At the time of the Civil Rights Movements in the 1960s, pressures from the NAACP and the Ministry of Justice in particular forced Hollywood to re-evaluate their hiring practices and their approach to the African American market. Threats for economic boycott of the industry and discrimination suits were made because of the continued absence of African Americans in their workforce, and thus, Hollywood’s slow response in the application of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Grant 34). Additionally, with the emerging militancy of Black Power politics and the fact that African Americans were increasingly identifying with urban environments, it became necessary for the studios to make films that appealed to this demographic, especially as they accounted for a noteworthy percentage of the total box office, which according to Paula J. Massood, was “ . . . somewhere between 30 and 40 percent . . .” (2003: 82).
Modelled on B-movie or exploitation film production codes, blaxploitation films were action films made on a small budget with a principal cast that were African American, and which sought to attract big audiences through their sensationalist narratives and uncensored violence and sexual displays (Dunn 46). They were, as Stephane Dunn describes, the dozens upon dozens of “black-hero-winning motif” films made between 1971 and 1973, set primarily in an urban environment (48). Although this period of African American filmmaking is generally referred to as the “blaxploitation era,” there are a number of films which did not adhere to the general characteristics ascribed to this genre, but which still made an important contribution to the African American cinematic record. The phenomenon of blaxploitation opened the door to other types of films which reflected more obviously the Black Power politics of the time such as Ivan Dixon’s The Spook, the television series, Alex Haley’s Roots (1977) and from the popular Shaft movies, the second sequel, Shaft in Africa.
Shaft in Africa and The Spook have been selected for analysis because besides their popularity, their narratives and messages serve as useful examples for the overall argumentation in this thesis.51 For, the rationale behind the production of blaxploitation films was not only that the industry had to create more possibilities in the production processes for
51 Namely, that in incorporating black consciousness politics, thereby necessarily including contemporary African American perceptions of Africa and Africans, coupled with the commodification processes inherent to producing a film for mass appeal, these films thus transport controversial impressions and representations of Africa and Africans. Furthermore, this in itself constitutes only one aspect of the pitfalls present in these films resulting from the incorporation of the expressed black consciousness discourses.
African Americans to be involved in, they were also meant to generate revenue by appealing to and entertaining mainstream, African American audiences. The films therefore had to speak to these audiences. To this end, the two films focused their narrative plots around popular cultural discourses.52 As discussed in chapter two (and as will be briefly referenced below), these included tenets of Black Power politics which were openly critical of the Civil Rights Movement’s approach to tackling the oppressive white power structures. Secondly, in the continuing search for ways of unifying disparate African American communities who no longer believed in the strength of Civil Rights era politics, the development of a cultural nationalism which would connect African Americans with Africa and the black diaspora, focused on linking African American struggles with decolonisation – a process for which educating African Americans about African histories and traditions was deemed a necessary part of.
Released in 1973, The Spook, with its strong guerrilla-militancy subtext, reflects the influences of a political arena and a society marked by the repercussions of the Civil Rights Movement, the stirrings of Black Power and global decolonisation, as well as the heightened sense of frustration experienced by contemporary African American communities. The opening scene of the film is exemplary of this sentiment.
The audience is first presented with a scene of senator Hennington (Joseph Mascolo) in a discussion with his wife and secretary. He is a politician and the audience quickly learns that he needs more votes for his re-election, whether or not he believes in what he has to do to get them. His African American secretary, whose mechanical speech and cadence transport her resemblance to a machine, delivers reports and makes suggestions based on statistics and findings generated through a computer, thus advising him on his chances of re-election.
