought it interesting to think of Diouana's safety in relation to the people she worked for. I hadn't thought of how their (the employers) idea of a "safe" Senegal could be to the people of Senegal, a roadblock to further independence. Since there (or I'm guessing from the commentary during that dinner party) was still some kind of outside party "keeping the safety" that there was an occupying force on the other party (the people of Senegal) being "kept safe." There is a flip side to who is kept safe and who is doing the keeping. After hearing the issue of safety explained in these terms I appreciated how Sembene specifically chose to bring the issue up. In his choice to leave Diouana out of the conversation physically and politically, while the white folks talked about safety in the company of like-minded people, Sembene was indirectly and metaphorically commenting on the current politics of Senegal. Where does Diouana's safety come in? How about the safety of her family, her community?

A Mother's Letter

One of the most confusing thematic aspects of [i]Black Girl[/i] for me was the scene involving the letter from Diouana's mother. The letter, ridiculing Diouana for wasting her money and demanding money be sent home to aid her in illness, created a reaction from Diouana that was hard for me to swallow. Diouana tears up the letter, claiming that the letter was not her mother's. Seeing that her mother was supportive of her trip to France, I do no think this can be taken literally. So what was Diouana saying?

Perhaps she was saying that she no longer wanted to support economic dependence on the French and refused to send the money home for ideological reasons, thus relating her mother to her entire community as a whole. In any case, her mother later refuses to be paid in the film's final sequence. This leads a viewer to believe that Diouana's suicide prompted her mother to rethink her worldview.

Whether this turn of events is believable or not, there are deeper issues present here. Was Diouana's community right to reject French money if it meant being unable to help her mother's illness? If it was right, was Sembene communicating that certain sacrifices must be made in order to attain economic independence from the French?

In any case, I'm interested in what people have to say about the letter, because I have a feeling I could be missing the point completely and would like some insight from others who may have understood this aspect of the film more clearly.

Below are some links about Alain Locke, author of the essay "The New Negro":

Courtesy of the D.C. Library
http://dclibrary.org/blkren/bios/lockea.html


Alain Leroy Locke Society
http://www.alainlocke.com/

the ideas of being radical

I agree with the previous post as well. Even Micheaux not being radical with all of his concepts was still a radical thought. He could include the iconic sambo but still maintain a sense of independence and develop the other black characters in the movie. By overloading the sambo with ignorance this made room to develop the intelligent black lawyer and the sly witty black woman. This makes his film radical while still maintaining face in the 1930's.

Power of Images

It's amazing to watch Birth of a Nation and think that the following decades' black films were made in response to that one film. That really says something about the power of images. With improvements in technology and understanding of human perceptions and interactions (through psychology, sociology, etc.), film is an even more potent tool.

Birth of a Nation's propaganda offered a white supremacists' History of the Civil War and an amazing source of indoctrination and recruitment. Racial superiority can be shown in contrast between people of different skin color or in terms of strength. Leni Riefenstahl's Triumph of the Will offered amazing shots of the 1934 Nuremburg Rally and Wehrmacht troops marching through the streets. The Third Reich separated the "Aryan Race" and Jewish people in film. In 1940, the superiority of the "Aryan Race" was reinforced by the propagandist film The Eternal Jew.

Presently, films like Birth of a Nation and Triumph of the Will are discussed for their technical aspects or overall effects, but few people believe the premises of these films. That said, illogical and irrational stereotypes found in all three still exist, which means that these films have a powerful legacy. Higher education alone is unlikely to combat racism, therefore people have to take it upon themselves to challenge it in everyday life rather than allow the continuance of the "negative peace" Martin Luther King Jr. spoke of. One has to consider what the newer forms of Birth of a Nation are; what films are subtley reinforcing generations old propaganda?

Lem: The Smart Sambo

Murder in Harlem was a great step toward the realization of the true black character. I absolutely agree with Nick about Lem being a Sambo character to keep the film from being too radical. That and his alcoholism are the negative aspects of Lem's character. He also has positive aspects though. The way he thinks during his monologue shows his intellect. He knows that he needs to get to the door quickly without drawing attention to himself so that Brisbane will not change his mind and stop him. He also plays stupid while writing the notes to put next to the dead body. Showing intellect in a Sambo character was quite groundbreaking. He was the same old character that people were used to seeing, but he showed something that none of the previous Sambo characters showed; he had a brain. This was an important step toward showing the truth about blacks in film. Micheaux used the history of film to keep an audience, but added his own flavor to update to a more realistic view of black people.

