Representing: Hip Hop Culture and the Production of Black Cinema Review

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Representing: Hip Hop Culture and the Production of Black Cinema ReviewI highly recommend this book. It is very enjoyable and informative reading that is right on target for insight into the Black Urban Culture, the rise of Hip Hop and it's influence on Black produced American film. It was used as a main text for a Rap and Black Cinema university course successfully. Although very sociology based, it was understood by college students of other majors who appreciated the book's honesty of a much maligned topic.Representing: Hip Hop Culture and the Production of Black Cinema OverviewIn this engaging and provocative book, S. Craig Watkins examines two of the most important developments in the recent history of black cinema—the ascendancy of Spike Lee and the proliferation of "ghettocentric films." Representing explores a distinct contradiction in American society: at the same time that black youth have become the targets of a fierce racial backlash, their popular expressive cultures have become highly visible and commercially viable."Watkins is at his most sophisticated and persuasive when he explains the surprising success of hyper-talented, entrepreneurial, and energetic black artists."—Archon Fung, Boston Book Review

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Making Movies Black: The Hollywood Message Movie from World War II to the Civil Rights Era Review

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Making Movies Black: The Hollywood Message Movie from World War II to the Civil Rights Era Reviewi liked how this book captured the time period and showed the images and spoke on how preception was. you feel the atmosphere and see a shift from the way things were. of course hollywood is and will always be color struck, however there was a certain manner at presenting actors and actress's during this time. very compelling book.Making Movies Black: The Hollywood Message Movie from World War II to the Civil Rights Era OverviewThis is the second volume of Thomas Cripps's definitive history of African-Americans in Hollywood.It covers the period from World War II through the civil rights movement of the 1960s, examining this period through the prism of popular culture.Making Movies Black shows how movies anticipated and helped form America's changing ideas about race.Cripps contends that from the liberal rhetoric of the war years--marked as it was by the propaganda catchwords brotherhood and tolerance--came movies that defined a new African-American presence both in film and in American society at large.He argues that the war years, more than any previous era, gave African-American activists access to centers of cultural influence and power in both Washington and Hollywood. Among the results were an expanded black imagery on the screen during the war--in combat movies such as Bataan, Crash Dive, and Sahara; musicals such as Stormy Weather and Cabin in the Sky; and government propaganda films such as The Negro Soldier and Wings for this Man (narrated by Ronald Reagan!).After the war, the ideologies of both black activism and integrationism persisted, resulting in the 'message movie' era of Pinky, Home of the Brave, and No Way Out, a form of racial politics that anticipated the goals of the Civil Rights Movement. Delving into previously inaccessible records of major Hollywood studios, among them Warner Bros., RKO, and 20th Century-Fox, as well as records of the Office of War Information in the National Archives, and records of the NAACP, and interviews with survivors of the era, Cripps reveals the struggle of both lesser known black filmmakers like Carlton Moss and major figures such as Sidney Poitier. More than a narrative history, Making Movies Black reaches beyond the screen itself with sixty photographs, many never before published, which illustrate the mood of the time.Revealing the social impact of the classical Hollywood film, Making Movies Black is the perfect book for those interested in the changing racial climate in post-World War II American life.

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Slow Fade to Black (Galaxy Books) Review

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Slow Fade to Black (Galaxy Books) ReviewEverything arrived in perfect orderSlow Fade to Black (Galaxy Books) OverviewSet against the backdrop of the black struggle in society, Slow Fade to Black is the definitive history of African-American accomplishment in film--both before and behind the camera--from the earliest movies through World War II.As he records the changing attitudes toward African-Americans both in Hollywood and the nation at large, Cripps explores the growth of discrimination as filmmakers became more and more intrigued with myths of the Old South: the "lost cause" aspect of the Civil War, the stately mansions and gracious ladies of the antebellum South, the "happy" slaves singing in the fields.Cripps shows how these characterizations culminated in the blatantly racist attitudes of Griffith's The Birth of a Nation, and how this film inspired the N.A.A.C.P. to campaign vigorously--and successfully--for change.While the period of the 1920s to 1940s was one replete with Hollywood stereotypes (blacks most often appeared as domestics or "natives," or were portrayed in shiftless, cowardly "Stepin Fetchit" roles), there was also an attempt at independent black production--on the whole unsuccessful. But with the coming of World War II, increasing pressures for a wider use of blacks in films, and calls for more equitable treatment, African-Americans did begin to receive more sympathetic roles, such as that of Sam, the piano player in the 1942 classic Casablanca.A lively, thorough history of African-Americans in the movies, Slow Fade to Black is also a perceptive social commentary on evolving racial attitudes in this country during the first four decades of the twentieth century.

