Shaft
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067741/
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071175/
Do The Right Thing
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097216/
It is funny how plans go awry for the right reasons. I thought I had
this posting set ready to go back in September but circumstances
prevailed to delay that launch and then it struck me around mid
November that if I delayed a little longer I could post two films a
day and end on February 1st which seemed fitting to finish the post at
the onset of Black History month. As November rolled around I began
to check the integrity of the films and their back story. Admittedly
I even had to suffer through watching a few of them that I had missed
but for the most part I had seen almost all of that original set. Of
course that it the magic term; original set.
As I began investigating some of the back stories I kept finding yet
another 'gem' that I realized needed to be included. Either it was
one I had forgotten about or was relevant to a major player or theme.
As I indicated earlier I tried to keep the hardcore out as much as
possible which is actually fairly easy since hardcore
black/interracial porn had existed before Blaxploitation and for the
most part hasn't changed much since and typically Blaxploitation isn't
about the nudity or for that matter even softcore and as such all that
appears in many of the films was some topless. However even with
keeping the porn out of the loop the film set kept growing. Thus we
went from two films being posted each day to three and then four in a
desperate attempt to at least finish in February as the final tally of
films reached ninety five. Even then it would not have been difficult
to add another fifteen films and even an extra twenty on top of that
but eventually you are getting into simply more of the same or
stretching the context and I didn't want to find myself suggesting
that Old Yeller would be an acceptable film since the rabid wolf that
bites the dog had some black fur.
So 95 is the number.
As a rule Blaxploitation seems incongruous with anything good. By
definition its name denotes the exploitation of a race and without a
question the majority of these films were financed by white mainstream
movie executives who had no concern for the story that was being told
and/or the stereotypes that were being expressed and confirmed. On
the other hand one could argue that the genre created a black star
system that carried on beyond craze and dozens of black actors owe
their careers to the genre. One could also promote the idea that
while it cannot be denied that there was an oppressive negative factor
stemming from Blaxploitation it was also a medium where mainstream
America could garner an insight of the black experience, regardless of
how exaggerated, and recognize that despite the flash for the most
part they were just people trying to get by.
Was it a bad thing or a good thing? I expect like most genres it was
a combination of both.
The final three films of this set speak to the plosive of the
Blaxploitation genre and even though all three are completely
divergent each reflects their roots from the same tree.
Clearly Shaft brought a legitimacy to the Blaxploitation movement but
also as featuring a black lead as someone who was successful within
his culture and not merely as a 'white version'. Guess Who's Coming
To Dinner, In The Heat Of The Night and Dear Sir portrayed successful
black leads but there was no questioning that these men were not
ghetto but rather a celluloid example that given a chance a black man
could be equal to white. I would suggest, with no disrespect to
Sidney Poitier, that they iconic he portrayed was made to be
non-threatening whereas Richard Roundtree was one badass mutha' fucker
who took no shit who was very threatening. While not exactly creating
that role of the strong black lead Shaft cements the vision of a black
man who lives within society on his own terms and does not feel the
need to change his behaviour to meet the standards in general.
I would propse that without Shaft the Blaxploitation rage is much
shorter lived.
I selected The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman over another highly
regarded film of the time, Sounder, primarily because it benefited
from a new found interest in the black experience that was generated
by the Blaxploitation genre, (keeping in mind Roots was still four
years away). Jane Pittman's story is particularly telling in that it
stretches a single life from a young girl born into slavery to her
final act engaging in the Civil Rights Movement contrasted against the
start of the Apollo program to put a man on the moon. The concept of
a person having been born into slavery and potentially witnessing the
moon landing seems almost too incongruous to accept as if slavery must
have ended further back in the past.
Her life story is one of hardship, joy and the strength of the human
spirit and anyone who can watch her final scene, (based on true
events), and not feel an emotional stir should probably check their
pulse because they may not realize that they are currently in a state
of death.
Lastly what comes from this genre? While there are better films I
believe that Do The Right Thing was made on the backs of those 5.1 out
of 10 star films. In some ways the film made in 1989 portrays the
same reality that we see today. George Lucas lamented in attempting
to make Red Tails that Hollywood really hadn't changed all that much
since it was next to impossible to find financing for a Black themed
movie without a white protagonists so he put the money up himself. We
all have heard the anger from the black community about the lack of
diversity in the Oscar nominations.
Could Do The Right Thing exist without the plethora of Blaxploitation
films having broken at least a level of a coloured glass ceiling?
Maybe, maybe not. However I think it is too easy to simply limit the
importance of these films as mere exploitation when in fact they
played an important role both in terms of educating the mainstream
public and giving the black voice something more than just an tonality
of anger.
95 films... just because the majority of them were poorly made or
stereotypical doesn't automatically mean there wasn't something good
that came out of the effort.
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