Shaping the Future of African American Film: Color-Coded Economics and the Story Behind the Numbers

Index

iNdEx 2Live Crew, 216 3-D technology, 245 12 Years a Slave, 236; budget and gross, 236 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, 195 48 Hours, 197 50 Cent, 226 100 Rifles, 193 Above the Rim, 231 Abyssinia, 35 Academy Awards, nominees, 42–43, 172; Alfre Woodard, 29; Angela Bassett, 102; Beasts of the Southern Wild, 239; The Color Purple, 125; Eddie Murphy, 189, 196; Gabourey Sidibe, 102; Lee Daniels, 236; Mo’Nique, 102; Precious, 125; Queen Latifah, 183; Quvenzhanè Wallis, 239; A Soldier’s Story, 64; Terrence Howard, 189; Whoopi Goldberg, 102; Will Smith, 182, 189 Academy Awards, winners, 42–43, 172; and African American directors, 182; Denzel Washington, 237; Driving Miss Daisy, 182; Forrest Whitaker, 101; Geoffrey Fletcher, 218; Halle Berry, 183, 200; Horton Foote, 49; Kathryn Bigelow, 219; Precious, 125, 218 acculturation, 13; or absorption, 26, 100, 235, 242; examples in films, 56; in film industry, 13, 74, 184, 242; See also creative centralization acting opportunities: and branding, 12; casting patterns and, 6; and plantation politics, 113; playing multiple roles or characters, 35, 83, 197, 206; and the Ulmer Scale, 175, 199 action films, 148–150; Biker Boyz, 17; black female leads, 187, 219; cultural politics of, 79, 139, 150–153, 237; economics of, 2, 11, 219–220; and Jamie Foxx, 196; Red Tails, 1–2, 17, 150; Set It Off, 120, 217–220; and Will Smith, 182, 185, 192. See also genre; genre films Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man (Harvey), 1. See also Think Like a Man Actor’s Hot List 2009–2010, 179. See also Ulmer Scale adaptation: and acculturation, 13, 65–68; and African American worldviews, 159, 161, 164; and audience building, 63, 65, 73, 88–91, 105, 120, 148, 249–250; benefits of, 242; black cultural production, 12–13, 23, 249; black literature or books, 1, 24, 110, 138, 249; black men’s literature, 127– 128, 132–133, 149, 161, 235; black women’s literature, 84, 95, 99, 103–106, 110–111, 127–128, 132–133, 137–138, 161, 222, 242; Broadway, 24, 29, 34–36, 49, 59–61, 115– 117; and cultural amnesia, 69–72; and cultural trauma, 132–133; definition, 12, 257n41; and distribution, 21, 139; dramaturgical incompletions or racial formulas, 120, 139; and genre, 141, 149; Hollywood, 12–13, 21–24, 29, 44, 66–68, 75, 88–89, 138–148, 195, 239; horizontal integration, 12, 21, 24, 34, 57, 87, 99, 130, 246; indigenzation , 23, 79; intersectionality, 99, 130, 132, 246, 249; intertextuality, 8, 12–13, 21, 117, 130, 132, 154, 246; master narrative, 30–31, 33, 36, 41, 44–45, 51–52, 57, 75, 114, 159, 195, 201; pathology, 104–108, 113, 117, 122, 128; plantation genre, 30–31, 33, 41, 51–52, 57, 195; and poetics of liberation, 77–78; urban circuit, 29, 83, 87 advertising, 12; crossover audiences, 85; early modes of, 34–35; and race ideology, 36, 229, 232; studio, 147, 223; word-ofmouth , 147, 222. See also marketing aesthetics of black film, 23, 104, 135, 241; and poor cinema, 58; womanist aesthetics, 97–99, 101, 120–122, 153, 217–218. See also womanist aesthetics African American Actresses: The Struggle for Visibility1900–1960 (Regester), 171 African American cinematic language: definition, 6, 13; examples, 67; and hybrid forms, 166, 218; potential of, 67, 99, 102, 105, 144, 160; pioneers of, 218, 222, 227; problems of, 87, 99, 218; and screenplay format, 202. See also Afrocentric worldviews ; black Atlantic tragedy; cinematic language; limbo; rememory 283 284 iNdEx African American contributions: to acting and directing, 58, 183; to American cinema , 16, 31, 135; to distribution alternatives , 21, 26, 57 58, 61, 84, 92, 107; to self-financing or fundraising, 90, 234, 241. See also African American cinematic language ; black Atlantic tragedy; performative indigenization; rememory films African American cultural values: cinematic language of, 6; and cultural amnesia, 16, 165; defining, 86, 162; distortion of, 101, 129; and double consciousness, 23, 65; dramatizing, 161; and economics or commercial appeal, 97, 99, 222; families and communities, 160, 212; and folklore, 212; and Hollywood, 23, 72; and materialism, 160; and nihilism, 156, 160, 164; redefining , 86, 163; and southern black, 161; and storytelling, 23. See also African concept of self; Afrocentric worldviews African American English (AAE)/or black American speech, 55 African American film development: adaptation , 12, 41; audience development, 230, 238; Beloved, 140; and black literature, 95; black star power, 191, 193–194, 199, 250; and black theater, 29, 61, 74, 95, 250; casting, 25, 29–30, 61, 172, 176; cinematic...