Blackface: Reflections on African Americans in the Movies - Softcover

George, Nelson

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0815411944 ISBN 13: 9780815411949

Publisher: Cooper Square Press, 2002

Synopsis

In a year that has seen African-American actors receive more top honors than ever, Blackface revisits the efforts of black filmmakers and the portrayal of African-Americans in cinema. As a film critic for the Village Voice, Nelson George has analyzed films and reported on the careers of black directors and actors; as the screenplay writer for Strictly Business and the co-author and executive producer for CB4, George experienced Hollywood from the inside, meeting with studio execs and creating movies that didn't turn out as he hoped. George shares a candid and personal perspective on 30 years of African-American cinema in Blackface―both the films he saw and the films he made. Blackface includes essays on 2002's honorary Academy Award winner Sidney Poitier, the Black Filmmaker Foundation, Spike Lee, and George's CB4 partner Chris Rock. George also discusses the impact of African-American independent films since the 60s, the blaxploitation craze, and the influence of white money on black artists. New to this edition are pieces on the Hughes brothers, Richard Pryor, and African-American cinema at the beginning of the 21st century, as well as George's own encounters with Hollywood.

About this title

About the Author:

Nelson George is the pre-eminent African-American pop journalist of his generation. He has written for the New York Times, the Village Voice, Rolling Stone, and Billboard, and is the author of several books, including Hip Hop America, and screenplays. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

From Kirkus Reviews:

A textured personal exploration of the last 30 years of African-American cinema. The latest from Village Voice columnist George (Urban Romance, 1992, etc.) finishes his unofficial trilogy on black popular culture from basketball to buppies and film. The most personal of the three, this book is classified by George as ``more a memoir than a critique.'' His youth coincided with the explosion of black film in the 1970s and it is through his experienced vantage point as consumer of, critic of, and participant in the movie industry that he gives his reader this detailed guide. By interspersing time lines that include both history and commentary with an exploration of some of the most important players and themes in black film, George conveys a profound wealth of cinematic and cultural knowledge. He places Sidney Poitier (``his authority as an icon had been eroded by blaxploitation's baaad bold brothers''), Richard Pryor (whose movie Which, he points out, was reviled by white critics but popular with black youth), and Eddie Murphy in the context of American cinema; he analyzes diverse topics such as Motown and the role of class in Spike Lee's Jungle Fever. George also gives a chronicle of his own often trying involvement in the movie industry--especially his role as a writer and producer of the rap parody CB4 and the vicissitudes of working with a large studio on a film aimed at black youth. Despite George's thoroughness, there are some gaps in his discussion of gender: He acknowledges filmmaker Julie Dash (Daughters of the Dust) for her contribution to black cinema, yet he only hints at the important role women play in the consumption of film. He also gratuitously comments on Janet Jackson's weight while recounting a visit to the set of John Singleton's Poetic Justice. A savvy, revealing insider's view of the struggle for films created and controlled by African-Americans in Hollywood. (b&w photos, not seen) -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cooper Square Press
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0815411944
• ISBN 13: 9780815411949
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 330