Screens Fade to Black: Contemporary African American Cinema David J. Leonard PRAEGER SCREENS FADE TO BLACK SCREENS FADE TO BLACK Contemporary African American Cinema DAVID J. LEONARD Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Leonard, David J. Screens fade to black : contemporary African American cinema /David J. Leonard. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0–275–98361–7 (alk. paper) 1. African Americans in motion pictures. 2. African Americans in the motion picture industry. I. Title. PN1995.9.N4L46 2006 791.43'652996073—dc22 2006003336 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available. Copyright © 2006 by David J. Leonard All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, by any process or technique, without the express written consent of the publisher. This book is included in the African American Experience database from Greenwood Electronic Media. For more information, visit www.africanamericanexperience.com. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2006003336 ISBN: 0–275–98361–7 First published in 2006 Praeger Publishers, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881 An imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. www.praeger.com Printed in the United States of America ∞ TM The paper used in this book complies with the Permanent Paper Standard issued by the National Information Standards Organization (Z39.48–1984). 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 To Anna, for loving me and seeing the value in my work To Rea, for reminding me of the importance of social justice To the victims of Hurricane Katrina, for reminding me of the importance of cultural studies grounded in struggles for social justice To Tookie Williams, for your efforts to redeem yourself and this nation, which in the end reminded us that racism does kill CONTENTS Acknowledgments ix 1 Screens Fade to Black, But Little Has Changed 1 Celebrating the 2002 Oscars 1 Defi ning African American Cinema 3 A New Racism: Popular Culture and Colorblind Discourse 8 Toward an Understanding of the New Racism 13 2 The Ghettocentric Imagination 23 Baby Boy 26 Antwone Fisher 40 Training Day 51 Prison Song 60 Conclusion 74 3 Is This Really African American Cinema? Black Middle-Class Dramas and Hollywood 77 Drumline 84 Love & Basketball 97 Brown Sugar 105 Good Fences 113 Conclusion 121 viii CONTENTS 4 Blackness as Comedy: Laughter and the American Dream 125 Soul Plane 128 Bringing Down the House 133 A White Man’s Burden? Redemption in Post-Civil Rights America 137 Barbershop 141 Barbershop 2 155 Comedies as Transgression 161 Undercover Brother 161 Bamboozled 170 Conclusion 175 5 Moving Forward without Moving Back 177 The 2005 Oscars 177 Just Scenery: Authenticating Hip-Hop and the American Dream 180 White Stories, Black Face: My Baby’s Daddy and Love Don’t Cost a Thing 186 The Longest Yard 188 Erasing Race and Whitening Pictures 189 Crossover Appeal: Transcending African American Cinema 192 Cinematic Opposition in a Barren Marketplace 194 Conclusion 197 Appendix 201 Bibliography 205 Index 211 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Like most books, this work is the outgrowth of many conversations, experiences, and infl uences. While it formally began to take shape after several conversations with Eric Levy—my initial editor at Praeger—this project probably began as a child who was encouraged to critically examine fi lm and the world that informs and learns from these cinematic productions. Of course, my parents and siblings—who like to argue and recite the lines of fi lms—instilled not just a passion for movies, but a certain level of media literacy that made this proj- ect possible. Subsequent experiences, from my African American fi lm course at University of California, Santa Barbara, to numerous intellectual debates about fi lm while attending the University of California, Berkeley, pushed me further toward the completion of this project. Many people have served as a source of education about the history of African American fi lm or helped me become fi lm literate. I thank Kofi Hadjor, Otis Madison, Douglas Daniels, Cedric Robinson (who constructed a foundation), Jared Sexton, Oliver Wang, Dylan Rodriguez, Sara Kaplan and Liz Lee, each of whom has pushed me in signifi cant ways to grow as a scholar and fi lm “critic.” I also have to thank my many high school friends, whose opposition to my readings of fi lm and whose refusal to watch fi lms with me because “I was just too critical,” forced me to think about representation, specifi c productions, and the presentation of my own analysis in new ways. The many people and intellectual infl uences who shape my understanding of fi lm deserve credit for the completion of this project (Robin Kelley, Mark Anthony Neal, Todd Boyd, Craig Watkins, Patricia Hill Collins, and Cynthia Fuchs). Some I have had the opportunity to learn from directly, and others have provided insight through the reading of their works. x ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Likewise, Eric Levy, Daniel Harmon, and