Like all facets of our community, slavery influenced the very ideologies that continue to oppress us today. Blaxploitation is the demented brain child of the slavery & Jim Crow.
Jim Crow was a post-slavery era/system which was devised to enforce White’s perception of “order” on newly freed slaves. Simultaneously savage treatment, horrific atrocities and slanderous imaging also were depicted.
Because of our women’s curvy physiques, Whites would make outlandish assumption of promiscuity and disloyalty. Also our men (according to the same outlandish Whites) were dishonest, disingenuous & shiftless. The hate was also displayed in various eugenics propaganda but that’s for another blog.
The term “blaxploitation” was created by Dr. Junius Griffin (which was a member of the NAACP Los Angeles chapter) in 1971. Blaxploitation started with the debut film “Sweet Sweetbacks BaadAsss Song” by Melvin Van Peeble. Now this was an independent film pretty much directed, scored and starring by Melvin Van Peebles. The storyline was basically an urban story of a Black man fleeing White Authority. Now although this film received mixed critiques, it’s still a staple in Black American cinema. Me personally, i grew up on some of these films(The Mack, Supafly, Dolemite to name a few) and they did affect my psyche in conjunction with the male role models i had at the time. Accurately, most perceives that the tone of the Blaxploitation era set the temperament for the current cinema imagery and urban conduct. But the circumstances of times need to be taking into consideration. The seventies are the children of the sixties, therefore our community was devastated by the death of our leadership. The deaths of MLK, Malcolm and the dismantlement of the Black Panthers left us open to any influence. Also we have to take into account the other influential events that occurred in this decade. The Vietnam War, Kennedy’s election & assassination (which is crazy because he was elected and murdered within a 3 yr time span), invasion of Cuba, Civil Rights Act & countless other significant occurrences molded the parameters of blaxploitation. To my recollection though, blaxplointation was an era in Black American history where derogatory stereotypes began but also a level of cinematic independence as well.
Fast-forward four decades and the same narrative still persist with minor tweaks. The “Pimps & Hoes” stereotypes (in my opinion) still exist, just the title of them have changed. Sellouts, Coons and Bedwenches are always gonna be in existence thanks to integration. But one part of blaxploitation is diminishing and that’s the involvement of complete black independent studios and productions. So personally i think if there is anything to take from the Blaxploitation Era is black independence because in 2018 its one of those lost commodities like Black Wall Street.
Melanated Sanity 