WEBVTT

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Now you remember from
last week that we're in the

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moment of phasing
out of the 1960s,

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moving into the
1970s, but of course,

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human actions,
inactions, chronology,

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is not simply as
neat as dates on a,

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on a calendar as a
timeline.  A lot of the

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social confusion, violence,
and cultural excitement

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actually, of this era,
of the late sixties,

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is right there in the
1970s.  And this lecture's

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actually trying to canvass
some of the political

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turmoil and its, its
marriage to popular culture

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in the early 1970s.  By
way of context though,

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let me start in the spring
of 1970.  On April 30th--and

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actually, let
me focus--it's,

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frankly, just focus on two
weeks in 1970.  On April

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30th, President Nixon
announces the invasion of

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Cambodia, escalation of
the war in Southeast Asia in

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general, and the need
for one hundred and fifty

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thousand more troops to
find a lasting peace.

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In response, the campus
at Kent State in Ohio,

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the ROTC building is set
on fire.  The Ohio governor

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dispatches National Guard
to make sure that the campus

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remains
peaceful.  On to May 4th,

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this attempt to keep
the peace on Kent State

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evaporates, when
twenty-eight Guardsmen open

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fire on Kent State students,
killing four and wounding

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nine. 
Immediately--immediately

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being a day--five hundred
colleges are shut down

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across the country, or
they're disrupted from

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protests.  Our country,
according to college

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protestors, our country is
now attacking us.  It makes

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tremendous
headlines.  On May 14th,

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ten days--[student sneezes]
bless you--ten days after

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Kent State, at
Jackson State University,

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a historically
black university,

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during a student protest,
state and highway patrolmen

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open fire with automatic
weapons into dormitories. 

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Allegations are that someone
was sniping at them.  No

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evidence was
ever found to that,

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to that end.  They opened
fire without any warning,

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killed two students and
wounded nine.  The scale of

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national attention is
not commensurate with what

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happens at Kent
State.  So for,

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in the African
American community,

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there is a sense
that the police state,

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in this case, state
and highway patrolmen,

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could kill our college
students without anybody

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worrying too much,
but at Kent State,

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also inexcusable, that
if you kill the students,

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it becomes a national
catastrophe.  Meanwhile,

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in New Haven, just about
two blocks from here--well,

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actually, all throughout
New Haven--the Black Panther

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Party and the FBI are at a
standoff.  Black Panther

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Party and fellow travelers
had come to New Haven,

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essentially to protest the
murder trial of Bobby Seale,

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who's accused of authorizing
the murder of Alex Rackley,

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member of the
Black Panther Party,

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people believed to have been
an informant to the FBI. 

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Fifteen thousand people
descend upon the Green,

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Panthers,
Panther supporters,

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sort of anarchist
hippies, called the Yippies,

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by--led by Abbie Hoffman,
fellow travel--travelers of

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all sorts.  And there was a
real fear that the city is

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going to be collapsed into a
race riot.  The university,

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under the leadership
of Kingman Brewster,

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the president at the time,
does something that people

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never expected, and actually
opened its doors to the

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Black Panthers.  It
created a mechanism,

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it felt--Brewster felt, that
would relieve some of the

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pent-up anxiety and tension
over what's happening around

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the country and then
locally.  Classes are

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canceled; there's student
strikes.  I think two or

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three pipe bombs go off at
Ingalls Rink.  It's a level

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of chaos that you, that
you are not familiar with. 

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Kingman Brewster declares
that he actually doubts--and

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I'm paraphrasing
here--whether a black person

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can get a fair trial
anywhere in America. 

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Immediately, the
alums start phoning in,

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calling for his resignation,
for his outlandish

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statement.  It's
a national event,

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student unrest; it's a local
story as well.  In this

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spirit of what's going on in
the country on the college

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campuses, and the
nation, the call for federal

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troops--excuse me, for
more military troops,

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the invasion of Cambodia,
you have an astonishing,

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almost sort of a call
and response by a lot of

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cultural artists.  Most
famous in this regard--well,

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most famous to me at least,
in this regard--is Marvin

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Gaye.  Marvin Gaye, who had
made a career at Motown by

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piecing together and
performing love songs,

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branches out a year later in
May of 1971 with something

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really quite different. 
So he's known for,

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for this: [Marvin
Gaye, Tammi Terrell,

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"Ain't No Mountain High
Enough" excerpt plays.]

