Watching scenes from movies like D.W. Griffith's Birth Of A Nation, and those featuring such stereotypical characters as Steppin' Fetchit, for example, it's hard to reconcile such portrayals with the ultra liberal image many have of today's Hollywood. This is not just a history lesson, but an indictment of the institutionalized racism that existed in that so-called "enlightened" artistic community for so many years.
When Jim Brown talks about how he could never identify with a film like Gone With The Wind for example — because the guy he saw on the screen wasn't Rhett Butler, but rather Big Jim — you really start to get a sense of the struggle black actors and actresses had to endure. Many of the other interviews included here reveal how these same actors would accept such roles — as prostitutes, lowlifes, junkies, and the like — in the hopes of a break, or to simply put bread on the table.
It's almost enough to make me feel guilty for enjoying movies like Shaft and Superfly in the seventies. Well, almost. I mean let's face it, those were some kick-ass films. And as far as sexy screen females go, give me Foxy Brown any day.
That aside, Black Hollywood: Blaxploitation And Advancing An Independent Black Cinema does an excellent job of putting all of this in its proper perspective — albeit through the prism of 1984, as Grandmaster Flash's "The Message" reminds us continuously in the soundtrack. How could we have known where that song alone would have led way back then?
When Jim Brown talks about the possibilities of Jesse Jackson running for president in the eighties, you can see how far we have since come. And how far, we apparently still have to go.
Article comments