Shaft: Movie Analysis

It is morning. The film begins with an extreme long shot that showcases not only the chaotic scenery of New York City, but the man in which this city encapsulates, John Shaft (Richard Roundtree). Despite its opening sequence, Shaft (Parks, 1971) utilizes a multitude of close up shots to convey the dominance of John Shaft to the city, but more importantly the dominance of the black male to its community. Gordon Parks utilized close ups specifically when John Shaft contrasted others in conversations. In one specific scene, Shaft was not only in the foreground of the shot, but when speaking to his white boss the camera framed him in a medium close up with his boss in similar focal clarity in the background. This choice in framing allows Shaft to take up more of the shot therefore making him physically bigger than everything else in the frame. In contrast, Shaft was placed in another shot with black female counterpart, Ellie Moore (Gwen Mitchell), and when in conversation with her they both were framed in a medium close up, same focal clarity, and both in the foreground. This is significant because this is a trend in most of the film. When framed with counterparts of the same …show more content…
In particular, Shaft was shot fighting two criminals in his office in the beginning of the film. The criminals and Shaft frantically fought in the midground of the shot, but to show that Shaft had the upper hand, the camera would capture a medium close up of him ferociously swinging at the camera, which was at a low angle. This was utilized as a point of view shot from the criminal’s perspective. Shooting from this angle and from this close suggests that Shaft is dominant over the character at which he is swinging his fists, therefore leaving the camera, which has no race, at an inferior position. This shot also suggests that the black male will always be superior in all situations regardless of