blaxploitation

i've just watched this very fun documentary (BaaadAsssss Cinema) that opens up many questions on the 70s blaxploitation films. it had good footage and of course a very good music by isaac hayes, curtis mayfield, etc..



some very interesting ideas/issues that really got me thinking are:
*** the term "blaxploitation": why suddenly these films to entertain black audiences, which involve drugs, sex, violence like all the other films which don't have white protagonists come to be called in terms of exploitation? the directors, actors and actresses of the era seem to think that there was no exploitation, yes there was serious setting up of stereotypes- but that's what crime cinema is all about, as Tarantino says in the film. the films were definitely shot for making profit out of black audiences who wanted to see black people kicking ass after a long period of struggle. but again, isn't entertainment cinema all about profit? if that's the case then all of us are always being exploited regardless of our group/community/nation etc.
*** and of course there were people of the black community, political activists who strongly criticized these films, thinking this sort of entertainment would move people away from reality, the real political issues. this reminds me of Soviet Russia and Proletkult debates.
***capitalism and entertainment industry always operates on the level of "more" and "surplus." the idea being that let's make money out of this group and that group that we will start recognizing and accepting as one of us. and we will keep on recognizing as long as they are cogs in the wheel of the economic machine.
***this brief period of american film industry and the debates that followed illustrates the general picture of the whole system in a profound way.

things i learned:
-tupac's mother is very clever and used to be a part of Black Panthers,
-the film Jackie Brown is thought for some as a film that gives back a political edge to the genre.

and about my usage of the word "black"- i don't believe in assigning new names to the peoples, because it seems as if the inequalities underlying are being politically correctified and not overcome.