CENTRAL ARGUMENT / THESIS
Shaft (1971) is a film about the utilization of race as a source of power over all social constructions. The film utilizes race, performance, and the theme of opacity to convey this. Shaft, being a Blaxploitation film, allows common themes such as race to take on a whole different meaning. In other film race might simply just be a distinguishing trait to tell one character from another. But in Shaft, race equates power.
METHOD / APPROACH TO THE FILM This paper will focus on the conversation on how race and opacity convey power in Blaxploitation films. This paper will analyze the film Shaft (1971) and how its uses of opacity and race parallels other films and how it was interpreted. This paper will explore six articles …show more content…
The characters in the film are of either black decent or white. Polarizing the community this way suggests that these are the only two races in society which matter. The main character John Shaft is depicted as the most powerful in the piece. He being black has a lot to do with that. The symptomatic meaning this gives to the film is that the black race is superior to all other races. In the 1970s race was rampant in communities and the common notion was that black people were beneath the majority (white) population. And the introduction of Blaxploitation films allow black people to see themselves as the hero and the desirables in film which was completely contrary to society’s belief. This idea is addressed in "He Is A "BAD MOTHER*$%@!#" by Matthew Henry, "Tryin ' To Get Over": Super Fly, Black Politics, And Post-Civil Rights Film Enterprise." by Eithe Quinn, and "The Trope Of Blaxploitation In Critical Responses To Sweetback." By Jon Hartmann. Henry suggests that Blaxploitation films aim to appease the black community by giving them a fictional “hero” in which they can look up to. The idea of a black man placed in an overly racist society while prevailing against all odds is the common narrative. Contrary to popular belief, Henry and Quinn argue that black men in Blaxploitation films are not there to look powerful they are there to argue that black men have neither power nor privilege. Hartmann sums both of those articles …show more content…
(The film uses substantial amount of opaque glass.) For example, when John Shaft is shot in his office in a medium close up, in his background can be seen a wall of opaque windows. John Shaft is filmed glancing out the window while conversing with other characters in the shot but not necessarily in the frame. This is interesting because to the viewer what is on the other side of the glass is not visible and yet the characters seem to still glare out the windows as if there was something to see. In "The Right To Opacity" by T.J. Demos and "Transparency And Twist In Narrative Fiction Film." by George Wilson, the author argues that opacity equates with the “unknowingness” of the world and when placed in film the idea is to convey that what is thought of as common sense or certain, might not be so
Shaft (1971) is a film about the utilization of race as a source of power over all social constructions. The film utilizes race, performance, and the theme of opacity to convey this. Shaft, being a Blaxploitation film, allows common themes such as race to take on a whole different meaning. In other film race might simply just be a distinguishing trait to tell one character from another. But in Shaft, race equates power.
METHOD / APPROACH TO THE FILM This paper will focus on the conversation on how race and opacity convey power in Blaxploitation films. This paper will analyze the film Shaft (1971) and how its uses of opacity and race parallels other films and how it was interpreted. This paper will explore six articles …show more content…
The characters in the film are of either black decent or white. Polarizing the community this way suggests that these are the only two races in society which matter. The main character John Shaft is depicted as the most powerful in the piece. He being black has a lot to do with that. The symptomatic meaning this gives to the film is that the black race is superior to all other races. In the 1970s race was rampant in communities and the common notion was that black people were beneath the majority (white) population. And the introduction of Blaxploitation films allow black people to see themselves as the hero and the desirables in film which was completely contrary to society’s belief. This idea is addressed in "He Is A "BAD MOTHER*$%@!#" by Matthew Henry, "Tryin ' To Get Over": Super Fly, Black Politics, And Post-Civil Rights Film Enterprise." by Eithe Quinn, and "The Trope Of Blaxploitation In Critical Responses To Sweetback." By Jon Hartmann. Henry suggests that Blaxploitation films aim to appease the black community by giving them a fictional “hero” in which they can look up to. The idea of a black man placed in an overly racist society while prevailing against all odds is the common narrative. Contrary to popular belief, Henry and Quinn argue that black men in Blaxploitation films are not there to look powerful they are there to argue that black men have neither power nor privilege. Hartmann sums both of those articles …show more content…
(The film uses substantial amount of opaque glass.) For example, when John Shaft is shot in his office in a medium close up, in his background can be seen a wall of opaque windows. John Shaft is filmed glancing out the window while conversing with other characters in the shot but not necessarily in the frame. This is interesting because to the viewer what is on the other side of the glass is not visible and yet the characters seem to still glare out the windows as if there was something to see. In "The Right To Opacity" by T.J. Demos and "Transparency And Twist In Narrative Fiction Film." by George Wilson, the author argues that opacity equates with the “unknowingness” of the world and when placed in film the idea is to convey that what is thought of as common sense or certain, might not be so