Oscar Micheaux

Oscar Micheaux was a very talented independent film maker. He was very determined to get his work shown and did everything he could to make sure that would happen. He was responsible for writing, financing, producing, directing, and distributing all of his films. In order to finance his work he would sell his personal belongings and borrow money from friends who all loved his work. The film we watched from Oscar Micheaux was Murder in Harlem. This film was very controversial for its time because of the outcome it had. The story is based off a murder/rape that happens in the near by chemical plant. Brisbane the white male worker was the one who committed the crime and tried to frame others. During this time in history the truth was usually going to come from the white man. Not in this case though. With help from his love of booze and pretty girls Hawkins, the one getting paid to keep his mouth shut, told the truth of the murder to Claudia the sister of Arthur Vance who originally was being charged for the murder. I usually have not watched many black and white films or older films in general but this one kept me interested. Not only did it keep in wondering what the final verdict was going to be, but also if the love story between Henry Glory and Claudia Vance was going to bloom. The other films we watched before this were Birth of a Nation and Within are Gates. These films were both silent films which at first didn't interest me. After i took into consideration the direction of the film and camera placement they were both very well done. I also liked how the music would represent what was taking place in each scene.

Films of the Past

When we were just watching some of the film Birth of a Nation. The film opened up with the kkk riding around on horses while there were black union forces in the streets running around. The film meant for the union troops to look as the evil ones but while I was watching the whole time I was confused, because since I was a child I was taught that the kkk was evil. So the whole time while the film was being played I was just sitting there in confusion until the music started to play and the kkk started to shoot the troops then I began to see what the film was getting at. The second film that was watched was Within Our Gates. The film was the first one that showed a person being lynched on the screen, that to me was one of the things that made in very radical. I was confused why the mob hung both the man that was accused of murdering the man but also his wife and they tried to kill his son. The last film that was watched was Murder in Harlem. This was a very unusual film, the thing that hits me the hardest is that the man that was asked to take the girl out of the basement, he realized that the boss was trying to frame him, and he said that there was nothing that he could do about it. The thing that made this film radical in my mind was the way it changed who was guilty three times. How the film showed only one guilty point of view at a time, It started out with the night watchman, then the boss, and finally the boy that came in and strangled the girl.

Langston and Oscar

While watching Murder in Harlem, I couldn't help but remember the great Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes. Hughes was the anti-Micheaux, detailing daily life and culture in Harlem without pretension in his poetry and plays. His work was met with criticism from many black critics who claimed his attempts to portray daily black life as it was did nothing to alleviate the problems of black America, instead allowing ghettos to identify positively with their surroundings and grow prideful of their situations.

I can almost hear Micheaux's voice among these critics. While Hughes valued truth and beauty in the ghetto, I have no doubt that Micheaux saw nothing but failure. Take the character of Henry Glory for example - while he is from a humble background, he does what is necessary to get out into the real world (or white world), even writing a novel in his spare time to pay his way through law school. This is the kind of man Micheaux valued, a black man willing to block out the unfairness of the world and do what is needed to assimilate and get up to the next step of the social ladder.

As you know, Micheaux faced criticism as well. Many saw him as elitist, and his portrayal of lower class blacks was questionable at best. Nevertheless, you have to admit Micheaux wanted the best for black America. While his views may have been misguided, they were certainly pragmatic. By assimilating to white culture, black America could certainly live more comfortable lives in America; or so Micheaux and many black critics thought. What Micheaux failed to realize that Hughes did was that the culture of black America was valued nearly as much as class status and wealth. It would have been more tragic to many if black America were forced to sacrifice its heritage for the sake of appeasing the white majority and attempting to create peace.

There is a modern equivalent to this situation. Remember when the N.W.A. became a nationally popular rap group? They claimed to be presenting the mindset and surroundings of Compton without restraint. Though extreme, this is also what Hughes was doing. (Though undoubtedly, Hughes was more humanistic.) The voices of black critics again cried out that rap groups such as N.W.A. hurt the black public and helped many to identify positively with detrimental mindsets and attitudes. Many other critics saw N.W.A. as a valuable piece of raw emotion that provided insight into an important segment of the American landscape. Though in different times and extremes, the same arguments that were used against the poetry of Hughes were used in this situation.

