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BLAXPLOITATION AS AN APPARATUS FOR FEMALE EMPOWERMENT: HOW PAM GRIER’S FILMS REDEFINED NOTIONS OF GENDER AND RACE By THERESA CAMPBELL A THESIS PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN MASS COMMUNICATION UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2013 1 © 2013 Theresa Campbell 2 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I thank my wonderful family and friends for all their support and encouragement! Additionally, I thank my colleagues and fellow graduate students, Krissy Birnbrauer, Erica Newport and Anthony Palomba, for helping me weather the tumultuous academic storm known as graduate school at the University of Florida. Furthermore, I believe that I would have never been able to survive this last year if not for Jody Hedge. Her kind demeanor and unlimited knowledge and wisdom kept me pushing to finish. I thank my chair, Dr. Tripp, and committee members, Joanna Cleary and Michael Blachly, for their unwavering support throughout the thesis process. Finally, I thank my mentor, Deanna Pelfrey, whose focus on the betterment and success of her students is a rare and much appreciated quality. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................. 3 LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................... 5 ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................... 6 CHAPTER 1 STATEMENT OF PURPOSE .................................................................................... 7 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 7 Purpose of Study .................................................................................................... 10 Literature Review .................................................................................................... 12 Blaxploitation Genre Defined ............................................................................ 12 Blaxploitation Genre Beginning and End .......................................................... 15 Black Women’s Role in the Blaxploitation ........................................................ 16 Familial Roles within Society ............................................................................ 20 Blaxploitation in Hollywood ............................................................................... 21 Research Questions ............................................................................................... 23 Textual Analysis ...................................................................................................... 26 Future Implications.................................................................................................. 28 2 CONTENT AND CHARACTERIZATIONS .............................................................. 31 Social Construction of Gender ................................................................................ 32 Dualistic Oppression in the Family Realm .............................................................. 34 3 AUDIENCE PERCEPTION AND RACE RELATIONS ............................................ 59 Racist Sentiment ..................................................................................................... 61 Audience Reception ................................................................................................ 73 4 VIGILANTISM ......................................................................................................... 83 5 CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................... 109 LIST OF REFERENCES ............................................................................................. 118 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH .......................................................................................... 125 4 LIST OF FIGURES Figure page 1-1 Characterizations Matrix ..................................................................................... 29 1-2 Advertisement for Dr. Black, Mr. Hyde analyzed by Kraszewski ........................ 30 1-3 Coffy in action and hyper sexualized .................................................................. 30 2-1 Coffy film cover ................................................................................................... 57 2-2 Foxy Brown film cover ........................................................................................ 57 2-3 Sheba, Baby film cover ...................................................................................... 57 2-4 Coffy sexualized ................................................................................................. 57 2-5 Foxy in rape scene ............................................................................................. 58 3-1 Foxy during the rape scene ................................................................................ 81 3-2 Coffy being accosted .......................................................................................... 81 3-3 Shark and Sheba ................................................................................................ 82 4-1 Pam Grier and Antonio Fargas as Foxy and Link ............................................. 106 4-2 Foxy grabbing the key with her tongue ............................................................ 106 4-3 Sheba kissing Brick .......................................................................................... 107 4-4 Coffy captive ..................................................................................................... 107 4-5 Coffy pointing a gun at Howard ........................................................................ 107 4-6 Sheba’s suitcase of guns .................................................................................. 108 4-7 Sheba armed with a gun and wet suit ............................................................... 108 5 Abstract of Thesis Presented to the Graduate School of the University of Florida in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Masters of Arts in Mass Communication BLAXPLOITATION AS AN APPARATUS FOR FEMALE EMPOWERMENT: HOW PAM GRIER’S FILMS REDEFINED NOTIONS OF GENDER AND RACE By Theresa Campbell August 2013 Chair: Bernell Tripp Major: Mass Communication My study, a combination of textual and historical analyses, offers a thorough examination of the over-arching themes in three of the most well-known female blaxploitation films, Coffy, Foxy Brown, and Sheba, Baby, examining the multiple dynamics of each character’s performance. Within these films, Pam Grier became recognized as the queen of blaxploitation films and one of the earliest black heroines of pop culture. Coffy incorporated typical genre elements of sex and violence and was a major box-office hit. Moreover, Grier was casted as its leading lady and she became the first African-American female to headline an action film, a protagonist slot typically dominated by males. The film along with its less-successful box office follow-ups, Foxy Brown and Sheba, Baby, ended up establishing Grier as an icon of the genre. She gradually became a staple of early ’70s blaxploitation movies, playing flamboyant, sassy, bold and assertive women. 6 CHAPTER 1 STATEMENT OF PURPOSE Introduction The tumultuous and radical social movements of the ‘60s and ‘70s fostered a new type of film genre known as blaxploitation; a film genre that used all-black casts which criticized social and political inequities (Yarbough, 2005). A textual as well as historical analysis of these films is important because it is essential to study predecessors who have challenged current, oppressive systems and succeeded. This study provides a deeper understanding of racial inequity and sexist notions during the ‘60s and ‘70s, and highlights previously used and successful measures of civil disobedience that transcend into modern times. Through a combination of historical and textual analysis, my study offers insight into the over-arching themes in films of a prominent blaxploitation actress (Coffy, Foxy Brown, and Sheba Baby) in order to recognize and attempt to understand the multiple dynamics of each character’s performance. Traditionally, American society has either ignored or misrepresented African Americans in film (Bogle, 1994; Chrisman, 2006). Black actors/actresses were characterized (if included at all) under very specific categories of representation in film. For example, the plantation genre, as found in Gone with the Wind (1939), engaged male and female actors of color through stereotypical racist representations. Black actors and actresses performed in limited roles portraying servitude and subjugation (Blake, 1982; Givens and Monahan, 2005; Holmlund, 2005; Iye, 2006; Sims, 2006; Taylor, 1998; Weaver 2006). Dr. Hal Weaver (2006) captured the prominence of the plantation genre in American society during the twentieth century: 7 During most of the twentieth century, the tendency of Hollywood and other dominant media around the world was to demean black men, women and children through persistently negative stereotypes. In a further analysis of the argument, film historian Donald Bogle points out the following types of black representation in traditional film: Black adult males—never men, only child-like and animal-like—were Uncle Toms (loyal, subservient),