Blaxploitation in the 90s: The new revival & new commercial Blaxploitation.

Blaxploitation in the 90s: The new revival & new commercial Blaxploitation

By J.D. van den Ham

New revival: Quentin Tarantino

Together with the 70s revival in the 90s, came a new interest in Blaxploitation movies. But this did not result in clearly defined Blaxploitation movies. It was more like an influence. Certain aspects and images from Blaxploitation movies and from 70s (black) culture started popping up in movies. The movie that did this the most clearly was Pulp Fiction (1994). Images like Samuel L. Jackson hair cut and the stylish clothing clearly referred to old Blaxploitation movies. But the influence was limited to mood and imagery. In his movie Jackie Brown (1997) the Blaxploitation influence was more clear, mainly by using old Blaxploitation star Pam Grier as the heroin (her first leading role in a long, long time) and using a plot reminiscent of many old pulp stories that also formed the basis of the 70s movies.

The revival also resulted in new public interest for the old movies. Many conventions where held and old Blaxploitation stars such as Pam Grier, Richard Roundtree, Fred “the hammer” Williamson and Ron O’Neil (Superfly) where in the spotlight again, but mostly only having cameo appearances in genre movies like From dusk till dawn, Escape from LA and Mars Attacks, but incidentally getting a bigger part, like Pam Grier did in Jackie Brown. Striking is the fact that the revival did not get much response from the black population. Most Blaxploitation fans where white males in their twenties and thirties.[21]

Most of these movies seemed to focus only on the kitsch factor and certain details. For example the fascination with outrageous 70s clothing, 70s cars and furniture, bad dialogue and campy sex. The radical elements and the focus on black power and resisting authority where largely overlooked. Also the perspective was never limited exclusively to African Americans. There where always actors from different races. That is one of the reason why these movies where no real Blaxploitation. Blaxploitation also remained just one influence among many others. Different elements from the genre were mixed with other aspects of 70s popculture and other styles, but also with non-back culture. In that way the revival of Blaxploitation in the mid 90s was very post-modern, combining as much different elements as possible.

New commercial Blaxploitation movies

Next to the hood movies, which echoed the urban, crime based Blaxploitation movies, and the revival led by Tarantino, which focuses more on the cultural and external aspects of the genre, there where other movies that can be related to 70s Blaxploitation. Some of them where almost true Blaxploitation outings, for example Original Gangsters (1996) and New Jack City. Others just tried to combine the new found interest for black heroes and black culture with more conventional Hollywood genre movies. To differentiate these movies from the gangsploitation movies and the ‘revival’ movies, I will call them new commercial Blaxploitation movies.

In the course of the 90s the new Blaxploitation movement started to include genres other than the urban based crime movie. Movies like the western Posse, (made by Mario van Peebles in 1993) and the horror movie Vampire in Brooklyn, all showed a deep connection with the pulp elements in the 70s Blaxploitation movies. In the 70s, Blaxploitation was not confined to the urban crime genre either.

The movies where now strongly based in the white, Hollywood mainstream and did not necessarily have black directors. Also the more radical and political undertones of hood movies and the 70s Blaxploitation flicks where less obvious and mostly even completely absent. Hollywood had smoothed the edges. They also became more entertainment oriented and lost most of the social references. What remained was the use of a black, male hero. But Hollywood did not want to make movies exclusively for a black audience. So the more ‘pure’ Blaxploitation movies like New Jack City, Posse and Original Gangsters quickly disappeared to make way for ...

This is a preview of the whole essay

So in the course of the 90s the focused began to shift from an all-black viewpoint to a mixed viewpoint, including more characters from different races. This meant a compromise for the all-back Blaxploitation movies, but could also be seen as positive from the other side. In the normal Hollywood genre movies it was no longer necessary to use African Americans only as a sidekick, like in the 80s. Now blacks could also be the hero and whites could be the sidekick. (e.g. in Blade and Money Train). The revival of the Blaxploitation genre contributed greatly to this acceptance of the black hero in mainstream genre filmmaking.

So in the new commercial Blaxploitation, all Blaxploitation elements have been incorporated into the mainstream and are now related to standard Hollywood filmmaking.

BLADE

A good example of the mixture of Blaxploitation and mainstream Hollywood genre filmmaking is Blade (1998). This movie is also interesting, because it has more to offer than the standard mainstream action flick. Implicitly it has a very political message. In that way it is very subversive, as many of the 70s Blaxploitation movies where too. It is also interesting how it differs from Shaft 2000, which has no deeper meaning, even though it thinks it has. Blade also relates much stronger to the old Blaxploitation than most of the other new commercial movies.

