Black American Representation in Films of War Jeff McCluskey FTV 218

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.”

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

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

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 don’t have the marketing muscle and audience that Hollywood films command, does not make them less effective.

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

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 film’s limited budget to his advantage

Gerima’s Ney Charles as Veteran Ney Charles struggles with issues of identity on multiple fronts Black American War Veteran

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

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.

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 Griffith’s film have for representations of Black people in Hollywood? Supporting roles

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

Gerima’s 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 person’s perspective

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 veteran’s experience.

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 woman’s character was being written by a White man.

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 Veteran’s perspective is still marginalized.

Conclusion We still need our L.A. Revolution