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African American Studies Commons™

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American Film Studies

Selected Works

Articles 1 - 4 of 4

Full-Text Articles in African American Studies

'The Last Honest Film Critic In America': Armond White And The Children Of James Baldwin, Daniel Mcneil Dec 2014

'The Last Honest Film Critic In America': Armond White And The Children Of James Baldwin, Daniel Mcneil

Daniel McNeil

"McNeil draws on a genealogy of African American thought to demonstrate that, far from being an atavistic curmudgeon, Armond White's agitation against bloggers and amateur pundits represents an important and misunderstood voice in the current critic-audience debate. In a world flooded with unconsidered punditry, White --- and .... other writers influenced by James Baldwin --- remind us that artful critics consider it a public duty to respond to works of art honestly and to question the motives of other artists and critics" (Mattias Frey, Senior Lecturer in Film, University of Kent)

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Hollywood's White Legal Heroes And The Legacy Of Slave Codes, Katie Rose Guest Pryal Apr 2012

Hollywood's White Legal Heroes And The Legacy Of Slave Codes, Katie Rose Guest Pryal

Katie Rose Guest Pryal

This chapter explores the portrayal of black defendants in mainstream legal cinema and draws connections between these portrayals, the legacy of slave codes, and the Supreme Court's rejection of statistical and historical proof of racism in the application of the death penalty. I focus on a sub-genre of legal cinema, what I call the "White Legal Hero" narrative. The typical white legal hero film tells the story of an innocent or otherwise righteous black male defendant facing a capital charge. He is represented by a white male "hero" lawyer who tries to overcome the racist justice system. The failure of …

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Civil Rights, Labor, And Sexual Politics On Screen In Nothing But A Man (1964), Judith Smith Dec 2011

Civil Rights, Labor, And Sexual Politics On Screen In Nothing But A Man (1964), Judith Smith

Judith E. Smith

The independently made 1964 film Nothing But a Man is one of a handful of films whose production coincided with new civil rights insurgency and benefited from activists' input. Commonly listed in 1970s surveys of black film, the film lacks sustained critical attention in film studies or in-depth historical analysis given its significance as a landmark text of the 1960s. Documentary-like, but not a documentary, it offers a complex representation of black life, but it was scripted, directed, and filmed by two white men, Michael Roemer and Robert Young. This essay argues that the film's unusual attention to labor and …

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Nostalgia For The Liberal Hour: Talkin' 'Bout The Horizons Of Norman Jewison's Generation, Daniel Mcneil Dec 2011

Nostalgia For The Liberal Hour: Talkin' 'Bout The Horizons Of Norman Jewison's Generation, Daniel Mcneil

Daniel McNeil

Throughout his career as a filmmaker Norman Jewison has confronted stereotypes that depict white liberals as hypocritical and insincere do-gooders. He has also seized and contested the position of victim against radicals on the left and right. This paper outlines some of the commonalities between the Canadian filmmaker and Robin Winks and Michael Banton, two prominent academics in the United States and the United Kingdom who also opposed the "unacceptable face of capitalism" and the “overly politicized” scholarship of radical intellectuals. My conclusion provides a counterpoint to the liberal humanism of Jewison, Winks and Banton by turning to the new …

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