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Listen, baby Ain't no mountain
high Ain't no valley low

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Aint no river wide enough,

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baby If you need me, call me
No matter where you are

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No matter how
far Don't worry,

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baby I mean, really
catchy love songs,

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really quite--you know,
they're actually important

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in the history of the
evolution of rock music and

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the Motown sound.  But
by--when we get into 1970,

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Gaye is
wrestling with, well,

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partly exhaustion
from churning out these

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saccharine-laden songs,
but also he's wrestling with

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what's going on
in the country,

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and he wants to aspire to do
something quite different. 

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And he earns, secures
himself a new contract with

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Motown and he's
given creative license,

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which is astonishing.  This
is the big sort of rupture

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in Motown.  He's
given creative license,

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and he turns--and he
generates a concept album. 

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The album's called What's
Going On?  It's dealing with

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Vietnam, it's dealing
with economic despair,

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with incredible inflation
going on in the country. 

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It's dealing with
ecological despair,

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and this is a few years
before Earth Day would

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actually take effect, when
people are wondering what

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we're doing to this
particular planet.  In fact,

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I've often, when I've given
this lecture--and I wanted,

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I hadn't given a, a cultural
politics lecture for years,

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and I finally realized it
was time to do so.  And I

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listened to What's Going On?

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Just to see if I
wanted to play a clip,

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and I realized, I could
actually just put the CD on,

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leave the room, have
you guys understand the

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nineteen, early 1970s by the
time the album was over. 

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But, well, I have to get up
and say something.  So you

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have a moment of
escalating war in Vietnam,

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fear of, of
destruction of the planet,

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ecologically speaking,
environmentally speaking,

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hyperinflation in
the United States,

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poverty, urban decay.  And
Marvin Gaye starts writing

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these pieces, or produces
these songs.  They merge one

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into another in
What's Going On?

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and, in fact, if you do want
to learn about the 1970s,

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just go out and--I used to
say buy the album at the

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record store, then
you could buy the CD,

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and now it's just,
you know, go to iTunes,

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I suppose.  Although you
should patronize Cutler's,

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the local record store. 
[Students laugh]  One of his

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signature songs
from the album,

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"What's Happening,
Brother?"  It's the story of

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a returning vet,
comes back from Vietnam,

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trying to figure out what
is happening on the street,

09:29.700 --> 09:33.000
really trying to get back
into the mundane routine

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of life.

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I'll play a clip of it.

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Hey baby, what you know good
I'm just getting back,

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but you knew I
would War is hell,

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when will it end, When
will people start getting

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together again, Are things
really getting better,

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like the newspaper said
Whatelse is new my friend,

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besides what I read,
Can't find no work,

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can't find no job my friend,
Money is tighter than

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it's ever been Say man, I
just don't understand

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What's going on across this land
Ah what's happening brother,

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Oh yeah, what's happening,
what's happening my man?

10:35.100 --> 10:42.500
If you have the lyrics
sheet in front of you,

10:42.500 --> 10:48.400
it's self-evident.  For
those of you who don't,

10:48.400 --> 10:55.070
the guy's just come back
from war.  He's wondering,

10:55.067 --> 10:56.197
if he's reading
the newspaper,

10:56.200 --> 10:57.200
if what he's
reading is true,

10:57.200 --> 10:58.300
and he's talking
about civil rights here,

10:58.300 --> 11:01.270
of things actually getting
better.  Can't find a job

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though, money is tight. 
"I don't understand what's

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going on around here." 
And then just wondering,

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you know, are they still
doing stuff they used to do,

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going to the dances?  Do you
think anybody has a chance

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to succeed, in this case, a
ball club?  "I want to know

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what's going on, what's
happening."  Someone who's

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lost and trying to
find his way.  Very soon,

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you get an answer
in the same album,

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in the song "Inner City
Blues."  Harkening back to

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Gil Scott-Heron,
"Whitey on the Moon."

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Dah, dah, dah,
dah, dah, dah, dah

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Rockets, moon shots
Spend it on the have nots.

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Money, we make it;

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'Fore we see it you take it.

11:56.900 --> 12:02.900
Oh, make me wanna holler
The way they do my life.

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Make me wanna holler, The way
they do my life.This ain't

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living, This ain't
living No,no baby,

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this ain't living
No,no, no. Inflation,

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no chance, To increase
finance. Bills pile up sky high.

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Send that boy off to die.
Make me wanna holler.

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The way they do my life
Make me wanna holler

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The way they do my life.

