Film Blackness : American Cinema and the Idea of Black Film

244 Pages·2016·3.6 MB·English

by  Michael Boyce Gillespie

Film Blackness

MICHAEL BOYCE GILLESPIE
F I L M
B L A C K N E S S
American Cinema and
the Idea of Black Film
Duke University Press
Durham and London 2016
© 2016 Duke University Press
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America on acid- free paper ∞
Designed by Heather Hensley
Typeset in Garamond Premier Pro by Graphic Composition, Inc.,
Bogart, Georgia
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Gillespie, Michael Boyce, [date] author.
Title: Film blackness : American cinema and the idea of black film /
Michael Boyce Gillespie.
Description: Durham : Duke University Press, 2016. | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: lccn 2016010797
isbn 9780822362050 (hardcover : alk. paper)
isbn 9780822362265 (pbk. : alk. paper)
isbn 9780822373889 (ebook)
Subjects: lcsh: African Americans in motion pictures. | Race in motion
pictures. | Motion picture industry—United States.
Classification: lcc pn1995.9.n4 g55 2016 | ddc 791.43 / 6 52996073—dc23
lc record available at http: // lccn .loc .gov / 2016010797
Cover art: Gary Simmons, Erasure Series (#1 black), 1992. Chalk and slate
paint on paper. Collection of Peter Norton.
For Nathaniel and Benjamin.
My everythings.

CONTENTS
ix Acknowledgments
1 Introduction We Insist: The Idea of Black Film
17 one Reckless Eyeballing: Coonskin and the Racial Grotesque
51 two Smiling Faces: Chameleon Street and Black Performativity
83 three Voices Inside (Everything Is Everything):
Deep Cover and Modalities of Noir Blackness
119 four Black Maybe: Medicine for Melancholy, Place, and
Quiet Becoming
157 Coda Destination Out
161 Notes
203 Bibliography
223 Index

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book is a product of years of thinking about the art of blackness. This is
not the Atom Egoyan or Japanese New Wave book I once thought I would
write. I blame many writers and artists for that, too many to list here. But I
especially feel that Randall Kenan’s Walking on Water: Black American Lives
at the Turn of the Twenty- First Century was significantly responsible. Further-
more, I don’t think I would be a scholar if not for Dr. Linda G. Zatlin at
Morehouse College. My mentor, friend, and believer.
I am immensely grateful for my professors and advisors at New York Uni-
versity. My deep thanks to Ed Guerrero, Bob Stam, Sheril Antonio, Bill Si-
mon, Bob Sklar, Noa Steimatsky, Chris Straayer, Isaac Julian, Kobena Mercer,
and Manthia Diawara. Thanks as well to all my classmates in the Department
of Cinema Studies at New York University for the profound and critical gen-
erosity. Special thanks to Alessandra Raengo. Our conversations about black-
ness were essential.
Thanks to the many interlocutors who have engaged with this material
over the years. I have been blessed and inspired by their sharp readings, con-
versations, advice, information, and generous engagement with this work.
Their insights continue to make me a better scholar. I owe deep gratitude to
Cathy Davidson, Nicole Fleetwood, Erica Edwards, Paula Massood, Lokeilani
Kaimana, Gary Holcomb, Dana Seitler, Ayesha Hardison, Charles “Chip”
Linscott, Tess Takahashi, Racquel Gates, Tehama Lopez Bunyasi, Jason Sperb,
Kara Keeling, Mia Mask, Keith M. Harris, Leigh Raiford, Amy Ongiri, Huey
Copeland, Tavia Nyong’o, Richard Grusin, Courtney Baker, Fred Moten,
Sharon Holland, Allyson Nadia Field, Astrid Kaemmerling, Rebecca Wanzo,
José Muñoz, Nicholas Sammond, Samantha Sheppard, and Amy Herzog.
I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to share this work and