Flickers of the Spirit: "Black Independent Film," Reflexive Reception, and a Blues Cinema Sublime

This essay considers the term black independent film along with critical rhetoric that relies on the blues to analyze and celebrate the authenticity or blackness of its aesthetics. Early twentieth-century debates on the relationship of art and cultural identity among Harlem Renaissance writers as well as discussions of film reception and genre by Ralph Ellison, Clyde Taylor, and James Snead inform the discussion. Ultimately, both the ambitions of Julie Dash's thesis film Illusions and the pessimism of Spike Lee's Bamboozled figure into the idea of an imperfect blues cinema sublime.