The story of Blade is a combination of vampire horror movies with kung fu action movies. Also the urban setting makes the reference Blaxploitation movies quite clear. Blade (played by Wesley Snipes) is a vampire hunter, who is half vampire himself. Shortly before his birth his mother was bitten by a vampire, mixing his blood. Blade’s biggest enemy is the white yuppie vampire called Frost (played by Stephen Dorff). Frost needs Blade to perform an ancient ritual, which will cause vampires to rule the world. In his fight against Frost, Blade is aided by a young black female doctor, Karen, and an old, bitter, white sidekick (Kris Kristofferson).

The movie uses a lot of action, violence and an outrageous, almost ridiculous plot, which relates it very clear to the low-budget Blaxploitation movies of the 70s. Blade is represented as a strong, ruthless macho that fights evil outside of the law (like Shaft). He is also trapped between good and evil (like Priest in Superfly), because he is half man, half vampire. The only thing that suppresses his vampire urges, is a serum that Kristofferson makes for him. Later it turns out that Blade’s mother was turned into a vampire by Frost, which makes him Blade’s ‘father’ in some way. In the end Blade kills Frost by using a deadly serum made by Karen.

Blade is a movie that relates to the 70s Blaxploitation genre, but combines it with modern action and horror movies. Blade is a classical Blaxploitation hero in the tradition of Shaft and Priest and has to battle a white evil, which also happened a lot in the old movies. The movie also plays with the creation of black masculinity by making Blade ridiculously cool en macho. But at the same time he is represented as weak and dependable. Also the female lead is not degraded to a sexy looking scream queen, but is a strong black female who actually helps Blade numerous times and can kick ass if necessary. Most other new commercial Blaxploitation movies do not have such a strong female character. (Not even Vanessa Williams in Shaft 2000.)

If you look past the action, and read the implications of the story, there is quite a political message. Blade is a product of white oppression and white violence (represented in the vampire myth and the violence inflicted on his mother). The main evil here is white, yuppie society (represented by Frost), which keeps black people in check. It is this white evil that has created the evil and savage urges within Blade (by biting his mother, who represents black society and black history). Ironically this evil within is his best weapon against the system (the vampires). But he also needs the help from white society (represented in Kristofferson and the serum) to keep his urges under control. But the serum looses it’s power as his body becomes immune. By the end of the movie Kristofferson has died and he now depends on Karen to make a better serum. So in the end he depends on female strength. Blade, in a certain way, represents what black culture and black society have become under the influence of white oppression.

Blade has more to do with the 70s Blaxploitation than Shaft 2000, (even though the latter refers to it more clearly), especially because Blade is more outrageous and deliberately camp at some times. This connects it to the b-movie and pulp qualities many of the Blaxploitation movies of the 70s had. They too combined blackness with all kind of outrageous action and different genres (even kung-fu, which is featured very prominently in Blade). Blade is also a more ruthless black hero than Shaft 2000 is, and the movie is also prepared to look at his darker side, trying to define what makes the him ‘savage’. In doing so it again relates to the more radical side of Blaxploitation pictures of the 70s. Also de violence is more clearly aimed at a white menace (Frost and his vampires), that represents white supremacy and the white system. Shaft 2000 fails to do this; most of the violence is directed towards the Latino gang of Peoples. Next to that, Shaft 2000 does not direct much anger towards the system. Shaft is frustrated about it and rejects it, but in the end, we do not know if the system would have prevailed or not (because Christian Bale is shot before his trial). Even Shaft remains dependable on the system and in the end even returns to it. In Blade the system is automatically rejected by our hero, because he never was part of it anyway (When he encounters cops, the first thing they do is shoot at him). Authority is also represented as clearly corrupt, because vampires have infested politics and the police force, having spies and collaborators everywhere. This gives a more paranoid and ‘who the hell can I trust’ feeling, than Shaft 2000. For example the two corrupt cops in Shaft 2000 are exposed quite quickly and than killed by our hero. In Blade it is impossible for our hero to catch all the corrupt cops. He also is far more cynical about it (in that way he can also be related to Shaft from the 70s).