When he asks about polls and his chances of being re-elected, she tells him that a commission ran an “ethnic study” in which he did not fare well because based on this study especially, the computer found that the chances are he will lose the elections. “The computers don’t lie,” he says (00:01:29 minutes). She continues, stating that although he seems to be doing well with
“the Jewish vote,” that “the negroes are the trouble spot” (01:38:00 minutes). “The negroes!”
he exclaims, with irritation, “I’m the best man those people have in Washington!” (00:01:42 minutes). A few minutes later, suddenly aware of the political incorrectness of using the word
“negroes,” he interrupts and corrects himself. “First, how do we retrieve the lost ne…black vote?” (00:02:09 minutes). Hennington seems irritated by having to do so, underscoring the
52 Perhaps tellingly, Shaft in Africa was written and directed by white US American and British men. One would therefore assume that the research for the script was likely informed by contemporary popular African American cultural references.
emptiness of these and other types of cosmetic changes in the contemporary anti-discrimination language and rhetoric. Visually, this is re-articulated when Dan Freeman (Lawrence Cook) is finally employed as mail room personnel, despite proving to be a top agent in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). This echoes Black Power contentions that Hamilton and Ture posit, that “Black visibility is not Black Power” (245).
It is then decided that in order to win the lost votes, senator Hennington needs to put into effect anti-discrimination laws, using a high profile governmental organisation, namely, the CIA. Mrs Hennington (Elaine Aiken) suggests accusing them of “a racially discriminatory hiring policy,” arguing that, “They have no negroes, except on a menial level you know” (00:02:15 minutes). She foregoes using the politically correct term and he does not correct her, which reinforces the superficiality of the change in term (i.e. “negro” to
“black”). The idea that the application of these laws is superficial and is solely a way in which men like Hennington can achieve their political ends is another political matter the film addresses.
Later in the plot, a CIA training interview scene has been included. It depicts a process of indoctrination which produces the endorsed response to accusations of racism in America:
CIA RECRUIT. If I were undercover as a political or economic officer in an embassy and I was questioned about racism in the United States, I’d point out that they also have racial and religious troubles;
that a thing like that isn’t resolved overnight and that our country is firmly behind racial progress and great strides are being made here.
(00:04:05 minutes)
The African American man says this to a panel of white men, who seem to be satisfied with this answer. Greenlee and Dixon are thereby implying that this response is one that a white US American might use in defence of the ironic position their country had found itself in as leaders of the newly formed United Nations (UN), who at the same time appeared to be the least progressive in terms of domestic equality.
The spuriousness in such measures is again highlighted when the African American lead character, Dan Freeman is hired to be the “face of integration” at the CIA, but ultimately works in a servile position within the organisation. Moreover, given the contemporary political context (post-1960s), The Spook is not only commenting on the fact that some of the
efforts to observe the anti-discriminatory laws were insincere in their intentions and application, it also claims that both African American and white Americans were very well aware of this. In an allegorical sense, the CIA could be read as white US America and all its institutions and Freeman, the stoic and sober central character, as an example of the concientised African American who is fully aware of this false display of progress, but proactive enough to use it to his advantage.
Just before the conclusion of the opening sequences, the secretary foretells that
“whoever they select will be the best-known spy since 007,” which is more for the audience than for the people with her in the office (00:02:34 minutes).53 The idea is thus already planted in the viewers’ minds that what they are about to witness is the black answer to the white 007. He will be comparable to 007. He will possess all the qualities of 007 – a smart, fearless, agile and sexually intoxicating man. As has already been suggested by the similitude in her mannerisms to a computer or machine, the secretary is not likely to make a false prediction, and so the audience can assume (at least subconsciously) that she may be correct.
Ultimately, the writer and director first establish and then illustrate through a series of examples how Freeman fits with the idea of “the black answer to 007” as the secretary had predicted, thus making him a potent Black Power weapon. Maintaining an inconspicuous profile that allows him to remain undetected by the watchful white CIA agents is one of his principle spy tactics. Because Freeman executes this so well, he is able to build and train fighters in various cities who would later engage the country in rebellion. One such example in action is observable when Freeman is accused of being an “Uncle Tom” by one of the other CIA recruits during an altercation. An “Uncle Tom” or “Tom” is a derogatory remark meant to indicate a black person who makes himself less threatening to white people by appearing to be eager to please them. Later in film Freeman literally demonstrates this definition by quickly offering to light the general’s cigar before the waiter has time to do so.