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Stepin Fetchit: The Life & Times of Lincoln Perry Review

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Stepin Fetchit: The Life & Times of Lincoln Perry ReviewChances are you don't know who Lincoln Perry is, and chances are you do know who Stepin Fetchit is, even though you may never have seen any of Fetchit's movies. Fetchit was Perry's stage persona, famous for playing the "shiftless darky," the slow-talking, drowsy shuffler that was the comic bane of his white masters. Perry was as full of contradictions as the character he portrayed, and both get a full biography in _Stepin Fetchit: The Life & Times of Lincoln Perry_ (Pantheon) by Mel Watkins. Watkins has previously written a history of African American comedy, and so is well acquainted with Fetchit, his fellow performers, and the social changes of the twentieth century that led to the changes in feeling about Fetchit's screen character. This biography is not just about the man and character, but about a particular aspect of twentieth century American race relations.
Perry was born in 1902 in Key West, Florida, and followed his father into performing, working tent shows, carnivals, and eventually vaudeville. Movies were not a career that black performers considered at the time, because if depicted, blacks were played by whites in blackface. Perry may have taken a job as a porter at MGM, and in 1927 he acted in _In Old Kentucky_, his first film appearance, one which got him some critical notice. Perry did not invent Fetchit's "torpid physical presence and halting, meandering speech," but he performed the role with meticulous attention and timing. When onstage before an audience, a key part of his act (it sounds like the sort of transformation for which Andy Kaufman was famous) was to come meandering out, looking lost and confused, and start a whining, incoherent monologue. He would then suddenly burst into a spirited dance that showed that the sloth and stupidity were nothing but pretense. Watkins makes the point that on the screen, there was no such transformation; Perry's sluggard, always performed with skillful languor, was the only role he got to play. He became the first true black movie star, and one of the first to have a studio contract. Like so many actors of his time, he spent lavishly and foolishly. Throughout his movie career, he would irritate studio executives so much that he would get fired from a movie or from his contract, whereupon he would go back to the road for work on the stage. He was criticized by the civil rights movement in the 1940s, and was unemployable because of it, although he could have made a comeback in drama in the sixties. He died in a home for Hollywood actors in 1985.
Watkins has provided a full picture of a complex man of real talent who used it in a timely way, a way that simply became unfashionable as times changed. Perry's aggressive demands to be treated (and paid) like white stars branded him a troublemaker. His fame opened doors for other black actors in less controversial roles, but his name stands for a now-regrettable image. This entertaining biography shows that there was more to him than the image.Stepin Fetchit: The Life & Times of Lincoln Perry Overview

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Redefining Black Film Review

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Redefining Black Film Reviewtook forever to ship to me. i wish i would've just bought it in the store bc i missed out a week of reading for class. Order in advance in order to get it on time or else just buy in the store.Redefining Black Film Overview

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Hip Hop Matters: Politics, Pop Culture, and the Struggle for the Soul of a Movement Review

