By Nicholas Louis
Ideologically, from my understanding, is a concept that sexuality is not just a biological function; rather it is a system of ideas and social practices. They are deeply implicated in shaping American social inequalities, concerning the African American diaspora in particular. These systems are tied deeply within mass media across American networks of communication. The political facet within this ideology are a set of ideas and social practices that shape gender, race, and sexuality within the framework of Black Men and Black Women’s treatment of one another as well as how African Americans are perceived and treated by others. There are three (3) main components that facilitate the perpetuation of what it is to be Black in America.
First, the new patterns of corporate organization have made for an increasingly global economy. In particular, the concentration of capital in a few corporations has enabled them to shape many aspects of the global economy (Collins). Second, local, regional, and national governmental bodies no longer yield the degree of power that they once did in shaping racial policies (Collins). Third, the new racism relies more heavily on the manipulation of ideas within mass media. These new techniques present hegemonic ideologies that claim that racism is over (Collins).
Images of what it is to be “Black”
In the past, social practices such as lynching and institutionalized rape that became so deeply embedded in the fabric of American society required powerful ideological justifications. The growth of mass media enabled ideas about Black sexuality to spread more rapidly beyond the reading public (Collins). With the engine of mass media and slavery being abolished; ways of capitalizing on African Americans became more creative. The industry of Blaxploitation is a byproduct of the of ideological practices of slavery but regulated according to the constitution. Meaning that, it would be unconstitutional to round up some blacks, make’em do a little gig in front the camera and get paid to do so. Each racial formation reflects distinctive links among characteristic forms of economic and political exploitation, gender-specific ideologies developed to justify Black exploitation, and African American’s men and women reactions both to the political economy and to one another (Collins). Blaxploitation or blacksploitation are films that emerged in the United States in the 1970s. It is considered an ethnic subgenre of the general category of exploitation films. Blaxploitation films were originally made specifically for an urban black audience, the genre’s audience appeal soon broadened across racial and ethnic lines.
The original facilitators of this genre were White Americans. They were obviously in total control from the very beginning. The industry of the Slave Trade was the blueprint and spawned industries like onto its structure. Because the vast majority of enslaved African men and women did agricultural labor, these controlling images of the mule, jezebel, breeder woman and the buck justified Black economic exploitation (Collins). At the end of Slavery, the American population was heavily segregated and education as well as economic access was unevenly balanced. This allowed for, in my opinion, Black America to be exploited in perpetuation. The term “Blaxploitation”, if taken literally to imply the exploitation of black culture, could refer to any number of examples in America history in which black music, sports, fashion, style, and art have been commoditized or repackaged by white artists to be sold to white audiences (Terry). Blaxploitation films catered to a new black consciousness. Loosely defined as black power, this consciousness was associated with black control of black communities and centered on group solidarity.
In order to understand the magnitude of this one must take a look at the concept of “SCWAMP”, which stands for Straight, Christian, White, Able-Bodied, Male, and Property-owner, is an intersectional framework. Intersectional analysis explains that ideological positions are interconnected and relational. These relationships are shaped and impacted by the society in which they are embedded (Lind). This concept is used within this type of media but instead of showing the white side of it all, the components of what it is to be “black” is brought to the forefront. But of course, the components did not come from a black point of view. These components come from the white perspective of what it is to be black.
How this translates into today’s genre of African American film one must understand that the educational foundations for film making itself are in most cases taught by White Americans. A film maker uses the imagination of/from his knowledge to create. For example, Baby Boy is a 2001 African American coming-of-age urban comedy-drama film written, produced, and directed by John Singleton who is an African American film director, screenwriter, and producer. The images in his movies are well-known for depicting African Americans in their “environment”. If you take a look in particular at the movie you find that the dialogue, the way everyone is dressed, the scenarios that delicately illustrate the struggles, highs and lows of living in the hood. The film follows bicycle mechanic Joseph “Jody” Summers as he lives and learns in his everyday life in the hood of Los Angeles. All the while struggling to remain faithful to his second baby mother and having to deal with her bouts of anger.
Even though this is an outstanding love story from the hood and is from the mind of a black man, we can still see how it can become a double-edged sword (e.g. the perpetuation of the realities of what it is to be black in America without showing example of other “environments”). I am sure as a youngster the writer took his inspiration from many Blaxploitation films. The glamorization of it being on the big screen can blueprint the minds of those watching to validate their “environment” as a sort of, “Look, this is what goes on and this is how it should go on. This is an intricate situation to decipher.
Collins, P. H. (2004). Black sexual politics african americans, gender, and the new racism. New York, New York: Routledge.
Terry, J. R. (n.d.). Towards the gendering of blaxploitation and black power . Informally published manuscript, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, . Retrieved from http://www.jmu.edu/history/mhr/wm_library/2012_-_4_John_Robert_Terry.pdf
Lind, R. A. (2013). Race/gender/class/media 3.0 considering diversity across content, audiences and production. (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.
Discovery 