the rest of the staff at Praeger deserve much credit for their constant support and their patience. Much thanks to C. Richard King, my mentor, my biggest fan and sup- porter, and a person who has been a tremendous infl uence on me profession- ally, intellectually, and personally. He is most certainly the cinematographer of this work and a person who has gone to great lengths to assist in the development of this project. Finally, Lisa Guerrero, Carmen Lugo-Lugo, Jose Alamillo, Kim Chris- ten, Rory Ong, Marcie Gilliland, and John Streamas, who form my current intellectual and pedagogical community, not only directly encouraged and assisted in the completion of this work, but have inspired me through their work and commitment to social justice, and they all deserve credit in the development of this project. Less obvious, but no less important, have been the all too often invisible efforts of the faculty, students, and staff of the Department of Compara- tive Ethnic Studies at Washington State University. Whether posing ques- tions that led me to rethink things in class discussion or managing fi nances, this book would look much different, and undoubtedly be inferior, without them. In particular, I wish to thank Alicia Mackay, Martin Boston, Kelvin Monroe (who introduced me to a new fi lm every week), Kristal T. Moore, Heidi Harting-Rex, Nicole Higgins, Jessica Hunnicutt, Cameron Sparks, and Walter Washington. Much thanks (big props) to Jessica Hulst, who not only served as a research assistant, copy editor, motivational speaker, and spiritual advisor for the proj- ect, but also provided a needed conscience that kept the project moving toward its logical end. This book is a testament to your assistance and your cinematic spirit of intellectual critique. To my family, I owe a special and signifi cant debt of gratitude that these words can only begin to repay. Their love, support, tolerance, and patience (especially watching the same scene over and over again) have meant more than they know to me. To Rea Jadyn Leonard for bringing the joys of life to me each and every day with cookies, smiles, and kisses; to Elmo and Dora the Explorer, I thank you and your creators for providing entertainment that is educational and allowed me time to write about fi lms that are neither entertaining nor educational (and most certainly not oppositional). And fi nally, to Anna Chow, thanks for the encouragement, the love, the respect, daily insights, and for tol- erating multiple screenings of so many movies and our debts to Amazon.com. As with the production of a fi lm, this book is the work of many individu- als, whose love and infl uence, whose commitment to social justice and media literacy, resonates in these pages. 1 SCREENS FADE TO BLACK, BUT LITTLE HAS CHANGED CELEBRATING THE 2002 OSCARS In 2002, Hollywood celebrated the “end of racism” in the movie industry with awards to Halle Berry, Denzel Washington, and Sidney Poitier. As with America’s larger discourse surrounding race, Hollywood insiders and critics alike cited this supposedly historic moment as a sign of America’s racial progress. No longer reduced to maids or clowns on screen, blacks in the twenty-fi rst century had access not only to increased opportunity within Hollywood but also to all the prestige, fi nancial compensation, and opportunities available to white actors. Although there certainly has been change within Hollywood, as recent decades have not only seen a growth in the visibility of actors of color as well as with the diversity of roles available within contemporary Hollywood, recent years have also seen advancement concerning the numbers of and relative power from directors, writers, pro- ducers, and executives of color. Without a doubt, black Hollywood does not resemble its past incarnations. As a result of these changes, which also include more awards, more million-dollar contracts for African American stars, and a greater diversity of representations, social commentators, and fi lm critics ubiquitously speak of progress at the expense of discussions around the presence of racist images. Screens Fade to Black: Contemporary African American Cinema enters this discussion through an examination of several recent African American fi lms to question: how far have we come with representation and opportunity? How far have the representations and ideological orientations of such representa- tions departed from those connected with America’s past? More important, 2 SCREENS FADE TO BLACK Screens Fade to Black: Contemporary African American Cinema questions the usefulness of a discussion that focuses exclusively on demographic shifts and neglects the issues of politics and ideology, arguing instead that the shifts in representations, from those grounded in explicit racialized ideologies and imagery to those refl ective of a new racist project and in the visibility of black artists have not facilitated a new racial politics, nor have they contributed to an erosion of the manifestations of white supremacy and white privilege within American society.