Looking back, were the critics of Blaxploitation right?

[get these nets]

Question is for fans of the film genre, who have seen many or most of them and are familiar with the nature of the criticisms.

If you hear the modern day criticisms about the hip hop that goes through mainstream platforms, it is almost VERBATIM what was being said about the Black action films of the early 1970s.

In fact, most of the criticism of mainstream hip hop post-NWA have been word for word the problems people had with those films.

 

[Luke Cage]

it was pretty unanimously agreed upon back then, hence the reason black people starting calling them blaxploitation films.

For some reason the opinion on them changed to nostalgia over the years though.

 

[get these nets]

it was pretty unanimously agreed upon back then, hence the reason black people starting calling them blaxploitation films.

For some reason the opinion on them changed to nostalgia over the years though.

wasn't universal....those films were SUPER popular

I posted some stuff about how some of the critics were disingenuous*
, so I never thought about the people who had legit gripes with the films

=====================================================

The term "blaxploitation" was coined by a Black publicist.
Ron Oneal HIMSELF told the story on camera. Superfly came out. A black publicist tried to land the account with the studio. He didn't get it. Next thing he did was do a publicity campaign against "degrading Black films" like Superfly...writing op-eds in newspapers. ..where he coined the term "blaxploitation"Helped launch an NAACP campaign against these films. All because he wasn't granted the account to promote Superfly.
Some blame the campaign for the demise of the genre...as the label "blaxploitation" became a stigma.
Fans of that genre of film know the other factors that eventually led to Hollywood stopping those films.

cued up

 

[Wildhundreds]

You come out of the civil rights movement and go directly into these type of films..

That shyt was a blow to the movement.. A big one..

 

[The Black Sheep]

Looking back, alot of our so called "entertainment" was/is used to keep us in a low vibrating state of mind.

 

[Originalman]

wasn't universal....those films were SUPER popular

I posted some stuff about how some of the critics were disingenuous*
, so I never thought about the people who had legit gripes with the films

=====================================================

The term "blaxploitation" was coined by a Black publicist.
Ron Oneal HIMSELF told the story on camera. Superfly came out. A black publicist tried to land the account with the studio. He didn't get it. Next thing he did was do a publicity campaign against "degrading Black films" like Superfly...writing op-eds in newspapers. ..where he coined the term "blaxploitation"Helped launch an NAACP campaign against these films. All because he wasn't granted the account to promote Superfly.
Some blame the campaign for the demise of the genre...as the label "blaxploitation" became a stigma.
Fans of that genre of film know the other factors that eventually led to Hollywood stopping those films.

cued up

Exactly it wasn't entirely agreed upon. It was more or less split down the middle. Some loved them and some thought it was a over the top characterization of black folks.

It had its pros and cons.

 

[get these nets]

bump.... because the Dolemite trailer dropped, you no good, insecure, rat soup eating MFers !!!

 

[King Khufu]

It's a mixed bag of tea.

On one hand in a juvenile's view it was a upgrade to have black heroic characters from the streets that were cool and funny, relatable to watch and inspiring too, in a way.

On the other hand, some adults would view it as over-exaggerated stereotypes to attempt to sell a story to black people.

I like some of these films. So I don't see the bad in it as some of you.

The 1970's was less about selling of entertainment itself and more so using entertainment as a engineering experience to a message.
Understanding creator concepts behind these film projects will help us determine ultimately if these type of movies were good or bad for the minds of black people then.

 

[MajesticLion]

Short term feel-good "I'm gettin' paid" mind games...versus long term "this is who we are and what we're capable of" considerations.

The disciples of Bernays are well-practiced at taking legit criticisms and turning them into a tongue-in-cheek/unironic fuel for their marketing machines. A portmanteau of "black exploitation" is now looked back on with fondness, as though it were some manner of achievement. Compare that to the film contributions in the previous decade from Belafonte, Poitier, Ossie Davis, Rubie Dee and others. Which imagery was the focal point going forward...in film, in comedy, in music, in culture itself? Which archetypes/stereotypes have been at the forefront since? And...why?

Unceasing marketing and psyops. If you're to stand firm against that onslaught you'd better know what you're up against, and better yet know yourself above all things.




Smarten up.

 

[WaveCapsByOscorp™]

Super fly wasn’t the only blaxploitation movie made...there were a shyt ton really. So to look at superfly and some how credit that as the sole structure of blaxploitation movies would be a mistake...

 

[Cryptocurrency Scarface]

OP is a jive turkey

 

[LevelUp]

 

[Neuromancer]

Yes. The Shaft series is one of my favorite in cinema ( it's often mislabeled as Blaxploitation since it came out at the same time as Sweet back) but the genre as a whole was destructive and just more bad publicity for black people.

 

[Dafunkdoc_Unlimited]

Look at the time when those movies were being produced. 99% of box office movies were devoid of Black people. That's why they were made, to put Black actors on the screen who'd otherwise NEVER get work. Comparing that to today's hip-hop denies the vast differences in the eras (socially, politically, financially) in which they were produced.

I understand the criticisms, but they are not equally valid as there was no dearth of Black artists and we were not illegally prevented from working within the music industry when Drill/Thot/Hardcore/etc. hip-hop began.

I'd rather re-watch Black Shampoo than listen to anything by Megan the Stallion as I know one was made for Black advancement in an industry while the other was JUST a money-grab by those exploiting our talent for their profit.

IMO, today's most popular genres of hip-hop deserve the title of Blaxploitation and all the negative connotations associated with it.

Just my $.02, your opinion may differ.

​

 

[Taadow]

^Agree. Because:

1. Most “critics” of them tended to be people who tried to and couldn’t get a piece of the action.*

2. It didn’t matter anyway - they were going to be made, and they were going to be watched.

3. As mentioned, Fred Williamson, Ted Lange, Ron O’Neal and them made them movies and lived.
They weren’t dying for their art like rappers who basically do the same thing.

4. All the movies weren’t the same. You can tell when a movie has a real point it wants to make or when
it is gratuitous or over the top (*looks at Scarface*)



*by the way - here is the ONE THING I will concede in respect to C.Delores Tucker:
she actually had a piece of “the action” and wanted to change some of it.
My problem with her was where she drew her lines.
Yet like ‘Pac alluded to, her generation was the ones who taught us how to cuss.