Who is right? Was Hughes right to glorify the Harlem ghetto or was Micheaux's mindset of progress and assimilation more reasonable? While I do not think it is wrong for people to identify with a lower class culture, can popular artists compound the problem by creating a sense of pride in the wrong aspects of those cultures? (Furthermore, will people generalize writings like that of Hughes across the board and rejoice in all aspects of the culture, whether they are negative or positive?) Is it wrong to conform to the larger system to succeed financially if it means neglecting your culture at home?

Ethnic Notions and Classified X

The film Ethnic Notions showed me how much the film industry has "progressed." It gave an insight into how the African people have been portrayed in the publics eye. It opened my eyes to how poorly African Americans were portrayed. The portrayal of the mammy was far too stereotypical, being that she was shown as a larger woman that was usually seen cleaning or cooking something. However, the portrayal of the coon didn't seem to bring about the same affect as that of the mammy. The coon can also been seen in western films where a white man is the coon.

Classified X with Melvin van Peebles, informed me about blaxploitation and Hollywood's affect on the portrayal of African Americans. This idea of blaxploitation was new to me in that I had never heard the word before. After watching the film though I felt I had a general idea as to what it was. In my feeling, blaxploitation is Hollywood's stereotypical abuse of Africans. Africans roles on the silver screen were greatly stereotyped, having them perform the part of servants or savages, only because old prejudices seem to die hard.

Correct, But Quite Extreme

While watching the films Ethnic Notions and Classified X, I could not help but to think that even though a majority of the ways blacks were portrayed were incorrect and exaggerated, there were also things pointed out that were true for anyone in Hollywood: black or white. I agree that the Sambo and most of the other characters negatively portray African American culture. The Mammy, on the other hand, would have been portrayed accurately in any film whether she was light or dark skinned. She was shown as a fat, happy, and docile woman who would protect the house. There was no sexual attention drawn to her. I believe that any color nanny figure could be portrayed that way to show that she is devoted to the family. Mrs. Doubtfire was a fat happy, docile woman who would do anything for the family. Even though she was a man in disguise, she was a positive character and it was pointed out in the film that she was also very unattractive. The only way the Mammy was a negative influence on how people viewed the African American race was in the respect of her being a servant of the family. As you can see, I agree, yet disagree with Ethnic Notions' portrayal of the Mammy. I basically agreed with all of the points that Classified X made, even though Van Peebles took many of his examples to an extreme. The movie did what it was made for though; it got the point across that blacks were looked down upon in all film roles until a black person got behind the camera. This semester will be an interesting one and I look forward to seeing and hearing the viewpoints of my classmates, teachers, and the filmmakers.

Ethnic Notions /Classified X

While viewing this film I really was supprised with all of the stereotypes that I was taking in. It is something that viewers have been taking in for a long time and not necessarily actually thinking of what they are seeing. Stereotypes of the Sambo, the zipcoon, the mammy and others. I thought that it was very interesting to see that pre-civil war that the public was given the notion that slaves were happy to serve their masters, and post civil war the public was told that the now free blacks are uncontrollable. To me the mammy kind of hit me as some what like an aunt B from The Andy Griffith Show. Then Ethnic Notions actually went to when African Americans started to enter the entertainment industry. The problem with these roles that they were getting is that they were getting the stereotypical roles. In the film this is referred to as a "Catch 22" for the actors because they wanted to get in to the industry however they didn't want to affirm the stereotypes. The last thing that was mentioned in the film was that some of the new problems in films today is the stereotype of the "Black Rambo". The black rambo, has a side kick of a white cop and has a licence to be more violent. I however disagree with this last one especially when the film uses the movie Lethal Weapon as one of its examples. In that series of movies, the white cop is the one that is more violent and in some cases crazy, and the black cop is a calm family man.
Now to Classified X
Before WWII all of the stereotypes of African Americans were put into movies. However after WWII there was the "NEW NEGRO" this was due to a big wave of democrocy. However in the 50's in went from the new negro era to the no negro era. The film industry said that this was due to the American Golden rule, "He who has the gold rules". The film industry just said that they were appealing to the audiences. It was not till the 60's that the first interracial couple was put up on the silver screen, and at this time it was a very touchie subject. As the movie said on of the problems with the film industry is that they see blacks as a social class not a race. To me this isn't just a problem with the film industry it is the biggest problem over all.

