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Baad Bitches and Sassy Supermamas: Black Power Action Films
Contributor(s): Dunn, Stephane (Author)
ISBN: 025207548X     ISBN-13: 9780252075483
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
OUR PRICE:   $22.77  
Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats
Published: July 2008
Qty:
Temporarily out of stock - Will ship within 2 to 5 weeks
Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- Performing Arts | Film - History & Criticism
- Social Science | Ethnic Studies - African American Studies
- Social Science | Women's Studies
Dewey: 791.436
LCCN: 2007048113
Series: New Black Studies
Physical Information: 0.6" H x 5.9" W x 8.9" (0.65 lbs) 192 pages
Themes:
- Ethnic Orientation - African American
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:

Blaxploitation action narratives as well as politically radical films like Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song typically portrayed black women as trifling "bitches" compared to the supermacho black male heroes. But starting in 1973, the emergence of "baad bitches" and "sassy supermamas" reversed the trend as self-assured, empowered, and tough black women took the lead in the films Cleopatra Jones, Coffy, and Foxy Brown.

Stephane Dunn unpacks the intersecting racial, sexual, and gender politics underlying the representations of racialized bodies, masculinities, and femininities in early 1970s black action films, with particular focus on the representation of black femininity. Recognizing a distinct moment in the history of African American representation in popular cinema, Dunn analyzes how it emerged from a radical political era influenced by the Black Power movement and feminism. Dunn also engages blaxploitation's legacy in contemporary hip-hop culture, as suggested by the music's disturbing gender politics and the "baad bitch daughters" of Foxy Brown and Cleopatra Jones, rappers Foxy Brown and Lil' Kim.