US Cinema of the 1970s: African American Representation and Car Wash Prof. Julia Leyda September 23, 2011
Aug 20, 2015
US Cinema of the 1970s:African American Representation
and Car Wash
Prof. Julia LeydaSeptember 23, 2011
political and social consciousness
1960s white flight and urban life: crime, drugs, police brutality, poverty (also countercultures and liberation movements)
assassinations: John F. Kennedy in 1963, Malcolm X in 1965, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert Kennedy in 1968
riots: Watts and 298 cities from 1967-68resistance: Black Power movement, Nation
of Islam, and Black Panther Party
criticism of black images stereotypes sometimes replaced by very
limited “positive” imagesimpatience with “ebony saint” Sidney
Poitier’s gentle, bourgeois, integrationist image
some improvement in the macho athlete characters of the 60s: tough, strong, but controlled by whites
but still, movies didn’t show black themes, issues, or communities—only isolated, idealized individuals surrounded by whites
economic crisis in Hollywood
driven only by short-term profit, conservative industry won’t change unless forced to
blacks were 10-15% of US population, but 30% of moviegoers in top theaters (first-run, city)
Hollywood saw easy money in blaxploitation formula of Sweetback, an independent movie with a $500,000 budget that grossed $10,000,000
blaxploitationexploitation movies: sensational, often trashy B-
movies aimed at a particular audience, designed to earn money; often extremely violent or sexual; includes blaxploitation, sexploitation, splatter films
black + action + exploitation = blaxploitationcycle of cheaply made, black-cast action movies
set in the ghetto, released between 1969-74
Has any of you seen a blaxploitation movie?
blaxploitation formula
started with Sweetback and Shafta “badass” black man fights against the
corrupt, racist white system and winsaction movie: fight scenes and chase
scenes, showing the superiority of the hero against cruel, stupid white villains
emphasis on fashion, music, “cool” hero(ine)
Car Wash 1976large ensemble cast in multiple subplots,
compared to Robert Altmanelements of blaxploitation: working-class
black folks, “gritty realism” in car wash setting
musical comedy, not action genrestrong social messages of populism,
tolerancenominated for Palme D’Or at Cannesseveral hit songs from soundtrack
discussion questions
What was your reaction to Car Wash at first?
What do you think of it after learning more about black representation and blaxploitation? Why?