Screens fade to black : contemporary African American cinema

cover image

Where to find it

Davis Library (7th floor)

Call Number
PN1995.9.N4 L46 2006
Status
Checked Out (Due 8/14/2024)

Stone Center Library

Call Number
PN1995.9.B585 L46 2006 c. 2
Status
Available

Summary

The triple crown of Oscars awarded to Denzel Washington, Halle Berry, and Sidney Poitier on a single evening in 2002 seemed to mark a turning point for African Americans in cinema. Certainly it was hyped as such by the media, eager to overlook the nuances of this sudden embrace. In this new study, author David Leonard uses this event as a jumping-off point from which to discuss the current state of African-American cinema and the various genres that currently compose it. Looking at such recent films as Love and Basketball, Antwone Fisher, Training Day , and the two Barbershop films--all of which were directed by black artists, and most of which starred and were written by blacks as well--Leonard examines the issues of representation and opportunity in contemporary cinema.

In many cases, these films-which walk a line between confronting racial stereotypes and trafficking in them-made a great deal of money while hardly playing to white audiences at all. By examining the ways in which they address the American Dream, racial progress, racial difference, blackness, whiteness, class, capitalism and a host of other issues, Leonard shows that while certainly there are differences between the grotesque images of years past and those that define today's era, the consistency of images across genre and time reflects the lasting power of racism, as well as the black community's response to it.

Contents

  • Acknowledgments p. ix
  • 1 Screens Fade to Black, But Little Has Changed p. 1
  • Celebrating the 2002 Oscars p. 1
  • Defining African American Cinema p. 3
  • A New Racism: Popular Culture and Colorblind Discourse p. 8
  • Toward an Understanding of the New Racism p. 13
  • 2 The Ghettocentric Imagination p. 23
  • Baby Boy p. 26
  • Antwone Fisher p. 40
  • Training Day p. 51
  • Prison Song p. 60
  • Conclusion p. 74
  • 3 Is This Really African American Cinema? Black Middle-Class Dramas and Hollywood p. 77
  • Drumline p. 84
  • Love & Basketball p. 97
  • Brown Sugar p. 105
  • Good Fences p. 113
  • Conclusion p. 121
  • 4 Blackness as Comedy: Laughter and the American Dream p. 125
  • Soul Plane p. 128
  • Bringing Down the House p. 133
  • A White Man's Burden? Redemption in Post-Civil Rights America p. 137
  • Barbershop p. 141
  • Barbershop 2 p. 155
  • Comedies as Transgression p. 161
  • Undercover Brother p. 161
  • Bamboozled p. 170
  • Conclusion p. 175
  • 5 Moving Forward without Moving Back p. 177
  • The 2005 Oscars p. 177
  • Just Scenery: Authenticating Hip-Hop and the American Dream p. 180
  • White Stories, Black Face: My Baby's Daddy and Love Don't Cost a Thing p. 186
  • The Longest Yard p. 188
  • Erasing Race and Whitening Pictures p. 189
  • Crossover Appeal: Transcending African American Cinema p. 192
  • Cinematic Opposition in a Barren Marketplace p. 194
  • Conclusion p. 197
  • Appendix p. 201
  • Bibliography p. 205
  • Index p. 211

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