The entirety of this particular scene is an example of this stereotype, with Freeman responding affirmatively to the racist statements the general is making (00:28:05 minutes).
The film, whose narrative is developed around Dan Freeman and his actions, is an adaptation of a book authored by Sam Greenlee, published in 1969. Through Freeman, a black nationalist who infiltrates the CIA, the film suggests that the only way African Americans can challenge and overcome the pervasive institutional racism they experience, is
53 “007” is the alternative name given to James Bond, the famous lead character of the hugely successful Box Office franchise.
by organising themselves into a formidable and intelligent fighting unit. The proposed strategy is to use guerrilla warfare tactics, which had proved successful in Asian and African countries during their respective fights for independence from European imperialist powers.
Obvious links are subsequently made to how independence in Africa and Asia were won through organised guerrilla action and how these fights were motivated by the self-determination of the oppressed peoples. Freeman makes a direct reference to such associations as inspiration and as a way of galvanising African Americans:
DAN FREEMAN. We are gonna get our own. Stop begging for crumbs.
COBRA. How?
DAN FREEMAN. What we got now is a colony. But what we wanna create is a new nation. In order to do that we gotta pay a different kind of dues. Freedom dues.
STUD DAVIS. Right on. (00:56:43 minutes)
Thus, The Spook not only rearticulates the conviction that armed revolution in the US is imminent and necessary, it also reflects the contemporary Pan-Africanist and Black Power ideological agenda in its referencing of African Americans as colonial subjects.54
Accordingly, when Freeman returns to his native Chicago to initiate the next phase of the revolution, this message of the film again steps fully out from the shadows so to speak, and starts to espouse its overarching theme through his character. In a gathering in his home, Freeman, following the above-referenced dialogue, addresses the contemporary representations of African Americans on television. “No chains, no whips; a bunch of happy darkies just waiting on Master Charlie and his family, and diggin’ it” (00:57:18 minutes). The men then play out a typical post-civil war scene (as shown in contemporary cinemas and on television) of a white confederate soldier returning home to his loyal slave, George. George comforts the “master” for the confederate army’s loss. When the play scene has drawn to a close, Freeman and Stud start performing the soundtrack for this play – guitar and thigh-slapping. They laugh. Freeman then says, “You have just played out the American dream.”
There is a close up of his now serious expression. “And now we’re gonna turn it into a nightmare” (00:58:44 minutes). The narrative message has now been fully reiterated; the colonial subjects will rise up, putting an end to the presently comfortable system of racism
54 See for example, “White Power: The Colonial Situation” by Hamilton and Ture in Black Power: The Politics of Liberation in America, or Simon Wendt’s and Peniel E. Joseph’s contributions in The Black Power Movement: Rethinking the Civil Rights-Black Power Era.
and exploitation administered and experienced by white US America. This leads the audience into the scenes which precede the revolution and urban war.
As a second example of colonial referencing, the sequences which follow the conversation in Hennington’s office, show a group of African American men at different stages of the CIA recruitment process. After quoting the pledge, they are seen getting physicals in their underwear (much like prisoners) while being inspected and probed by white doctors, mirroring, one could argue, similar experiences in any colonial setting.
In order to ensure that the viewer is fully aware of what the narrative’s message is, the point is repeated again in a scene which precedes the fighting. One of the Cobras poses the question:
STUD. What we trying to do man?
