Essay Example on 1970s: Blaxploitation Movies Bring Diversity to Cinema

Introduction

Cinema industry has undergone gradual changes since the 1970s to date; therefore allowing for the diversity of the characters used in the production of movies. Blaxploitation emerged from the ability of Hollywood to accommodate black characters in the production of the films. Blaxploitation started in the 1970s and was used to refer to action movies directed by black characters. Blaxploitation started in order to target the black audience living in America and other parts of the world (Brown et al. 24). Scholars have classified Blaxploitation as an ethical subgenre of exploitation films that were produced in United States of America to attract many audiences across racial lines in the country. The Blaxploitation films featured African-American Actors like Steve James, Samuel Jackson, and others. The Blaxploitation films portrayed the roles of the protagonist and were produced with anti-establishment plots. This paper aims at showing that in most cases, the movies were condemned in America because of their nature to glorify violence and stereotypical characterization.

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Elements from 1970s Blaxploitation that are Evident in Jackie Brown

In the film Jackie Brown, many elements of Blaxploitation are balanced in order to attract the attention of the audience regardless of their racial groups in the country. The elements of Blaxploitation are balanced to gather for the needs of the intended African-American audience depending on their preferences. Quentin Tarantino is a hyper-active director who included his malaise romantic skills to transcend the flashiness of the crime dramas. One of the elements of the 1970s Blaxploitation film identified in Jackie brown is Pulp Fiction (Brown et al. 45). The main characters in the action film like Robert Forster and Samuel L. Jackson are the movie icons. Samuel Jackson is a thug who smuggles illegal weapons from Mexico. A critical review on the films has shown that action movies pointed out the position of Grier the film as a product of fandom endured by Tarantino.

The second element of Blaxploitation film in the Jackie Brown action movie is nostalgia. The film is neither a historical film nor a period film. Jackie Brown is a good example of a retro film full of metonymic and nostalgic historicity through the ability to deploy the 1970s iconography. Earlier, the depiction of the black people in American films was characterized by old stereotypes. The "Rise and Fall of Blaxploitation" provides comprehensive information on the instances that made Tarantino depart from traditions of the Blaxploitation (Guerrero 12). The demands of the African-Americans on the need for a black hero also accentuated the introduction of Blaxploitation films in the cinema industry.

First, there was a rise in social, political, and economic consciousness on the African-Americans; therefore, creating a strong impulse of nationalism. The African-American nationalists started to campaign for the need to attain equality in America through the ability to allow the Black people to participate in all activities (Guerrero 18). Secondly, Hollywood was in a serious financial crisis in the late 1960s; therefore, Tarantino decided to depart from the Blaxploitation tradition in order to produce quality films and attract many audiences in America and other parts of the world. Thirdly, the devastating wave on critical dissatisfaction in the cinema industry might have forced Tarantino to depart from the tradition of the Blaxploitation due to degradation of the blacks in the action films. The number of African-American entertainers, leaders, and intellectuals decreased, especially among the lower-class black people. Lastly, the decision made by the Supreme Court of United States on the obscenity laws also forced Tarantino to depart from the tradition.

Works Cited

Brown, Jackie, and Inglourious Basterds. "Quentin Tarantino." (2013). https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=+Jackie+Brown+film+and+Blaxploitation&btnG=#d=gs_cit&u=%2Fscholar%3Fq%3Dinfo%3AuBwUToZ1p-wJ%3Ascholar.google.com%2F%26output%3Dcite%26scirp%3D6%26hl%3Den

Guerrero, Ed. "The rise and fall of Blaxploitation." The WileyBlackwell History of American Film (2011).Retrieved from: https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=+%22Rise+and+Fall+of+Blaxploitation%22&btnG=#d=gs_cit&u=%2Fscholar%3Fq%3Dinfo%3A7yW14t7NLEIJ%3Ascholar.google.com%2F%26output%3Dcite%26scirp%3D0%26hl%3Den

Guerrero, Ed. ''Framing blackness: The African American image in the film''. Temple University Press, 2012. Retrieved from: https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=Ed+Geurrero&btnG=#d=gs_cit&u=%2Fscholar%3Fq%3Dinfo%3ArL2D7RTKP00J%3Ascholar.google.com%2F%26output%3Dcite%26scirp%3D0%26hl%3Den