Blaxploitation
From Academic Kids
Blaxploitation is a portmanteau of the words "black" and "exploitation", and refers to exploitation films that targeted the urban African-American audience during the 1970s. The films featured primarily black actors, and were the first to have soundtracks of funk and soul music. Although protested by civil-rights groups for their use of stereotypes, they addressed the great and newfound demand for afrocentric entertainment, and were immensely popular among black audiences.
Almost all blaxploitation films featured exaggerated sexuality and violence. When set in the North, they tended to take place in the ghetto and deal with pimps, drug dealers, and hit men. When set in the South, the movies most often took place on a plantation and dealt with slavery and miscegenation. Controversy was heightened by the fact that these films were often written and directed by white men, although movies created by African Americans with similar themes have also been labeled as "blaxploitation".
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and the Urban League joined together to form the Coalition Against Blaxploitation. Backed by many black film professionals, this group received much media exposure and quickened the death of the genre by the late 1970s. Though still regarded as racist by many, some film scholars defend the cinematic genre as instrumental in bringing greater screen presence to African-Americans. The films also paved the way for "mainstream" movies to deal with urban issues.
Famous Blaxploitation Films
- Shaft features Richard Roundtree as Shaft, and the soundtrack has contributions from such prominent musicians as Isaac Hayes. Perhaps the most famous blaxploitation film, it has even entered the Library of Congress. Two sequels followed.
- Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song and Watermelon Man were directed by Melvin Van Peebles, an African-American.
- Cotton Comes to Harlem was written and directed by Ossie Davis, also an African-American, in 1970.
- Superfly had a soundtrack by Curtis Mayfield, considered to be a classic of the genre.
- Foxy Brown features the charismatic actress Pam Grier (Foxy Brown)
- Trouble Man
- Coffy
- Black Caesar
- Mandingo
- Passion Plantation
- Dolemite
- Darktown Strutters
- The Mack
- Willie Dynamite
- The Wiz (a Wizard of Oz adaptation)
- Blacula
- Blackenstein
- Boss Nigger
- Cleopatra Jones
Modern Media Referencing Blaxploitation
Recent films such as Austin Powers in Goldmember and Undercover Brother, as well as Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown and Kill Bill, Vol. 1, feature nods to the blaxploitation genre.
I'm Gonna Git You Sucka is a famous spoof of urban blaxploitation films, featuring several of the male stars of that genre. A later film, Original Gangstas, also featured many of those stars, but was made as a tribute to the genre. Pootie Tang also parodies many blaxploitation elements.
The popular 1998 anime series Cowboy Bebop features several episodes with blaxploitation themes, particularly Mushroom Samba which extensively parodies blaxploitation films.
The Hebrew Hammer (2003) is another parody of blaxploitation films, but with a Jewish protagonist (and was therefore called "Jewsploitation" by some).
In 2004, Mario Van Peebles, Melvin's son, released Baadasssss!, a film based on the making of his father's movie in which Mario played his father.