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Hip Hop Matters: Politics, Pop Culture, and the Struggle for the Soul of a Movement ReviewWhen comedian Michael "Kramer" Richards went on his infamous November 2006 `racial tirade'--spewing venomous racist epithets, notably the `n-word,' at two Black hecklers--an explosion of video downloading and heated debate ensued around the world. Within the Black community the `n-word' was once again put under our cultural microscope. Not only did we look to Black comedians and civic leaders like Rev. Jesse Jackson for guidance, we also looked to hip hop and our beloved rappers. Counsel was sought from various members of the hip-hop community, including the deceased where even Tupac's n-bomb-filled lyrics were scrutinized. If hip-hop's elite--the tastemakers and trendsetters known for perpetuating the use of the `n-word' in pop culture--could agree on the fate of the `n-word' the issue would be settled. Perhaps this assumption oversimplifies a complex debate, but it justifiably recognizes hip hop has a voice. Hip hop has power. Hip hop matters.
In his latest critical analysis of hip hop, Hip Hop Matters: Politics, Pop Culture, and the Struggle for the Soul of a Movement, author and associate professor S. Craig Watkins further advances this message of hip hop's importance and influence. Far from a dry chronology through the history of hip hop, Hip Hop Matters is a passionate study of hip hop's rise to power and what those within the movement and beyond have done (and in some cases, have not done) with that power. Watkins' well-executed mixture of hip-hop nostalgia and historical facts makes his text poised for recommended reading for both pop culture enthusiasts and hip-hop activists.
In Part One: Pop Culture and the Struggle for Hip Hop, Watkins illustrates how hip hop and its breakout star, rap music, went from underground obscurity in the late 70s to a dominant musical and cultural force by the late 90s. Rap quickly became an economic boon and hip hop was uprooted from the streets to corporate suites. Hip hop gained commercial success, but at what cost?
Part Two: Politics and the Struggle for Hip Hop unearths the more serious social responsibilities of hip hop and the inherent challenges of hip hop as a political movement. The hip hop movement includes people of all ages, races and economic standings--the very things that typically segregate people when it comes to politics. Hip hop does not have one voice, so ultimately, what causes does it speak for and on whose behalf? Hip hop continues to struggle with identity issues, including misogynistic lyrics and soft-core porn imagery that have become so customary of the genre.
Through it all, Watkins remains hopeful of hip hop's future. Hip hop is the music of the youth--influencing how they speak, dress, think and live. Watkins is confident that hip hop matters and will always matter because hip hop culture will continue to inspire youth to change their world.
Hip Hop Matters: Politics, Pop Culture, and the Struggle for the Soul of a Movement Overview

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Women of Blaxploitation: How the Black Action Film Heroine Changed American Popular Culture Review

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Women of Blaxploitation: How the Black Action Film Heroine Changed American Popular Culture ReviewWomen of Blaxpolitation is an important treatise into an often overlooked topic in film studies and broader cultural studies. Exploitation cinema was a major force in 1970's culture that yields its influence on modern film and popular culture in movies like Quentin Tarrantino's Death Proof and thousands of B-grade films produced on the independent front. Too often people assume that women in these films were simply eye candy or lambs to the slaughter but in reality power exudes from many of these women . . . super heroes of the feminine upheaval that came with the women's liberation movement. It is refreshing to see a book on this subject exploring the power to transfrom that these women had written by a female scholar, rather than the male perspective. This is a thoughtful book worth adding to your library.Women of Blaxploitation: How the Black Action Film Heroine Changed American Popular Culture OverviewWith the Civil Rights movement of the sixties fresh in their perspective, movie producers of the early 1970s began to make films aimed toward the underserved African American audience. Over the next five years or so, a number of cheaply made, so-called blaxploitation movies featured African American actresses in roles which broke traditional molds. Typically long on flash and violence but lacking in character depth and development, this genre nonetheless did a great deal toward redefining the perception of African American actresses, breaking traditional African American female stereotypes and laying the groundwork for later feminine action heroines. This critical study examines the ways in which the blaxploitation heroines of the early 1970s reshaped the presentation of African American actresses on screen and, to a certain degree, the perception of African American females in general. It discusses the social, political and cultural context in which blaxploitation films emerged. The work focuses on four African American actresses—Pam Grier, Tamara Dobson, Teresa Graves and Jeanne Belle—providing critical and audience response to their films as well as insight into the perspectives of the actresses themselves. The eventual demise of the blaxploitation genre due to formulaic plots and lack of character development is also discussed. Finally, the work addresses the mainstreaming of the action heroine in general and a recent resurgence of interest in black action movies. Relevant film stills and a selected filmography including cast list and plot synopsis are also included.

