San Francisco Public Library

Toms, coons, mulattoes, mammies, and bucks, an interpretive history of Blacks in American films, Donald Bogle

eng

illustrations

index present

non fiction

Toms, coons, mulattoes, mammies, and bucks

944077309

Donald Bogle

an interpretive history of Blacks in American films

This classic iconic study of black images in American motion pictures has been updated and revised, as Donald Bogle continues to enlighten us with his historical and social reflections on the relationship between African Americans and Hollywood. He notes the remarkable shifts that have come about in the new millennium when such filmmakers as Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave) and Ava DuVernay (Selma) examined America's turbulent racial history and the particular dilemma of black actresses in Hollywood, including Halle Berry, Lupita Nyong'o, Octavia Spencer, Jennifer Hudson, and Viola Davis. Bogle also looks at the ongoing careers of such stars as Denzel Washington and Will Smith and such directors as Spike Lee and John Singleton, observing that questions of diversity in the film industry continue. From The Birth of a Nation, the 1934 Imitation of Life, Gone with the Wind, and Carmen Jones to Shaft, Do the Right Thing, and Boyz N the Hood to Training Day, Dreamgirls, The Help, Django Unchained, and Straight Outta Compton, Donald Bogle compellingly reveals the way in which the images of blacks in American movies have significantly changed-and also the shocking way in which those images have often remained the same. -- Provided by publisher

Preface -- Introduction -- 1. Black beginnings : from Uncle Tom's Cabin to The Birth of a Nation -- The tom -- The coon -- The tragic mulatto -- The mammy -- The brutal black buck and The Birth of a Nation -- 2. Into the 1920s : the jesters -- 3. The 1930s : the servants -- High-steppin' Sir Stepin -- Waiting on West and Serving Shirley -- Mr. Bojangles : the cool-eyed tom -- Clarence Muse : the inhibited, humanized tom standing in a corner by himself -- Imitation of life : mother knows best -- Iridescent Fredi : black girl in search of a black role -- Louise Beavers : the black guardian angel -- The Green Pastures -- Rex Ingram : first of the freed black men -- Stepin's step-chillun -- Rochester : the gentleman's gentleman -- Hi-Hat Hattie -- Gone With the Wind : romanticizing black realities and the end of a tradition -- Paul Robeson : the black colossus -- 4. The interlude : black-market cinema -- Oscar Micheaux -- 5. The 1940s : the entertainers, the new negroes, and the problem people -- The entertainers-- Hazel Scott : miss proper middle-class lady -- Lena Horne : Black beauty in residence -- Cabin in the Sky -- Stormy Weather -- Bits and pieces of black action -- Song of the South -- The new negroes : an interim -- The problem people -- Home of the brave and the postwar good sensitive negro -- Lost Boundaries' tragic mulattoes -- Pinky's Tragic Mulatto and its strong black woman -- Intruder in the Dust and the defiantly proud black man -- 6. The 1950s : black stars -- Ethel Waters : Earth mother for an alienated age -- Dorothy Dandridge : apotheosis of the mulatto -- Sidney Poitier : hero for an integrationist age -- Black odds and ends -- 7. The 1960s : problem people into militants -- Steps forward -- Black art films -- A step backward : Ossie Davis and Gone are the Days -- Along the road, in Harlem, and on the subway -- Way down in de New Ole South with Tom-Tom, Miss Bronze Barbie Doll, and Ms. Militant Mammy -- A Man Called Adam and Sammy Davis, Jr.'s bid for movie stardom -- Super Sidney of the 1960s -- Jim Brown : black buck hero for a separatist age -- The new-style black film --8. The 1970s : bucks and a black movie boom -- Preludes -- Melvin Van Peebles : the black movie director as folk hero -- Shaft : he's a badd mother : shut your mouth -- Super Fly : mixed messages -- The jock as movie star -- Lady Sings the Blues : black stars, black romance -- Sounder -- Sidney strikes again -- Superbadd, Supermama -- Sisters in distress -- Other films, other voices -- Richard Pryor : the crazy nigger as conquering hero -- The Wiz -- 9. The 1980s : black superstars and the era of tan -- Holding up the fort -- Dramatic possibilities -- Buddy buddy -- Richard Pryor, superstar : the ups and downs -- Trading Places : Eddie Murphy -- A Soldier's Story -- Say it with music -- Different directions -- Women : as exotics and non-racials -- A controversy about color -- Whipping Whoopi -- Independents -- Hollywood and the race theme -- Burning history : the white man's burden -- The Bird doesn't fly -- Focusing on apartheid -- Bringing history to light : Glory -- Denzel Washington : on the road to stardom -- Driving Miss Daisy : the matter of perspective -- Morgan Freeman : the long journey to get there -- Other films -- Sidney returns -- Closing the era on the right note -- 10. The 1990s : new stars, new filmmakers, and a new African American cinema -- The good, the bad, the bonded, the typed -- Whoopi's back -- An emerging new African American cinema -- Charles Burnett : a new career direction -- A breakthorugh year -- New Jack movies -- A Black New Wave -- John Singleton's South Central -- Rising from the dust -- More by Spike -- Other new directors and films -- Carl Franklin : film noir from another point of view -- Actresses in search of roles -- Waiting to Exhale : reaching the black female audience -- Angela Bassett : still holding her breath -- Whtiney Houston : pop goddess turned movie star -- Post-Exhale women -- Oprah's opus : Beloved -- Movies for the smart youg hip crowd : love jones and Love and Basketball -- New actors -- Eddie Murphy : all grown up, looking for a place to go -- Laurence Fishburne : from child actor to leading man -- Wesley Snipes : action hero -- Character actors turned stars : Morgan Freeman and Samuel L. Jackson -- Denzel Washington : leading man, occasional romantic hero, enduring superstar -- Throwbacks to the past -- 11. The new century, the new millennium : old types, new stars, new filmmakers, re-examinations of the past -- Seems like old times, old types -- Denzel Washington : still at the top despite a rogue cop -- Halle Berry comes of age -- Royalty's rocky reign : Queen Latifah -- Chris Rock trying to rock the boat -- Crash & Hustle & Flow -- Music stars in pursuit of movie stardom -- Outsiders coming in : T.D. Jakes and Tyler Perry -- Inter-ethnic casting -- Oscar time -- Will Smith : oscar nominee, megastar, movie disappointments -- 2006 : Forest Whitaker, a big year -- Big dreams : Dreamgirls -- Women on the rise : new roles -- A long time in the making -- Count Ms Davis in -- Precious and Lee Daniels' gothic cinema of excess -- Directors, veterans and newcomers -- Another decade : re-examining the past -- History, slavery, and plantation dramas -- Other films : other re-examinations