Blog 7

At first, Blaxploitation films were made for urban black audiences in the 70s, but the genre started to appeal to many different ethnic and racial lines.  There are actually quite a few differences between these Blaxploitation films from the 70s and the gangsta films of the 80s and early 90s.  Similarly, they both have many ethnic slurs, focus on crime, action, horror and drama in both genres of films.  However, the Blaxploitation films also focused on westerns, comedy and musicals, which you do not see in gangsta films.  Blaxploitation films were usually set in poor neighborhoods and were usually taken place in the South and dealing with slavery; whereas, gangsta films were not always focused on poor families and were not always in the South, such as taking place in Chicago.  Blaxploitation films became controversial because some people thought they were showing black empowerment; however, some people thought it was only proving black stereotypes.  Gangsta films were not only focused on blacks being the 'bad guy' because in some gangsta films, white guys would be the 'bad guy with the gun'.  Gangsta films are still being made; whereas, the Blaxploitation film genre ended, but there are still some films, such as Austin Powers in Goldmember, that are very similar to the Blaxploitation genre; however, Blaxploitation films made an impact on hip hop/rap music, so in reality, it never completely disappears.