Dr. Jill Craven is teaching “Ethnicity in Cinema,” this semester.  It’s a class where students look at African-American cinema and spectatorship in the 20^th and 21st centuries.  In the class, Craven is exploring the “coding” of blackness, recurring stereotypes, the possibility of capturing the “authentic” black subject and the “black vernacular experience,” the concept of the “black film,” and the interaction between constructions of race and genre conventions.  With these goals in mind, the class watches films from early silents starring African Americans to recent films by African-American directors.

As part of this endeavor, students are also studying blaxploitation films, “a genre of films that developed in the 1970s that was supposed to exploit the commercial potential of black audiences for films, a potential that had been largely ignored by Hollywood studios until this time,” said Craven.  The film that jumpstarted this genre of films was “Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song,” directed by Melvin Van Peebles. Although harshly criticized by some scholars, Van Peebles’ controversial film was such a financial success that it set the stage for other blaxploitation films such as “Shaft” and “Superfly.” 

Many filmmakers criticized the Blaxploitation genre and its stereotyped portrayals.  Craven’s class also explores reactions to these films, such as Charles Burnett’s “Killer of Sheep,” a realistic portrayal of the lives of the working poor in South-Central Los Angeles in the 1970s. On March 24^th, the class presented this renowned film to the Millersville University community for discussion and comment as part of the Humanities Film Series. 

Craven’s class is conducting an African-American Spectatorship Project where students interview African-American spectators about their overall experiences with cinema.  Through this study students hope to gain insights into the perceptions and opinions of African-American viewers.   The students’ filmed interviews will serve a even greater purpose:  giving future scholars a record of real-life impressions of African-American cinema.

Craven and her students are looking for older African-American volunteers to be interviewed for the African-American Spectatorship Project.  Those interested should contact Craven at jill.craven@millersville.edu.  

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Media Contact:
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Janet.kacskos@millersville.edu

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