12:57.200 --> 12:59.800
Sending people to the moon? 
Spend it on people who don't

12:59.800 --> 13:03.800
have anything, please,
instead.  People taking all

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of our money.  This is
exactly Gil Scott-Heron's

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lament from the same
era.  He closes the song,

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throwing up both my hands in
a lament.  Now if you think

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I'm stretching this
just a little bit,

13:18.700 --> 13:19.700
I mean, this is
just one album,

13:19.700 --> 13:23.600
after all, let me share with
you a personal story.  It's

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happening in 1971, '72,
and '73.  I was too young to

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remember it, actually,
but in 1990--let me think,

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when would this
have been--1997 or so,

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I was living in Los
Angeles.  My father and

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mother had come to
visit me and my wife,

13:42.700 --> 13:44.600
and we're driving.  We go
out to--he'd lived in L.A.

13:44.600 --> 13:48.200
for a while when--during
this era--we drive out to

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visit some old friends
of his in Los Angeles,

13:50.500 --> 13:52.800
have a great
night.  Come back,

13:52.800 --> 13:55.200
we're driving back and I
happen just to put on this

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album.  I listen to it all
the time.  He and my mother

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riding in the back
seat and after a while,

14:00.700 --> 14:03.700
I realize what--something
doesn't sound quite right. 

14:03.700 --> 14:06.200
And then I realize, what I'm
hearing in the back seat is

14:06.200 --> 14:10.570
weeping, I mean, flat out
weeping.  I turn down the

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music, ask what's going
on, and my father just says,

14:13.667 --> 14:14.897
"I can't--you know,
I just can't talk,

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can't talk about it."  Get
back to the house.  I've

14:18.600 --> 14:21.370
never seen this guy cry in
my entire life.  I don't

14:21.367 --> 14:24.597
know what, what has actually
happened.  I sit down with

14:24.600 --> 14:25.670
him and my mother
says, "Wendell,

14:25.667 --> 14:27.267
just tell him what's
going--what happened

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there."  And my
father essentially had a

14:29.800 --> 14:32.800
flashback.  He was a
Vietnam vet himself,

14:32.800 --> 14:36.670
fought--flew in the Air
Force.  And he's saying that

14:36.667 --> 14:38.197
album just brought
everything back.  I mean,

14:38.200 --> 14:39.800
"You just don't, you
just don't understand,

14:39.800 --> 14:45.400
he tells me, "what it was
like."  People going off and

14:45.400 --> 14:47.900
trying to--risking their
lives for their country,

14:47.900 --> 14:50.500
and being treated the way
they were treated upon their

14:50.500 --> 14:52.600
return.  And Marvin Gaye
really understood the sense

14:52.600 --> 14:54.800
of confusion
that many people,

14:54.800 --> 14:56.300
not just the vets, but
certainly in his case,

14:56.300 --> 14:58.700
the vets come back trying to
figure out what is going on

14:58.700 --> 15:02.000
in this country, what do
they actually fight for? 

15:02.000 --> 15:05.900
Feeling a sense of moral
confusion as well.  My

15:05.900 --> 15:07.300
father even
talked about the,

15:07.300 --> 15:10.200
you know, the economy and
the ecological landscape,

15:10.200 --> 15:11.400
all in that same
moment.  He goes,

15:11.400 --> 15:15.100
"That album really captured
it all.  Marvin Gaye

15:15.100 --> 15:21.100
understood what was
going on."  Now this album,

15:27.000 --> 15:30.700
What's Going On?, fluctuates
between the international

15:30.700 --> 15:36.500
critique and also
things happening in U.S.

15:36.500 --> 15:40.000
cities, again, this
economic despair,

15:40.000 --> 15:41.600
I keep coming back to
it.  It's really one of the

15:41.600 --> 15:46.470
defining elements of
the time.  You also have,

15:46.467 --> 15:48.697
during this
moment, this rise of,

15:48.700 --> 15:52.600
in, in line with the
Black Panther Party,

15:52.600 --> 15:55.500
certainly, this rise of
a celebration of black

15:55.500 --> 16:01.370
masculinity, black virility,
and also black cultural

16:01.367 --> 16:03.697
celebration.  Quite a
different one than the

16:03.700 --> 16:04.770
Harlem
Renaissance, certainly,

16:04.767 --> 16:10.297
but a black cultural
celebration all the same. 

16:10.300 --> 16:12.100
Take these
elements together,

16:12.100 --> 16:15.470
sort of this
culturally rich moment,

16:15.467 --> 16:19.197
the notion of
abiding economic troubles,

16:19.200 --> 16:23.000
and also
determination that we,

16:23.000 --> 16:25.300
in this case the black
man--and I use that phrase

16:25.300 --> 16:28.470
quite intentionally--are
going to turn the system

16:28.467 --> 16:29.697
over.  We're going to
be something different.

