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.