02242cam a2200289 i 4500 1390592545 TxAuBib 20240806120000.0 240111s2024||||||||||||||||||||||||eng|u bl2024001099 9781419758416 HRD 27.00 1419758411 HRD 27.00 TxAuBib rda Henderson, Odie, author. Black Caesars and foxy Cleopatras [BOOK] : a history of blaxploitation in cinema / Odie Henderson. New York : Abrams Press, [2024] 292 pages ; 24 cm. txt rdacontent n rdamedia nc rdacarrier "In 1971, two films grabbed the movie business, shook it up, and launched a genre that would help define the decade. Melvin Van Peebles’s Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song, an independently produced film about a male sex worker who beats up cops and gets away, and Gordon Parks’s Shaft, a studio-financed film with a killer soundtrack, were huge hits, making millions of dollars. Sweetback upended cultural expectations by having its Black rebel win in the end, and Shaft saved MGM from bankruptcy. Not for the last time did Hollywood discover that Black people went to movies too. The Blaxploitation era was born. Written by film critic Odie Henderson, Black Caesars and Foxy Cleopatras is a spirited history of a genre and the movies that he grew up watching, which he loves without irony (but with plenty of self-awareness and humor). Blaxploitation was a major trend, but it was never simple. The films mixed self-empowerment with exploitation, base stereotypes with essential representation that spoke to the lives and fantasies of Black viewers. The time is right for a reappraisal, understanding these films in the context of the time, and exploring their lasting influence.". 20240806. Blaxploitation films United States History and criticism. African Americans in the motion picture industry. African Americans in motion pictures. Motion pictures United States History.