16:29.700 --> 16:34.100
You end up with an
incredibly popular movie and

16:34.100 --> 16:36.900
character.  The character's
name is John Shaft,

16:36.900 --> 16:42.500
and the movie isShaft.  I'll
play for you some lyrics,

16:42.500 --> 16:47.200
show you a clip, and then
explain a bit of what is

16:47.200 --> 16:49.200
actually happening
in this piece.

18:08.500 --> 18:11.470
Who's the black private dick
That's a sex machine to all

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the chicks?

18:12.467 --> 18:13.467
Shaft!

18:13.467 --> 18:14.467
You're damn right!

18:14.467 --> 18:17.897
Who is the man that
would risk his neck

18:17.900 --> 18:19.700
For his brother man?

18:19.700 --> 18:21.900
Shaft! Can you dig it?

18:21.900 --> 18:25.000
Who's the cat that
won't cop out

18:25.000 --> 18:27.200
When there's
danger all about?

18:27.200 --> 18:28.200
Shaft!

18:28.200 --> 18:29.200
Right on!

18:29.200 --> 18:32.500
They say this cat Shaft
is a bad mother--

18:32.500 --> 18:33.500
Shut your mouth!

18:33.500 --> 18:34.700
But I'm talking about Shaft.

18:34.700 --> 18:35.700
Then we can dig it!

18:35.700 --> 18:37.370
He's a complicated man
But no one understands him but

18:37.367 --> 18:38.367
his woman - John Shaft!

18:38.367 --> 18:39.467
Every year when I play
this, I forget to do a vocal

18:39.467 --> 18:40.467
boost, because the
lyrics--Isaac Hayes's voice

18:40.467 --> 18:41.467
is so deep, that you
lose out on the lyrics.

18:41.467 --> 18:42.467
"Who's the private--who's
the black private dick

18:42.467 --> 18:43.467
That's a sex machine to
all the chicks?  (You're

18:43.467 --> 18:44.467
supposed to say "Shaft!")
[Students laugh.] You're

18:44.467 --> 18:45.467
damn right!

18:45.467 --> 18:46.467
Who is the man that
would risk his neck.

18:46.467 --> 18:47.467
For his brother man?

18:47.467 --> 18:48.467
" "Shaft!"

18:48.467 --> 18:49.467
Thank you.  [Students
laugh] "Can you dig it?

18:49.467 --> 18:50.467
Who's the cat
that won't cop out.

18:50.467 --> 18:51.467
When there's
danger all about?"

18:51.467 --> 18:52.467
"Shaft!"

18:52.467 --> 18:53.467
"Right On!

18:53.467 --> 18:54.467
You see, this cat is--this
Shaft is a bad mother."

18:54.467 --> 18:55.467
"Shut your mouth!"

18:55.467 --> 18:56.467
"But I'm
talking about Shaft."

18:56.467 --> 18:57.467
All right, you
get it.  Anyway,

18:57.467 --> 18:58.467
I mean it is,
it is humorous,

18:58.467 --> 18:59.467
especially when
looking like this,

18:59.467 --> 19:00.467
and being what I am,
and singing this song. 

19:00.467 --> 19:01.467
[Students laugh]  But,
but the song was incredibly

19:01.467 --> 19:02.467
important.  Isaac
Hayes breaks out as well,

19:02.467 --> 19:03.467
out of the
Motown sort of trap,

19:03.467 --> 19:04.467
and comes out with this
album that electrifies

19:04.467 --> 19:05.467
people.  He's talking about
a kind of individual they

19:05.467 --> 19:06.467
had not seen before, they
had not been around before. 

19:06.467 --> 19:07.467
And then the movie comes
out.  I mean this was the

19:07.467 --> 19:13.897
soundtrack to the movie. So
you're walking through New

19:13.900 --> 19:16.370
York, Time Square,
which used to be a complete

19:19.700 --> 19:20.700
cesspool.

19:20.700 --> 19:25.570
I'll fix it. Come on,
get out of the way.

19:25.567 --> 19:29.697
Want a timepiece, brother?