Agreements and Disagreements

After reading the past posts that mention realism I can say that I agree and disagree with idea that elements of realism in both "Ethnic Notions" and "Classified X". They both take views at examples of extreme racism through film, advertising, cartoons and historical events that influenced all of them. Certain instances of these in Ethnic Notions are the points of the easily amused laughing sambo shown in some films, the zip-koon, and showing them enjoying serivtude. These are well developed examples of realism showing just how extremely prevelant and widspread the racism was in the early to mid 20th century.

Melvin Van Peebles, though, uses more of a satirical method to explain his points about the racism of Hollywood. He did this by the example of the white person taking center stage when being the only one in a crowd of black people. This isnt the most extreme point he makes but it rather defines a different kind of racism that Ethnic Notions doesnt cover. Therefore I believe that while there are points of realism in "Ethnic Notions", "Classified X" uses more satire than realism to define its point.

FALLACY!

Hmmm. Maybe it's just me but, I felt that Ethnic Notions was one of those films that really makes one feel and realize exactly how ignorrant one can be towards media, art, and to the world of advertising. Growing up, my grandmother had all kinds of memorabelia from the 30's, 50's etc. the cartoons and the black mami mascots on the front of food products depicted in the film were happily embraced by me while growing up. I really use to like them because they were in association with my grandmother. those items made me think of her.

It's makes me wonder and begin to truly question myself after seeing this film. Why haven't I ever questioned the developers of such products motives? Why was it that the portayal of blacks during those times seemed perfectly fine to me until now? Being half African American myself, why did take such a film like Ethnic Notions to be viewed before I truly saw such strong stereotypes? I guess it's all a form of brainwashing. One sees it so much it becomes the norm and therefore accepted. The forms of the illustrated characters (who were once adorned) became grotesqe. These cartoons were extremely damaging. However, because they were before my time, I didn't really become enraged until I saw the Bugs Bunny clip. Seeing my favorite cartoon character (as a child) put on black face with his enemy (Elmer) and begin to antagonize, ridicule, and disrespect an entire nation of human beings made me want to hide under a rock. I kept thinking, "Is he serious?" This was a icon in my eyes. I would constantly watch LOONEY TUNES. I would draw him and put him on my wall, spray paint on my shirts, named a PitBull after him. At 13 I even got a $200.00 dollar ticket for him (I spray painted him on the school wall). This logo has practcally dominated my life as a child. I allowed it into my home and took it so seriously while he quietly took me for a joke.... This film was a huge eye opener. I'm nervous about what else I might discover about this class in the future.


-TERRELL A.-

Ethnic Notions

At the beginning of ethnic notions i couldn't help but laugh at the characters that were being portrayed. The cartoons in the film that were representing the black culture at the time created an image that wasn't true. First, they portrayed a mammy to be an unattractive lady so that she wouldn't temp the husband of the household and the mammy would take care of daily tasks as well as the children if the parents couldn't do it for some reason. The next image portrayed was the ugly type. These characters were used mainly for entertainment. The next character that was reprensented in this film that was savage black characters. This image is completely false but in this time period this is what hollywood portayed black characters as.
Classified X was a film that really brought my attention to all of the criticism. Mr. Van Peebles made a great point that hollywood protrayed the new and the old black people. In most movies that black acters were in were based of a setting of the a church of some type of entertainment. After the first week of class and these two film has opened up my mind on how hollywood and reality are completely different. I look forward to learning new things about film and what to learn from a film other than just entertainment pleasure.

Classified? I Think not!

Classified X...... Yea, I hear ya Mr Van Pebles!, I hear ya! Sure enough the information disclosed in this film may have been new news to some, but It was only supporting evidence to things that I had already known. I have always been one to decipher a film and to examine it's content. When everyone else would say " it's just a film!" But it's so much more than just a film! It's reality to those of us who have seen similar instances in public establishment such as movie theaters, restaurants. We've all seen ignorance by African Americans in public, the loud obnoxious guy who's using the N word like it's his favorite word in their vocabulary. And this individual is unphased by the stares in which they receive attributed to their raunch discourse.

I can not speak of the films created in the 30's, 40's, and 50's, I have never really been a fan of the old cinema, even though I probably should indulge in such classic cinema. but the root of all good cinema is realism! When I see A guy fire a six shooter 8 times repetitively, the film looses all sense of realism from that point on. But what if I was some snot noised 17 yea old kid who never even heard the term six shooter, And seen the same thing? out of ignorance, the film still kicks ass right?