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Moonwalk Review

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Moonwalk ReviewFor all those people who choose to believe the crap that's written about Michael Jackson, I suggest you all take a look inside yourselves. This book Moonwalk is a a wonderful book giving Michael's point of view of his rise to fame, his family, and his relationships. This book was written in 1988, several years prior to the madness that surrounded him. I'm insulted that the people who are selling this book are actually selling it for 1 cent! That is ultimate disrespect for a person who has given us so much joy and great music for 40 years of his life. He deserves to be seen as a human being, not the freak that the media and the American public make him out to be! This other book that the so called critic is recommending "Be Careful Who You Love" is just another smear campaign. It's bad enough this man's life has been in shambles the past few years. But all the public wants to do is to continue to beat him into the ground until their's nothing left. Michael Jackson is simply a man who has tried all his life to help others. Now he's being crucified because of the lies of some very greedy people. Try reading all the facts before you continue to judge someone.Moonwalk OverviewThe #1 New York Times bestseller! Michael Jackson's one and only autobiography – his life, in his words. With original Foreword by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, a new Introduction by Motown founder Berry Gordy, and an Afterword by Michael Jackson's editor and publisher, Shaye Areheart. "I've always wanted to be able to tell stories, you know, stories that came from my soul. I'd like to sit by a fire and tell people stories – make them see pictures, make them cry and laugh, take them anywhere emotionally with something as deceptively simple as words. I'd like to tell tales to move their souls and transform them. I've always wanted to be able to do that. Imagine how the great writers must feel, knowing they have that power. I sometimes feel I could do it. It's something I'd like to develop. In a way, songwriting uses the same skills, creates the emotional highs and lows, but the story is a sketch. It's quicksilver. There are very few books written on the art of storytelling, how to grip listeners, how to get a group of people together and amuse them. No costumes, no makeup, no nothing, just you and your voice, and your powerful ability to take them anywhere, to transform their lives, if only for minutes." –Michael Jackson, in MoonwalkFrom the 1988 edition: Megastar Michael Jackson's singularly brilliant career and intensely private lifestyle have become a magnificent obsession for millions of rock fans and celebrity watchers throughout the world.His double-platinum singles rocket to the top of the music charts with a velocity equaled only by the inevitable accompaniment of wild rumors about his eccentric personal life.Now for the first time, Michael Jackson breaks the fiercely guarded barrier of silence that has surrounded him in a remarkably candid and courageous book — Moonwalk.In this intimate and often moving personal account of Michael Jackson's public and private life, he recalls a childhood that was both harsh and joyful but always formidable.Michael and his brothers played amateur music shows and seamy Chicago strip joints until Motown's corporate image makers turned the Jackson 5 into worldwide superstars.Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5 have combined sales of over 200 million albums.He talks about the happy prankster days of his youth, traveling with his brothers, and of his sometimes difficult relationships with his family over the years.He speaks candidly about the inspiration behind his music, his mesmerizing dance moves, and the compulsive drive to create that has made him one of the biggest stars in the music business and a legend in his own time. The Guinness Book of World Records lists Thriller as the biggest-selling-album of all time.In Moonwalk, Michael Jackson shares his personal feelings about some of his most public friends…friends like Diana Ross, Berry Gordy, Quincy Jones, Paul McCartney, Fred Astaire, Marlon Brando, and Katharine Hepburn.He talks openly about the crushing isolation of his fame, of his first love, of his plastic surgery, and of his wholly exceptional career and the often bizarre and unfair rumors that have surrounded it.Illustrated with rare photographs from Jackson family albums and Michael's personal photographic archives, as well as a drawing done by Michael exclusively for this book, Moonwalk is a memorable journey to the very heart and soul of a modern musical genius.

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