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Still Processing

We Blaxplain Blaxplaining

Still Processing

The New York Times

News Commentary, Society & Culture, News, Arts

4.89.2K Ratings

🗓️ 2 August 2018

⏱️ 51 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week, we trace the evolution of black American cinema from blaxploitation in the 1970s to what we’re calling "blaxplaining" in 2018. While blaxploitation sought to showcase black actors in dramatic, action-packed films, today’s blaxplaining centers on the challenges of being black in America. We examine three films — "The Hate U Give," "Blindspotting" and "Sorry to Bother You" — and ask if they accurately depict aspects of contemporary black life, or instead merely seek to make some black experiences more palatable to white audiences. Discussed this week:"The Hate U Give" (directed by George Tillman Jr., 2018)"Blindspotting" (directed by Carlos López Estrada, 2018) "Sorry to Bother You" (directed by Boots Riley, 2018)"Coffy" (directed by Jack Hill, 1973)"Slaves" (directed by Herbert Biberman, 1969)"Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song" (directed by Melvin Van Peebles, 1971)"The Devil Finds Work" (by James Baldwin, 1976)"Lady Sings the Blues" (directed by Sidney J. Furie, 1972)"Mandingo" (directed by Richard Fleischer, 1975)"Jaws" (directed by Steven Spielberg, 1975)"Hammer" (directed by Bruce Clark, 1972)"Truck Turner" (directed by Jonathan Kaplan, 1974)"Shaft" (directed by Gordon Parks, 1971)"Blacula" (directed by William Crain, 1972)"Proud Mary" (directed by Babak Najafi, 2018)"The Equalizer 2" (directed by Antoine Fuqua, 2018)"White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism" (Robin DiAngelo, Beacon Press, 2018)"Super Fly" (directed by Gordon Parks Jr., 1972)"Dr. Black, Mr. Hyde" (Directed by William Crain, 1976)"Cotton Comes to Harlem" (Directed by Ossie Davis, 1970)"Mahogany" (Directed by Berry Gordy, 1975)"Dancing in the Moonlight" (Still Processing, 2016)

Transcript

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0:00.0

I know what you want to and you're gonna get it.

0:04.0

This is the end of your rotten life.

0:06.0

You don't push her.

0:08.0

So that was a clip from coffee, which is a classic black

0:16.0

exploitation movie from the 70s, starring the one and only Pam

0:20.0

Greer.

0:21.0

Wham!

0:22.0

And that movie is about a woman who goes rogue and goes

0:26.0

vigilante and basically wreaks havoc on drug dealers after her

0:30.0

little sister overdoses.

0:32.0

Yes, the reason to bring this up is because you and I have been

0:36.0

going to the movies and we might be living through another black

0:40.0

exploitation era.

0:42.0

A very different one.

0:44.0

Right. We saw a woman who was a woman who was a woman who was a

0:48.0

black exploitation era.

0:50.0

A very different one.

0:52.0

Right. We saw blind spotting, which is out right now in theaters.

0:54.0

We saw the hate you give,

0:56.0

this movie coming out in a couple months.

0:58.0

We also saw, which everybody's seeing right now,

1:00.0

sorry to bother you.

...

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