There is a problem with film makers giving the public false portrayals of real life. this statement holds truths in all forms of media, rather it be news media, music media, or film media. Unfortunately it appears that the powers that be yield the almighty media sword, and are reluctant to put such a powerful tool in the hands of those of us who want to depict a realistic version of true to life characters, as well as scenarios. Why is it this way you may ask? Well.....In life, there are winners, and their are losers. and the winners, also known as the have's intend to keep their counterparts, the have not's into constant conflict, therefore obliterating the probability of the feeble minded have not's to do something that is detrimental to change, and that is to think logically, rather than to think like an elitus and a racist, leaving those of us who see things unfamiliar to us to live in fear of the unknown. Media is the ultimate tool to control the thinking process of the feeble minded! and it is so convenient to, all in the comfort of your very own home!

Alienation As A Fulcrum To Change

As I watched Classified X and Ethnic Notions, I was moved to think that marginalization in the mass media is a form of social control. African Americans were marginalized and misrepresented by "Hollywood" in an attempt to maintain the controls of institutional racism. At the same time African Americans were being marginalized, women, people of other races and cultures, and even lower economic groups were being marginalized and misrepresented, in an effort to create conformity. The examples of "separate but equal" and a "women's place is in the home" are examples of an attempt to control a population's values. If groups are demeaned in the popular culture, films in this case, then the idea of discrimination is easier to accept.

This makes me wonder if the social change which occurred was a matter of alienation with the "powers that be" and that the change was a true democratic movement. The civil rights movement was a multiracial movement; the protests against the War in Vietnam was a multi racial movement; and the women's movement was a multiracial movement. People were able to see beyond the shadows that the mass media were promoting. The struggle of a black man was transformed into a human struggle. The mass media might marginalize African Americans and their culture, but the pictures night after night of water cannons and dogs attacking peaceful protestors changed the dynamic. People saw that whatever the predjudice between races and cultures the struggle for humanity was really a universal cause.

Did this lead us to be alienated by a culture of conformity? At least a part of the culture; youth, intellectuals and the "marginalized" began to see that the status quo was not serving their needs or their desires and "revolted." This led to a civil rights movement, an attempt at affirmative action and at least the trappings of bringing the marginalized into the discourse. Rather then a single movie, or single leader, I think this alienation aided the nation in at least attempting to fix a system which was by any account broken. The art of the marginalized assisted in promoting this change; whether a book Claude Brown's Manchild in The Promisedland or movie Van Peeble's Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song; art bridged the gap and fostered some change.

I think the Hip Hop culture and the associated music and films demonstrate how this change is an ongoing process. Parts of all races, cultures and economic groups find a voice in the message of this genre. Although founded in the alienation of discrimination, many people can relate this message to their own experiences and life. My point is that it seems we are growing past a culture which maintained institutional racism for nearly four hundred years and growing together, sometimes too slowly, towards a more honest and respectful coexistence. Twenty years ago, Don Imus' comments about the Rutger's Women's basketball team might have struck many people as funny, because the mass media had been directed towards the support of institutional racism. Instead, Imus was chastized and the nation came to realize that there was no place for that conduct in the mass media. Alienation, amongst all people, was a fulcrum to change.

James Kimball
9/13/07

Our Basements, Attics, and Closets

I often feel like history is depicted, whether in class or on film, in a way that allows people to think of it as finished. In reality civil rights struggles continue and will continue for a long time. If we do not relate history to ourselves and our families we are not really learning. As a white male I have to think, was my great-great-great grandfather on the side of slavery or an abolitionist; did my ancestors own slaves or not? Were they even concerned with these issues in the first place?

While I know that my direct ancestors did not own slaves in the mid-nineteenth century, I do not know much about their lives, politics, and opinions. I assume many people don’t know their genealogy as well.

At the beginning of Ethnic Notions I began thinking about my childhood and things I grew up around. It’s amazing what we internalize through education and daily life; a cultural indoctrination. For the first thirteen years of my life I went to a babysitter because my parents didn’t trust myself and my siblings alone. Our babysitter was a middle aged white woman with a strong faith in Christianity. Much of Ethnic Notions reminded me of this because my babysitter collected pickaninnies. They were all over her house and I never really understood them. My babysitter was completely oblivious to the possibility that they could be seen as offensive…and so was I.

Both Ethnic Notions and Classified X offered small windows into Milwaukee for me. In Classified X we saw pictures of lynchings. Specifically we see a picture of a lynching in 1930, survived by Dr. James Cameron who went on to establish The Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee.

