Synopses & Reviews
Contemporary Black Cinema offers a fresh collection of essays on African American film, media and visual culture in the era of global multiculturalism. Integrating theory, history and criticism, the contributing authors deftly connect interdisciplinary perspectives from American studies, cinema studies, cultural studies, political science, media studies, and Queer theory. This multidisciplinary methodology expands the discursive and interpretive registers of film analysis. From Paul Robeson 's and Sidney Poitier 's star vehicles to Lee Daniels directorial forays, these essays include but surpass discussions of urban realism in New Black Cinema. These entries address the career legacies of film stars, examine various iterations of Blaxploitation-animation, question the comedic politics of fat suit films, and celebrate the innovation of avant-garde and experimental cinema.
Synopsis
Black American Cinema Reconsidered presents state-of-the-art scholarship on black filmmakers and filmmaking. This collection of ten all new essays traces the changing representation of African Americans on screen, from a rereading of Birth of a Nation as a horror film to an examination of black experimental film form and community. The impressive group of film scholars gathered here, including Carroll Parrott Blue, Terri Francis, Michael B. Gillespie, Ed Guerrero, Keith Harris, Paula Massood, Charlie Musser, Mark Reid, Charlene Regester, and Robert Stam, also explore the globalization of black cinema and the on-screen treatment of major themes in African American culture such as exile and diaspora.