DAN FREEMAN. Fight whitey to a standstill. Force him to make a choice
between the two things which he seems to dig most of all. There is no way that the United States can police the world55 and keep us on our ass too, unless we co-operate. (01:05:06 minutes)
Sam Greenlee, who wrote both the novel of the same title and the screenplay for The Spook, is making a distinction here between African Americans and white US America – which Freeman has referred to as “the United States.” This is a popular association (as noted in, for example, Higher Learning which was released twenty-two years after The Spook), which highlights the perception amongst politicised African Americans that as a collective, they remain non-citizens of the US, a nation which appears to work only in the interests of its white denizens. In Freeman’s opinion, the state has overstretched itself “policing the world”
ignoring or undermining the “mess in their own backyard.” Freeman continues: “When we revolt, we reduce it to a simple choice. Whitey finds out he can’t make even” (01:05:29 minutes). He finishes this contention by asserting that, “[African Americans] can paralyse this country” (01:06:00 minutes). This is later proven when, during the rebellion, the General (Byron Morrow) suggests cordoning off this “war-torn” (as described by a reporter at the scene of the fighting) part of city. His suggestion is rebuffed when it is revealed that when they “sealed off the ghetto last week, it paralysed the city”. This contention is informed by the argument, which Greenlee is drawing attention to, that African Americans are part of the
55 A critique here to the role of the United States in the UN and to its contemporary foreign policies which saw them engaged in war with Vietnam.
body of labour that keeps the US afloat by means of the various jobs they perform in the unskilled employment sector. By doing the factory work, driving the buses and trains, cleaning, opening doors, operating lifts – occupying these unskilled and/or menial jobs which comprise a big part of the North American economy, means that if they stop working, African Americans could have a profound impact on it. This could also be a suggestion to the audience that this form of boycotting when needs are not being addressed might be effective since the people in power will be forced to negotiate out of necessity. Further, in its hint at the power of an African American boycott, Greenlee, following the definitions of what the colony/colonised dichotomy encompasses, thereby makes allusions to the imperial nature of white supremacy in the US.56
In addition to this unambiguous political position, as Freeman repeatedly articulates, African Americans should not only be able to identify who the “real enemy” is (i.e., white US America), they should be fighting for proactive as opposed to reactive reasons. That is: their revolution should not be rooted in hate for white people as a consequence of their historically conflicted relations, but in the desire for self-determination and community betterment.
DAN FREEMAN. It’s simple Willie. I just want to be free. How
‘bout you?
PRETTY WILLIE. So do I. And I hate white folks.
Dan Freeman: Hate white folks? This is not about “hate white folks.”
It’s about loving freedom enough to die or kill for it if necessary.
Now you gonna need more than hate to sustain you when this thing begins. Now if you feel that way, you’re no good to us and you’re no good to yourself (00:47:38 to 00:48:16 minutes).
The trigger for the revolution once again serves as a moment in which this premise is re-stated: A man is gunned down by two chasing policemen; one black and one white. When Freeman gets a phone call from Stud about it, he is told this man was Shorty (Anthony Ray) – an old friend and the first person he communicated with on his return to Chicago. As a consequence of this, a riot has started. Stud confirms, “Yeah, after all the training, looks like shit’s gonna start over a jive-ass pusher” (01:07:14 minutes). This echoes the frustrated
56 In Africa in the American Imagination, Carol Magee writes of imperialism in its relation to the US, that it “ . . . is the processes and policies by which a nation dominates (for its own benefit) the resources – land, labor, markets, people – of another. Historically, this domination has been considered primarily in economic or political terms (97).
sentiment amongst black consciousness activists, that popular, large scale revolt is not, as it should be, driven from the anger generated from the re-educating of African Americans through concientising causes and processes, but rather because people are instead spurred to action through a random, very violent and decidedly racist act.
Shaft in Africa, by contrast, is less overtly political and didactic in its narrative objectives. John Shaft (Richard Roundtree) is a private detective for hire who therefore takes
Shaft in Africa, by contrast, is less overtly political and didactic in its narrative objectives. John Shaft (Richard Roundtree) is a private detective for hire who therefore takes