Redefining Black Film

by Mark A. Reid

Can films about black characters, produced by white filmmakers, be considered "black films"? In answering this question, Mark Reid reassesses black film history, carefully distinguishing between films controlled by blacks and films that utilize black talent, but are controlled by whites. Previous black film criticism has "buried" the true black film industry, Reid says, by concentrating on films that are about, but not by, blacks.

Reid's discussion of black independent films―defined as films that focus on the black community and that are written, directed, produced, and distributed by blacks―ranges from the earliest black involvement at the turn of the century up through the civil rights movement of the Sixties and the recent resurgence of feminism in black cultural production. His critical assessment of work by some black filmmakers such as Spike Lee notes how these films avoid dramatizations of sexism, homophobia, and classism within the black community.

In the area of black commercial film controlled by whites, Reid considers three African-American comedy, black family film, and black action film. He points out that even when these films use black writers and directors, a black perspective rarely surfaces.

Reid's innovative critical approach, which transcends the "black-image" language of earlier studies―and at the same time redefines black film―makes an important contribution to film history. Certain to attract film scholars, this work will also appeal to anyone interested in African-American and Women's Studies.

Genres: Film, Nonfiction, History, Academic

182 pages, Paperback

First published January 24, 1993

About the author

Mark A. Reid is professor of English and film at the University of Florida at Gainesville, where he teaches African Diasporic studies.

Reviews

[Serge · Rating 4 out of 5]

A convincing rejection of psychoanalytic and Marxist interpretations of Black cinema. I was unfamiliar with many of the pre-WWII films that Reid dissects, in particular the oeuvre of Oscar Micheaux. The chapter on blackface minstrelsy, hybrid minstrelsy and hybrid satire minstrelsy provides insight on audience reception of overtly racist discourse being tempered by consumerist expectations. Reid's appropriation of Jameson's notion of "pastiche" helps unpack the promise and peril of black comedies. Similarly, Reid identifies levels of "repartee" in some of the plot twists of acclaimed commercial (studio-driven) black films that "maintain the racist conventions of minstrelsy " and celebrate racial essentialism. Reid's thesis (polyphonic spectatorial relationships to film that avoid racial dualisms) comes through most persuasively when he analyzes more contemporary independent Black films, such as Do The Right Thing.I appreciated Reid's appeal to bell hooks on the anti-womanist sensibilities of She's Gotta Have It which was recently raised from the grave by Netflix. Some caricatures refuse to die.