Blaxploitation Films

Harry Sword, Anne Price and Jennifer Galjour

11/01/2004

            Blaxploitation movies found a large audience during the nineteen seventies. Between 1972 and 1974 over seventy six movies were released which would fit the Blaxploitation category, averaging as over two per month. Largely speaking, the pictures were low budget action films with an African American cast, aimed at an African American audience. Movies such as Shaft, Sweet Sweetback's Badass Song, and Superfly all contained gritty narratives which centered on the criminal underworld of urban America. Often featuring outlandish seventies costumes and soundtracks, the movies have recently become popularized once again by a generation who considers them to be realperiod pieces.

            Many of the films came under a certain amount of criticism from both the mainstream and African American press for various reasons; one
of the main problems was that even though the movies were being produced by major studios such as Warner Brothers, the budgets were often far smaller than those of movies aimed at a white audience, giving the feeling of a cinema which was marginalized and controlled by white studio executives, yet aimed at a black audience. Many critics point to the lack of morality in the films, the fact that many of them centre on criminals being portrayed in a glamorous way. One of the movies which came under the most intense criticism was Superfly, released in 1973. Superfly told the story of a cocaine dealer named Priest (Ron O Neil) who was making one last deal before retirement. At the time of release the movie drew a fair amount of controversy because of the way in which Priest was portrayed as a hero.  It was only a matter of time before a backlash began in the industry and this backlash took the form of studios producing Blaxploitation versions of standard classics. Among the more popular genres were the Western (Adios Amigo), the Martial Arts movie (Black Belt Jones) and the Horror (Blacula, Scream Blacula Scream). 

            Specifically, Blacula exhibits many qualities of a blaxploitation film by harnessing the style, music, and funk of the black population in the seventies.  Furthermore, in this film we also see the first case of a sympathetic vampire, reinforcing the notion that the monsters in blaxploitation films are often sympathetic.  Many stereotypes pierce their way throughout the film, further emphasizing its placement in this genre. 

            Blacula contains many scenes filled with funk and groove illustrated both through the fashion and the music.  Once we are brought to present day Los Angeles, one of the first scenes is a club filled with afros, sequence shirts, and lavish bell bottoms.  There is even a lot of focus placed on the band that is playing in the club; several minutes of the film are occupied with a center shot of them on stage.  Everyone in the club exhibits a sort of groove and pep in both their talk and walk.  Furthermore, there is constantly a beat going in the background of the film that delivers funky vibes that innocently trigger dancing.  In fact, often times the soundtracks of all blaxploitation films were as popular as the films themselves. 

            Manuwalde and Tina are both excellent examples of the typical black man and woman of this time period.  Both are extremely attractive and popular among the opposite sex.  Although Manuwalde does have some strange fashion ideas, he is still seen as strong and handsome; he is an intelligent and suave black man who woes all of the ladies.  Furthermore, Tina is always clad in the hippest clothing accompanied by beautiful jewels and a great attitude.  Together they exemplify the attitude and aura which appeases the attitude of this popular decade.    

            Finally, in most blaxploitation films, the dangerous character often portrays sympathetic characteristics. This is the case as well in Blacula; in fact, Manuwalde is the first sympathetic vampire that was introduced in vampire film and folklore.  Although Blacula does kill many people while he is living in Los Angeles, he usually chooses people who pose a threat to himself or his beloved Tina.  He kills the photographer, for example, because he feels threatened by her knowledge of his absence from the photo.  Furthermore, when Tina is shot, he turns her into a vampire to save her life, although he never wanted for her to live that life.  Finally, at the end when Gordon kills the vampire Tina, Manuwalde can no longer live.  He chooses to take his own life instead of being murdered and ascends into the sunlight to burn.  

            As an example of blaxploitation filmmaking, Blacula appeals to Black audiences by emphasizing the way that stereotypes plagued the culture and daily life of the times.  In the 70s, that certainly included those who were Black, gay, or engaged in interracial relations. 

            In the first scene, we see Dracula dining with Manuwalde and his wife, Luva, who have come to plead with him to stop the slave trade.  Dracula makes several offensive comments, arguing that for him to compliment a woman of their color is quite an accolade.  The conversation ends abruptly, with Dracula transforming Manuwalde into Blacula, a name that emphasizes his race, and leaving Luva to starve to death.

            The viewer is then introduced to the homosexual antique dealers.  They talk with a lisp, flick their wrists, and obsess over the exquisite furniture  how much more stereotyped could they be?  Moreover, the couple is interracial.

            All of these stereotypes unfold before a backdrop of club scenes crowded with Afro puffs, a chorus of mostly white Los Angeles police officers, and dialogue that hits all of the racial slurs of the time. 

            It is interesting to note the disdain with which the rest of the cast treats Gordon.  His paperwork seems unimportant, the documents he seeks are always lost in transit, and  though respected  the other investigators and detectives dont put much stock in his ideas.  But as the Van Helsing of Blacula, he  a Black man  ultimately figures out what is going on and how to stop it from continuing.  In this way, he supercedes the stereotypes against him that were prevalent in the era.

            And though Manuwalde may both be Black and have to suck blood to survive, he is not wholly unsympathetic.  After all, it was the white vampire Dracula who enslaved Manuwalde to a life of blood-lust, an idea that perpetuates the plight of the Black man, who has been enslaved time and time again throughout history by his white peers.