Black American Representation in Films of War

1
Black American Representation in Films of War

• Jeff McCluskey
• FTV 218

2
Characteristics of the L.A. Rebellion Films

• For the first time, Black filmmakers were given
  access to means to produce a collective body of
  independent cinema
• What does this mean? The characters in their
  films are black. They are no longer being
  produced by an other.

3
Analogy to U.S. History Books

• History books have historically been written by
  Whites, or under white power structures
• Native American voices have been marginalized,
  and mostly non-existent
• Within White Hollywood, Black people have
  historically had no cinematic voice

4
Racist depictions by Hollywood

• Racism in our arts and culture remains an
  important, albeit troubling component of our
  nations history
• These racist depictions were truly being felt
  within White Hollywood. To ignore them, is to
  ignore an oppressive history.

5
Defining an alternative

• The black independent cinema of the L.A.
  Rebellion was chiefly alternative to
  representations of Black people in Hollywood
  films.
• Because the films dont have the marketing muscle
  and audience that Hollywood films command, does
  not make them less effective.

6
Lasting Impact of the Rebellion

• Did the L.A. Rebellion films cultivate a change
  in the depictions of Black people in other
  cinemas?
• How do we measure their success
• Focus on the War Film genre

7
Focus on A Veteran with PTSD

• Hollywood had attempted to deal with the topic in
  films such as the Deer Hunter, but never from the
  perspective of a Black leading character
• Gerima used the films limited budget to his
  advantage

8
Gerimas Ney Charles as Veteran

• Ney Charles struggles with issues of identity on
  multiple fronts
• Black
• American
• War Veteran

9
Ashes and Embers as Cinema

• How does Gerima challenge us with what we think
  we know?
• Helpful to view films on their own terms
• In Hollywood films, the arrest sequence at the
  beginning would have not have been empathetic to
  Ney and Randolph

10
Categorization as Contextualization

• Terminology such as Black Cinema or
  Neo-Realism
• How does this promote preconception?
• Ashes and Embers deserves to be examined as a
  film first.

11
Hollywood War Film Racism

• Representations, or rather misrepresentation of
  Black people can be traced in Hollywood War films
  back to 1912s Birth of a Nation.
• What sort of fallout did Griffiths film have for
  representations of Black people in Hollywood?
• Supporting roles

12
Apocalypse Now

• Ney Charles quotes Coppola with derision
• Gerima calls out the falsity with which Hollywood
  has represented Black veterans in Vietnam War
  films
• If Coppola got it wrong, what does that say about
  his contemporaries

13
Gerimas Vietnam

• An Ethiopian representing the Black American war
  veteran
• Ney Charles struggles with his identities
• Why pick on Apocalypse Now
• It continues the Hollywood tradition of ignoring
  the Black persons perspective

14
First Blood

• Same year of release as Ashes and Embers and it
  explores PTSD.
• White Vietnam veteran character would become one
  of the most recognizable in the world.
• Again not even a nod to the Black veterans
  experience.

15
Aliens

• Vietnam in Space
• Written by James Cameron while penning the
  scripts for the sequel to First Blood
• Important to look at popular cinema and how
  themes of Vietnam poked through to other genres.
• This time, a womans character was being written
  by a White man.

16
Tropic Thunder

• Even parody can get it wrong
• Has Hollywood given up
• Writers might get it, but do producers?
• Again, will it change anything?
• The Black Veterans perspective is still
  marginalized.

17
Conclusion

• We still need our L.A. Revolution