"Baad Bitches" and Sassy Supermamas: Black Power Action Films

Index

Index action movies, black: basic narratives of, 85; and black women, 85–90; and blaxploitation , 46–50; gender, racial and sexual politics in, 2–11; a s melodrama, 11; a nd sexual objectification of black women, 2–11, 8 6–89; and spectacle, 10–11; a nd spectatorship, 20. See also specific titles African American Nationalist Literature of the 1960s (Flowers), 76 Afrocentricity, 80–82, 90–91, 94. See also exoticness Afros, 94, 145n25 Ain’t I a Woman (hooks), 38 AIP. See American International Pictures (AIP) Ali, Muhammad, 38 Amazons. See supermamas American International Pictures (AIP), 109, 11 5, 12 1, 1 46n4 Anderson, Lisa, 93–94, 11 4 Angelou, Maya, 45 Angry Black White Boy (Mansbach), 25 animalistic imagery, 93–94, 103 anti–middle class sentiment, 77–80 “Argument for Black Women’s Liberation as a Revolutionary Force, An” (Weathers ), 45 Arkoff, Samuel Z., 109 Asian women, 103 Ayers, Roy, 112 BaadAssss Cinema (TV documentary), 2 Baadasssss (movie), 21, 67 “baad nigger” image, 46, 48–50. See also Sweetback (movie) Baartman, Saartje, 11 5 Bad Bitches: in blaxploitation movies, 50–52; in Cleopatra Jones, 100–102; Coffy and Foxy Brown as, 15, 27 , 107–13; definition of, 2–3, 53; L il’ Kim as, 2; and phallic empowerment, 29; in rap music , 26–33.See also supermamas Baghdad Blues (Greenlee), 75 Bail, Chuck, 103 Baker, Josephine, 93 Bambara, Toni Cade, 45 Baraka, Amiri, 38, 40 Bartmann, Sarah, 11 5 Beale, Frances, 45 Beatty, Paul, 25 Becoming Cleopatra (Royster), 91 Bederman, Gail, 39 “Beehive” (Lil’ Kim), 27 Beekers (movie character), 99 Bennett, Lerone, 142n5 Berry, Halle, 24, 134–35 Best Man, ἀ e (movie), 22 15 8 . index Beyoncé, 23 B-grade movies. See action movies, black; blaxploitation movies Big Bird Cage, ἀ e (movie), 109 Big Doll House (movie), 109 Biggie Smalls, 29 Big Poppa (Biggie Smalls), 29 Big Sadie (movie character), 72–73 Birth of a Nation, ἀ e (movie), 17–18 Bitch (Wurtzel), 53 bitches/Bitches. See Bad Bitches “Bitch Manifesto” (Freeman), 27 Black Belt Jones (movie), 88 Black Caesar (movie), 88 Black Film as a Signifying Practice (Yearwood ), 59 Black Gestapo (movie), 85 “Black Is Beautiful” mantra, 93–94 Black Macho and the Myth of the Superwoman ” (Wallace), 90 black men. See men, black Black Noise (Rose), 30 Black Panthers, 10, 37 , 145n29 Black Power: Music of a Revolution (album ), 35 Black Power movement: and “Black Is Beautiful” mantra, 93–94; and blaxploitation movies, 4–6, 47, 109; and castration and emasculation imagery, 39–45, 1 30; and feminism, 7, 40–41, 144n8, 145–46n37; and gender, racial, and sexual politics, 38–46; historical background, 35–46; hooks on, 38; influence on image of women in movies, 88; and Spook, 56, 74; trivialization of, 6, 47, 109; women’s role in, 57, 71, 7 4–84. See also men, black Black Reign (album), 28 Black Sexual Politics (Collins), 26–27 black widow spider imagery, 11 4 Black Woman, ἀ e (Bambara), 45 “Black Woman as a Woman, The” (Lindsay ), 45 black women. See women, black blaxploitation movies: background information , 5, 1 41n46; and Bad Bitches, 50–52; and black action movies, 46–50; and the Black Power movement, 4–6, 47, 109; and castration and emasculation imagery, 6; criticism of, 3–4; definition of, 46–47; effects on culture, 23–24; and “keepin’ it real” aesthetic, 24–29; lesbianism in, 7; and Live and Let Die, 88; music in, 2, 49–50, 112; and patriarchal structure, 5; and phallic empowerment, 5–7 , 17–18, 2 4, 129; and pimps, portrayal of, 41–42, 50–53, 97–99; and racial and sexual politics , 2–11, 2 4, 50–53, 1 31; a nd urban and ghetto life, 24, 49–50; women on women in, 13–1 5.See also action movies , black; Hill, Jack; specific titles Bobo, Jacqueline, 16 Bogle, Donald, 16, 87 Bond, James (movie character), 88, 95. See also action movies, black Bond, Jean Carey, 45 bourgeois, negative portrayal of, 77–80, 98 Boyz in the Hood (movie), 22 breasts, female, obsession with, 111–12, 127 Britton, Akissi, 34 Brody, Jennifer DeVere, 89, 105 “Brother Caring for Brother” (Mebane), 88 Brown, Elaine, 44 Brown, Foxy (movie character): and gender and racial politics, 4; influence of, on rappers, 30–31; meaning of name, 11 4; and prostitution, 11 4–25; as sex goddess icon, 107, 109–1 3, 11 5; sexuality as a mask, 11 7–21; as supermama/ Bad Bitch, 15, 27 , 107–13. See also Foxy Brown...