Black Space: Imagining Race in Science Fiction Film

Index

Adare, Sierra S., 3 Adventures of Pluto Nash, 149 Aeon Flux, 148 affirmative action, 27, 106, 135, 146, 178n16; the conservative backlash against, 62, 67–68, 97, 111–112, 133; and increased black representation in sf film, 31–35; white anxiety about, 55–56, 69, 87 African Americans. See blacks Afrocentricity, 159, 181n5 Afrofuturism, 8–9, 160–172, 181nn6,14, 182n16 Agutter, Jenny, 23 Alger, Horatio, 62, 118 Alien, 33, 93, 97, 103–108, 164, 165 Alien3 , 7, 110–113 Alien Nation, 8, 132–136 Alien Resurrection, 113 Aliens, 7, 107 Aliens R Us: The Other in Science Fiction Cinema, 3 Alien vs. Predator, 148 Alphaville, 176n15 Altered States, 38 American Revolution, 31 Andromeda Strain, The, 21, 22 apartheid, 115 Apollo 13, 85 Arab Americans, 68, 140, 141 Armageddon, 123 arthouse films, 149. See also independent films Asian(s): as homogenous, 176n19; iconography , in Blade Runner, 57–60; as immigrants, 5, 68; impersonation of, in films, 30; in Rollerball, 99–100 Asimov, Isaac, 170 assimilation. See racial assimilation atomic age. See nuclear age Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, 156 Back to the Future, 7, 34–38 Baker, Ryan, 175n5 Bambaataa, Afrika, 166, 181n14 Barbarella, 20 Battle for the Planet of the Apes, 22, 127, 130–131 Beck, John, 98, 101 Belafonte, Harry, 44, 45 Bell, Daniel, 180n5 Bell, Derrick, 170, 171 Bell Curve, The: Intelligence and index Page numbers in italics indicate photographs. 190 Black Space Class Structure in American Life, 64 Beneath the Planet of the Apes, 22, 127 “benign neglect,” 138, 164 Benjamin, Andre, 168 Berg, Charles Ramirez, 3 Berger, Arthur Asa, 177n9 Bernardi, Daniel, 3 Berry, Chuck, 37 Berry, Halle, 95 Bicentennial Nigger, 164 biological determinism, 62–64 Birth of a Nation, 10, 43, 46, 70, 83, 132 “black blood,” 49, 53, 66–69. See also blood, as a motif in sf films; “onedrop rule” Black Crescent: The Experience and Legacy of African Muslims in the Americas, 162 Blackenstein, 156 blackface. See minstrelsy Black Hole, The, 149 Black Mama, White Mama, 164 black nationalism, 21, 67, 130, 155; and Louis Farrakhan, 126; as referenced in The Omega Man, 48, 51; as referenced in Space Is the Place, 156, 157, 159, 160. See also Black Power movement; Nation of Islam Black Panther Party, 144, 155 Black Power movement, 20–28, 59, 99, 102, 165; as referenced in The Matrix, 144; as referenced in The Omega Man, 48, 51, 67; as referenced in The Planet of the Apes, 126, 127, 130; as referenced in Space Is the Place, 155–160. See also Nation of Islam blacks: allegories about, in sf films, 123–147; and “black blood,” 49, 53, 66–69; and the black body, 70–95, 177n8; and the crack cocaine epidemic , 142–143; and the “crisis” of the black family, 176n22; as descendants of ancient Egyptians, 159; as elected officials, 158; fear of racial contamination by, 7, 42–69; impersonation of, in Hollywood films, 30; in inner city ghettos, 137, 138, 139, 154, 155, 157–158, 159, 162, 163–164, 166; in interracial relationships, 7, 43, 44–47, 49–50, 65, 66, 176n23; in the middle class, 118, 155, 158; in the 1970s, 155, 161; notion of intellectual inferiority of, 128; oral tradition of, 125; popular culture of, im‑ pact of, 67; in the postindustrial economy, 96–122; racial profiling of, 8, 142; stereotypes/caricatures of, 4–5, 7, 34, 70–95; structured absence and token presence of, in sf films, 1–2, 7, 10–41, 151; upward mobility of, 32, 61–62, 87, 96, 107, 112, 118, 163; whites’ anxiety about, 88, 91, 131, 132, 136, 139, 175n5. See also Afrocentricity; affirmative action; Afrofuturism; Black Panther Party; Black Power movement; blaxploitation cinema; civil rights movement; coding, racial, in sf films; demographics, racial; discrimination , racial; diversity, ra‑ cial; integration, racial; quotas, racial; race relations; racial iden‑ tity; racial inequality; racial prejudice ; racial purity; racism; segregation , racial; slavery black separatism. See Nation of Islam Blacula, 156 Blade Runner, 7, 43, 56–60, 65, 68, 71, 176nn15,19,23 blaxploitation cinema, 98, 130; emergence of, in the 1970s, 20–28, 39, 155; intersection of, with horror films, 156; as reflected in the albums of George Clinton, 161–164 Blazing Saddles, 21 blood, as a motif in sf films, 49–54, 57, 61, 63–65, 68. See also “black blood” Blount, Sonny. See Sun Ra blue-collar workers. See working class Boorman, John, 73 Index 191 border, U.S...