The Days of ‘Blaxploitation’
As an African American actor, I found your article on the resurgence of the “blaxploitation” genre interesting and unsettling (“Cinema Soul Mates,” by Anne Valdespino, May 26). The fact is, despite their pretensions to “black empowerment,” most of these movies were laughably bad.
Why would any truly creative person attempt to find inspiration from such dreck when there are far more interesting, original and noteworthy stories concerning the black experience in America that have yet to be told?
True, in the ‘70s white-run studios profited immensely from these cheaply made films, but the implication in the article is that now, some 30 years after the fact, it would be OK to do these types of films again as long as black people are making the dough.
Exploitation is exploitation. The thought of any studio having an “urban division” to crank out such crap as a “producer” in your article wistfully suggests is repulsive. The last thing any black artist needs is to be placed in a ghettoized category in a system where it is difficult enough to find quality work as it is.
GREGORY EAGLES
Hollywood
Only good movies
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