As I said before, I had been thinking about my childhood. When Ethnic Notions began I thought of a tobacco can in my basement. There is a market for everything and now the tobacco can is probably viewed as a collectible by many people. It’s a remnant of consumerist racism. The can may not have stuck out in many people’s minds, but I couldn’t help but notice since I have one sitting on a shelf in my basement. What else do we have in our basements, our attics, and our closets?

Ethnic Notions

In response to Ethnic Notions, I found myself at odds with the fact that I actually chuckled on the inside at some of that stuff, even though there is nothing funny about the negative imagery depicted in the film. However, It was really no different than watching Flavor Flav running around with a viking helmet on, bucking his eyes and making faces that could easily be associated with a bad case of constipation. All that I could think of is how so much of what whites depicted us as in the early 20th century, we actually see in African American society literally! Such as The lack of strong African American males, who actually do allow women to take reigns and lead the pack, in turn allowing women to support him, the African American male, as well as the children. I feel like the mammy stereotype type still exist today, however in different context, never the less it is still very much alive and well in African American society, the only difference is, instead of calling them mammy's, today we call strong Black Women, or independent women! One thing that is factual is that single parent homes consist mostly of Moms and their off spring, with the Mom being the majority bread winner! This is not the Case of all African American males, but the facts stated are a harsh reality, as many of us already know. It will take time for these customs, this cursed state of being to be abolished centuries of oppression do not disappear over night, but we can at least, develop a zero tolerance for coonery, and get the ball rolling!

September 11, 2007 7:37 AM

Is Hollywood Green?

The final words from Melvin van Peebles in Classified X were a statement saying something like Hollywood is not actually driven solely by money, which is the common belief. He makes this statement because he does not see films being made for black communities that are truthful or culturally relevent. Though I agree with Peebles that this kind of film has yet to come out of Hollywood, I don't know if it is right to condemn Hollywood because of this.

Recently we have seen that there is a large audience in America willing to spend money on tickets to see films from a black perspective. The immense popularity and box-office success of Tyler Perry's work (Madea's Family Reunion, Diary of a Mad Black Woman) shows us that there is, in fact, a market for films centered on issues within America's black community. What stands out about these films, though, is their relative safeness. Perry's work is conservative by anyone's means, maintains tidy allegories and life lessons, and stresses comforting ideas of family and tradition.

Today, the market for more radical black film, such as Peeble's own work, is much smaller than the market for this kind of feel-good film. This, I believe, is why Hollywood has not invested in more daring black film, while championing something like Perry's work. Moreso, Hollywood makes films for the masses, and by making films with a specific cultural focus, they would alienate a large portion of their possible market (in this case, us white folk).

As with any film addressing culturally specific ideas, the real outlet is found in independent film. In order to make a statement about anything other than culturally accepted, safe ideas, one must find a way to market to the people willing to hear them. This means Hollywood is out of the picture immediately since, as I said, they usually go for the larger audience.

This, unfortunately, means that black communities are neglected and rarely see their own culture presented on the screen, and with the lack of screening opportunities for independent black film, many communities will never feel like their own culture is accepted. Because Hollywood is driven by money, and the investors backing the films want to make good financial decisions (i.e. funding the safe box-office bets), how do we address this problem? Though I don't think it is fair to condemn Hollywood, I don't ignore that there is a problem presented by the way the system is.

Any thoughts?

Course objectives/other info

Hello all, welcome to Radical black film! Office hours are: Mondays between 3:15 and 5:15pm, Mitchell 371 or by appointment (229-2931), better to reach me and leave messages via my email, pcobb@uwm.edu; co-instructor Donte McFadden's email is mcfaddendonte@gmail.com

Please note a classroom change made through the department. Our class will meet the first night at Mitchell b61 at 6pm.

By reviewing and critiquing selected landmark movies between the early 20th Century forward and into the present, you will begin to understand their relationship to provocative cultural/historical events of their time, and the role that independent black filmmakers played in framing history.

Ultimately it is our objective that you gain an ability to read these films as historical documents, yet grasp an understanding of the artistic mechanics of film production.

Readings will be indexed in our course reader which will be available after Wednesday, September 12th- at Clark Graphics located at 2915 North Oakland Avenue. Other readings will be distributed in class; occasionally as a hotlink on the blog and when possible reserved electronically through the Library.