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From 1972 to 1976, Hollywood made an unprecedented number of films targeted at black audiences. But following this era known as "blaxploitation," the momentum suddenly reversed for black filmmakers, and a large void separates the end of blaxploitation from the black film explosion that followed the arrival of Spike Lee's She's Gotta Have It in 1986. Illuminating an overlooked era in African American film history, Trying to Get Over is the first in-depth study of black directors working during the decade between 1977 and 1986.
Keith Corson provides a fresh definition of blaxploitation, lays out a concrete reason for its end, and explains the major gap in African American representation during the years that followed. He focuses primarily on the work of eight directors-Michael Schultz, Sidney Poitier, Jamaa Fanaka, Fred Williamson, Gilbert Moses, Stan Lathan, Richard Pryor, and Prince-who were the only black directors making commercially distributed films in the decade following the blaxploitation cycle. Using the careers of each director and the twenty-four films they produced during this time to tell a larger story about Hollywood and the shifting dialogue about race, power, and access, Corson shows how these directors are a key part of the continuum of African American cinema and how they have shaped popular culture over the past quarter century.
Show moreFrom 1972 to 1976, Hollywood made an unprecedented number of films targeted at black audiences. But following this era known as "blaxploitation," the momentum suddenly reversed for black filmmakers, and a large void separates the end of blaxploitation from the black film explosion that followed the arrival of Spike Lee's She's Gotta Have It in 1986. Illuminating an overlooked era in African American film history, Trying to Get Over is the first in-depth study of black directors working during the decade between 1977 and 1986.
Keith Corson provides a fresh definition of blaxploitation, lays out a concrete reason for its end, and explains the major gap in African American representation during the years that followed. He focuses primarily on the work of eight directors-Michael Schultz, Sidney Poitier, Jamaa Fanaka, Fred Williamson, Gilbert Moses, Stan Lathan, Richard Pryor, and Prince-who were the only black directors making commercially distributed films in the decade following the blaxploitation cycle. Using the careers of each director and the twenty-four films they produced during this time to tell a larger story about Hollywood and the shifting dialogue about race, power, and access, Corson shows how these directors are a key part of the continuum of African American cinema and how they have shaped popular culture over the past quarter century.
Show moreAcknowledgments
Introduction
1. Blaxploitation Reconsidered: African American Directors and the
Political Economy of Hollywood
2. Our Man in Hollywood: Creativity and Compromise in the Films of
Michael Schultz
3. Writing His Second Act: Sidney Poitier’s Move Behind the
Camera
4. Think Locally, Act Globally: Fred “the Hammer” Williamson,
Low-Budget Genre Filmmaking, and the Struggle for
Self-Definition
5. Outside of Society: Jamaa Fanaka, the LA Rebellion, and the
Complications of Independent Filmmaking
6. Dreams Deferred: Untapped Potential, the Transformation of Black
Popular Culture, and the Cinematic Legacies of Gilbert Moses and
Stan Lathan
7. Dirty Minds Reformed: Celebrity, Power, and the Directorial
Turns of Richard Pryor and Prince
Conclusion
Filmography, 1969–1994
Notes
Bibliography
Index
"A much-needed addition to the history of black filmmaking in America. The histories and contributions of the filmmakers in Corson's book are finally reclaimed; a significant bridge has been built between the blaxploitation and New Black Cinema eras. I gained a new understanding of and respect for these filmmakers." -- Mikel J. Koven, Senior Lecturer in Film Studies, University of Worcester, and author of Blaxploitation Films
Keith Corson holds a PhD in Cinema Studies from New York University and has taught courses in film and media studies at Rhodes College, Memphis College of Art, University of Memphis, and NYU.
Trying to Get Over is required reading for those interested in film
at the intersection of racial politics, production histories, and
media industries...[Corson] reminds us of the rich and dynamic
history of African Americans in Hollywood persistently making films
that are now considered cult classics.
*Media Industries Journal*
Corson provides depth to our knowledge of black filmmaking during
the understudied downturn in the decade following Blaxploitation.
Understanding changes in the economic and decision-making forces
during this time put both the Blaxploitation era and the 1990s into
a new context.
*Historical Journal of Film, Radio, and Television*
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