Representing: Hip Hop Culture and the Production of Black Cinema / Edition 1

by S. Craig Watkins

Overview

In this engaging and provocative book, S. Craig Watkins examines two of the most important developments in the recent history of black cinema—the ascendancy of Spike Lee and the proliferation of "ghettocentric films." Representing explores a distinct contradiction in American society: at the same time that black youth have become the targets of a fierce racial backlash, their popular expressive cultures have become highly visible and commercially viable.

"Watkins is at his most sophisticated and persuasive when he explains the surprising success of hyper-talented, entrepreneurial, and energetic black artists."—Archon Fung, Boston Book Review

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780226874890
Publisher:	University of Chicago Press
Publication date:	11/01/1999
Edition description:	1
Pages:	330
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.40(d)

Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Black Youth at Century's End
1: Social Conservatism and the Culture Wars
2: Black Youth and the Ironies of Capitalism
3: Black Cinema and the Changing Landscape of Industrial Image Making
4: Producing the Spike Lee Joint
5: Spike's Joint
6: Producing Ghetto Pictures
7: The Ghettocentric Imagination
Epilogue: The Culture Industry and the Hip Hop Generation
Notes
Bibliography
Index

What People are Saying About This

Robin D. G. Kelley

Taking on the film industry, Watkins not only explores why America has such an investment in blaming black youth for the decline of Western Civilization as we know it, but examines how a new generration of black filmmakers have tried, with mixed results, to overturn racist representations of ghetto life.

Editorial Reviews

Watkins (sociology, African American studies, and film, U. of Texas- Austin) examines two of the most important developments in the recent history of black cinema: the ascendency of Spike Lee, and the proliferation of "ghettocentric films" like Boyz N the Hood. He offers a fascinating look at commercial culture and shows how and why it has become a crucial site for black American youth as they struggle to empower their lives. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Booknews

This is a solid contribution to the many debates about racial authenticity, the creation of contrasting cultural narratives, and their relation of culture to formal politics, all of which fuel contemporary cultural studies.
—The Times Literary Supplement

Leigh Raiford