The fact that Blade is more radical in it’s attitude is quite striking, when you realize that it was made by a white director and that Shaft 2000 was made by the director of the quite radical Boyz ‘N the Hood. This indicates that most black directors who where once radical, but now work in Hollywood are kept on a tighter leach than white directors. Or it has to do with the fact that Paramount is a bigger studio than NewLine, and takes less risks.

Shaft 2000 and the new wave

Despite their differences, Blade and Shaft 2000 are both clear representatives of the new commercial Blaxploitation movies. They both mix influences from mainstream Hollywood and Blaxploitation and do not exclusively use black characters. Both are produced and financed by major Hollywood studios (Paramount and NewLine), are ‘big budget’ and are considered as mainstream movies. But Shaft 2000 mixes less elements from the old Blaxploitation genre, and more from the standard Hollywood crime picture. In that way Shaft 2000 is a better example for the new commercial Blaxploitation movies, than Blade.

Shaft 2000 can be seen as a new commercial Blaxploitation movie, mainly because its political and radical potential is weakened by Hollywood influence. There are no more sharp edges. This makes it pastiche, instead of parody. The lack of critical edge is very typical for the new commercial Blaxploitation genre, even tough there are quite some exceptions that sneak some radical elements in (e.g. Blade and Posse), but these movies usually have to feature less realistic genres like horror and western.

Other elements that the new commercial Blaxploitation pictures took from Hollywood are the stereotypical characters and plot development. In Shaft 2000 you can see stereotypes like the white bigot (Christian Bale), the vicious ethnic gangster (Peoples) and the usual street hustlers (the kids that are beaten up by Shaft). Striking is that one character that first is represented as a racist cop, later helps Shaft, as if the movie wants to say; “not all racists are bad. They can be useful members of society”. This would never have happened in the old Blaxploitation movies or the new black wave. It shows how hard the new movies try to incorporate the dominant ideology.

Shaft 2000 can also be related to the gangsploitation movies, in the way it uses images from ghetto life. The best example is the way the young hoods are represented that Shaft brutally beats up. Only here the hoods are the bad guys and we are supposed to be OK with the fact that Shaft pistol-whips one of them, just so that he won’t sell drugs to kids. The most striking thing is that at the moment Shaft is beating the kid, a cop drives by, sees shaft and they just nod at each other. Here the movie not only condones police brutality, but also police indifference.

So here the ghetto imagery that features so prominently in the hood movies, is used to an opposite effect. We are made to sympathize with the police (Shaft) instead of the ghetto kids. It shows that in Shaft 2000 (and in most new commercial Blaxploitation pictures) there is no more place for gray areas. Everything is either black or white (you are a gangster, or you are a law abiding citizen). There is no interest for deeper motives. Interesting is that the movie does condone gray areas within the system. It is OK for cops to inflict violence, as long as it is for a good purpose (stopping gangsters from selling dope to kids). The same ambivalence is used at the end, when Christian Bale is shot by the mother of the victim.

But the movie does not condone the same ambivalence toward the people on the other side of the law, for example the black street gangsters and Peoples. Even though Peoples takes care of his community and he is shown holding a baby numerous times, in the end he is just portrayed as an evil (Portorican) psycho. There is no sympathy as in the hood movies. There are only a couple of half baked attempts to make us feel for Peoples; We hear that he takes care of his neighborhood. But he does this by selling drugs and he has no problem killing one of his ‘people’ when he turns out to be a snitch. He also seems to have a kid, but we never see the mother. He also loses his kid brother, but up to the moment that he is killed, we did not even know for sure that it was his brother, nor that they were close. So in the end, we do not understand the motives of Peoples, nor do we feel particularly bad that he dies in the end.

So even tough Shaft 2000 uses certain images and characters from the hood movies, they are used in a completely different way. In the hood movies they are used to protest against the system, but in Shaft 2000 they are used to condone it. The characters from those movies are also positioned in opposition to Shaft, so that we never identify with them or even care for them.

Shaft 2000 is also an example of the revival movies. But here it has the most to do with reviving shaft himself, than reviving 70s popculture. Shaft is clearly updated, both in his attitude, as in his style (the old Shaft would never have worn Armani and a leather {threnscoat}). Also in other aspects the new Shaft movie revives very little from the 70s. The only thing it really brings back is of course the music, which uses the Shaft theme song in an almost continuous loupe. Otherwise, the movie tries to set the Shaft universe in the now, instead of a hybrid space of the 70s and 90s, which made Jackie Brown and Pulp Fiction so interesting. Except for Richard Roundtree, who plays the old shaft, there are no cameo appearances either.