Blaxploitation Films

By: Marian Aguiar

Source:

 Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience, Second Edition

Blaxploitation Films

Genre of film popular in the 1970s depicting African American heroes defying an oppressive system.

In the early 1970s, a film genre began to crystallize in the United States from different elements in the American political and cultural scene. At the center of the genre was a new kind of hero: a black, urban, poor male striking back at a system that had denied him basic rights and respect. Set in the dense urban landscape of black America, these films gave a vision of America different from the one typically portrayed by mainstream Hollywood cinema.

The term blaxploitation was first coined to describe Superfly (1972) by African American filmmaker Gordon Parks, Jr. Two earlier films by African American filmmakers are frequently cited as forerunners of the genre: Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971) by Melvin Van Peebles and Shaft (1971) by Gordon Parks, Sr. Throughout the 1970s, an estimated 150 films were made within the blaxploitation genre.

Drawing upon both the mainstream marketability of action films and the growing Black Power Movement, blaxploitation films were popularly well received, if not always critically acclaimed. In these films, the black hero fought back and won, often against overwhelming odds. Filled with fast-paced action, the plot usually involved a male hero, or antihero, who found it necessary to renounce the system and resort to violence. These films portrayed a virile black male sexuality, which had been missing in both mainstream and African American cinema up to that point. A few films, such as Coffy (1973) with Pam Grier, featured female protagonists.

Blaxploitation films drew criticism for resorting to formulas and portraying unrealistic scenarios and were actively opposed by a coalition that included the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Many critics felt that the films were too simplistic to offer any kind of viable model for African American resistance to an oppressive system. Others noted that the character development, particularly of women, was limited. Some, such as black psychiatrist Alvin Poussaint, saw the films as dangerous for their glorification of criminal life and machismo and as ultimately destructive to the black community.

For director Van Peebles, however, this was not the point. The blaxploitation film's attraction was that “the black audience finally gets a chance to see some of their own fantasies acted out—(it's) about rising out of the mud and kicking ass.”

The films were oriented specifically toward black urban audiences, who made the blaxploitation film a lucrative business. With the exception of the independent productions of Van Peebles, white studios produced the rest of the blaxploitation films. Made on low budgets, the films were proven financial successes for the studios, with Shaft making more than $16 million for MGM Pictures. Inner-city youth imitated the fashions and hairstyles worn in the films, and soundtracks, such as the score for Superfly by Curtis Mayfield, achieved wide popularity.

Although most critics place the term blaxploitation within the 1970s, the genre had a noted effect on later films. Major film studios continued to produce “against the odds,” action-packed films. Later works by John Singleton and Mario Van Peebles, Melvin's son, were influenced by the political concerns of blaxploitation and continued to portray African American life in the inner city.

See also Black Power in the United States; Film, Blacks in American.

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