Who’s got the “Reel” power? The problem of female antagonisms in blaxploitation cinema

Between 1973 and 1975, films starring Pam Grier and Tamara Dobson such as Cleopatra Jones (Jack Starrett, 1973), Coffy(Jack Hill, 1973) and Foxy Brown (Hill, 1974) introduced leading black women into the predominantly male blaxploitation scene as aggressive action heroines. Within the cinematic spac...

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Main Author: Melissa DeAnn Seifert
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University College Cork 2012-12-01
Series:Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.alphavillejournal.com/Issue 4/HTML/ArticleSeifert.html
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author Melissa DeAnn Seifert
author_facet Melissa DeAnn Seifert
author_sort Melissa DeAnn Seifert
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description Between 1973 and 1975, films starring Pam Grier and Tamara Dobson such as Cleopatra Jones (Jack Starrett, 1973), Coffy(Jack Hill, 1973) and Foxy Brown (Hill, 1974) introduced leading black women into the predominantly male blaxploitation scene as aggressive action heroines. Within the cinematic spaces of blaxploitation films which featured women as active agents, a racial and sexual divide exists. These films positioned women either inside or outside of gender tolerability by utilising binary constructions of identity based on race, sex and elementary constructions of good and evil, black and white, straight and gay, and feminine and butch. Popular representations of lesbianism and sisterhood within blaxploitation cinema reflect a dominant social view of American lesbianism as white while straight women are consistently represented as black. However, these spaces also constricted black and white female identities by limiting sexuality and morality to racial boundaries. This article seeks to question the unique solitude of these female heroines and interrogate a patriarchal cinematic world where sisterhood is often prohibited and lesbianism demonised.
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spelling doaj.art-e7524dee3234439c99eca772a7d30dd72022-12-22T02:10:28ZengUniversity College CorkAlphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media2009-40782012-12-014420https://doi.org/10.33178/alpha.4.01Who’s got the “Reel” power? The problem of female antagonisms in blaxploitation cinemaMelissa DeAnn Seifert0University of Wisconsin-MilwaukeeBetween 1973 and 1975, films starring Pam Grier and Tamara Dobson such as Cleopatra Jones (Jack Starrett, 1973), Coffy(Jack Hill, 1973) and Foxy Brown (Hill, 1974) introduced leading black women into the predominantly male blaxploitation scene as aggressive action heroines. Within the cinematic spaces of blaxploitation films which featured women as active agents, a racial and sexual divide exists. These films positioned women either inside or outside of gender tolerability by utilising binary constructions of identity based on race, sex and elementary constructions of good and evil, black and white, straight and gay, and feminine and butch. Popular representations of lesbianism and sisterhood within blaxploitation cinema reflect a dominant social view of American lesbianism as white while straight women are consistently represented as black. However, these spaces also constricted black and white female identities by limiting sexuality and morality to racial boundaries. This article seeks to question the unique solitude of these female heroines and interrogate a patriarchal cinematic world where sisterhood is often prohibited and lesbianism demonised.http://www.alphavillejournal.com/Issue 4/HTML/ArticleSeifert.htmlracegender1960s1970sblaxploitationfilmfemaleantagonism
spellingShingle Melissa DeAnn Seifert
Who’s got the “Reel” power? The problem of female antagonisms in blaxploitation cinema
Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media
race
gender
1960s
1970s
blaxploitation
film
female
antagonism
title Who’s got the “Reel” power? The problem of female antagonisms in blaxploitation cinema
title_full Who’s got the “Reel” power? The problem of female antagonisms in blaxploitation cinema
title_fullStr Who’s got the “Reel” power? The problem of female antagonisms in blaxploitation cinema
title_full_unstemmed Who’s got the “Reel” power? The problem of female antagonisms in blaxploitation cinema
title_short Who’s got the “Reel” power? The problem of female antagonisms in blaxploitation cinema
title_sort who s got the reel power the problem of female antagonisms in blaxploitation cinema
topic race
gender
1960s
1970s
blaxploitation
film
female
antagonism
url http://www.alphavillejournal.com/Issue 4/HTML/ArticleSeifert.html
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