African American Film Analysis

Analyse the relationship between African American Cinema and Hollywood exploring the effect on ethnic representation in 2 key films

Today on the surface at least it is possible to say that black actors have reached stardom comparable to and in some instances well beyond their white counterparts. Will Smith is the current favourite for the blockbuster action movie moving away from his ethnic buddy movies such as Men in Black and Wild Wild West. There have been Academy awards for actress Halley Berry, nominations for Denzel Washington and there have never been as many African American film makers working within the industry. The man to credit for much of this is of course Spike Lee who revisited black new wave cinema in 1986 with the success
It showed that there was an audience out there for films created by and for African Americans and that commercial success could be achieved. It was however somewhat of a mixed blessing for the advancement of ethnic representation. On the one hand it was opening the doors for black film makers to work within the industry however it achieved this through negative stereotyping of both black and white character. Pimps, Hookers, bent often Irish police officers, drugs, and sex the antithesis of integrationist ideals. The films themselves however still serve as important signifiers in viewing African American representation on the big
Despite this, stylistically the film showed more similarities to counter Hollywood genres such as the French new wave utilising unusual lighting effects jump cuts breaks in continuity and fast paced montages. The unusual lighting which is used primarily around shots of Sweetback on the run illustrates his continued alienation and the psychedelic effects and quick editing come together to give his journey a very distorted and paranoid feel. By defying all traditional genre expectations Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss song was able to achieve the true counter and alternative to Hollywood that Van Peebles desired. While clearly revolutionary in style it was the mise en scene, locations and background situations that provided what could be described as the most authentic representation of African American life in L.A. The films starting on-screen text demonstrates this nicely “dedicated to all the Brothers and Sisters who had enough of the Man," followed by the credit, "Starring: The Black Community.” Bit characters and explorations of scenes as Sweetback wonders through gives us a very specific view of the black Community in LA, impoverished and gritty in each house, scenes of oppression from the police and riots breaking out around his capture offer a