Blaxploitation & Gangsta Films

Blaxploitation films of the 1970s, according to author Beretta E. Smith-Shomade, were a result of a financial crisis within the movie industry which led to the search of newly targeted demographics.  S. Craig Watkins points out that during this time, the majority of movie-goers were now urban, young, and black.  To entice this new audience, Hollywood produced an abundance of films featuring “blacks as tough, angry, and vengeful […] who protected (and exploited) their communities, pride, and women” (Smith-Shomade, 26).  The most interesting note about these films, as pointed out in her article, is the irony of the genre which is directed towards black men, but was mostly directed by white men. 

In comparison to the Blaxploitation films of the 1960s and 1970s, gangsta films of the late 1980s and early 1990s targeted black youth through relatable contexts, focusing on prevalent urban crime.  Both genres feature black, hyper-masculinized characters who fall on the other side of the law, emphasizing their physicality, mostly through violence. 

The largest difference between the genres, as shown through Smith-Shomade’s essay, is the role of females featured in the films.  The female-centered Blaxploitation films typically showed powerful, masculinized women in roles which held up the law and justice; whereas female roles of the late 1980s- early 1990s placed women in the roles of masculinized crime-doers.  This contrast of the gangsta films to that of its earlier counterparts suggests a shift in women’s roles in contemporary life and allow for the changing gender roles in society.