19:29.700 --> 19:35.700
Now I played the extended
clip here.  There's a couple

19:56.867 --> 20:02.867
of moments that are rather
important.  One is just the

21:18.200 --> 21:21.470
street scene that Shaft is
walking through.  New York

21:21.467 --> 21:24.097
City, Time Square, is not
the place you've come to

21:24.100 --> 21:29.800
know with its, with its sort
of carnival atmosphere.  It

21:29.800 --> 21:34.170
was a place of, you know,
triple-X movie theaters,

21:34.167 --> 21:38.497
prostitutes, drug use and
such.  And John Shaft comes

21:38.500 --> 21:41.300
up, emerges in
this landscape,

21:41.300 --> 21:44.270
and walks through it, a man
on a mission.  Thirty-four

21:44.267 --> 21:46.797
seconds into this clip,
into the start of the movie,

21:49.200 --> 21:51.070
you may have seen it or
not.  I don't know if the

21:51.067 --> 21:52.067
lights were down
enough yet for you,

21:52.067 --> 21:54.497
but he crosses the street
and someone comes up about

21:54.500 --> 21:56.100
to hit him.  He stops
the car and gives them the

21:56.100 --> 22:00.100
finger.  You know, in the
grand scheme of things,

22:00.100 --> 22:02.400
especially with what we
see today in our movies,

22:02.400 --> 22:04.100
in our YouTube
clips, this is,

22:04.100 --> 22:07.100
this doesn't even register. 
This was a mind-blowing

22:07.100 --> 22:12.200
moment in American cinema,
when this movie comes out. 

22:12.200 --> 22:15.800
A black man, walking through
a place like he owns it,

22:15.800 --> 22:18.100
giving the finger to
a white guy in a car,

22:18.100 --> 22:21.000
and he continues walking. 
He's walking through,

22:21.000 --> 22:23.300
his long, leather black
coat.  Certainly reminiscent

22:23.300 --> 22:24.570
of the Panthers, but
he looks a little bit

22:24.567 --> 22:26.797
different.  And
it turns out,

22:26.800 --> 22:29.100
when this guy tries to
sell him a hot timepiece,

22:29.100 --> 22:32.900
that he's a cop. 
So the question is,

22:32.900 --> 22:33.900
who's the man?

22:33.900 --> 22:34.900
Shaft!

22:34.900 --> 22:39.800
Yeah, thank you!  [Students
laugh]  Well played,

22:39.800 --> 22:45.300
yes.  That Shaft is
the man.  He's virile,

22:45.300 --> 22:47.500
he's masculine. 
As the lyrics say,

22:47.500 --> 22:52.300
"he's a complicated man." 
And so you have a new kind

22:52.300 --> 22:55.270
of visual representation
of blackness.  [Student

22:55.267 --> 22:58.397
sneezes] Bless you. 
Now Shaft is one of the,

22:58.400 --> 23:05.800
the finer productions of
a, of a cultural moment in

23:05.800 --> 23:07.870
cinema called
Black--blaxploitation. 

23:07.867 --> 23:14.897
Pardon me, I have to
multitask a little bit

23:14.900 --> 23:18.100
here.  Blaxploitation
begins in 1971,

23:18.100 --> 23:24.100
begins, you know, all in
this moment.  It begins with

23:30.900 --> 23:38.100
the movie, really an art
piece by a man named Melvin,

23:38.100 --> 23:42.800
Melvin Van Peebles. 
The movie's called Sweet

23:42.800 --> 23:44.570
Sweetback's Badasssss Song.

23:44.567 --> 23:52.397
The movie is--I find it
very difficult to watch,

23:52.400 --> 23:57.200
just from the kind of
messages it's giving,

23:57.200 --> 23:59.570
and also because of
its cinematic qualities,

23:59.567 --> 24:02.597
and because it's
in some way--well,

24:02.600 --> 24:03.800
I don't care for the movie.

24:03.800 --> 24:07.900
But anyway, it's incredibly
important.  It starts with

24:07.900 --> 24:11.400
the unnamed
narrator, or protagonist,

24:11.400 --> 24:15.870
I suppose, seen being
raised by prostitutes,

24:15.867 --> 24:19.597
he becomes a hustler.  He
becomes witness to a moment

24:19.600 --> 24:27.000
of po--police brutality.  He
kills a bad cop and because

24:27.000 --> 24:28.600
he committed one of
the ultimate offenses,

24:28.600 --> 24:31.570
he has to go on the run. 
And the movie is essentially

24:31.567 --> 24:33.297
him--it's a flight movie.

24:33.300 --> 24:35.300
He's going through all
these different scenes,

24:39.600 --> 24:42.270
trying to keep one step in
front of the man.  And the

24:42.267 --> 24:43.697
man, as it turns
out in this case,

24:43.700 --> 24:47.200
is powerfully corrupt. 
There's a lot of power;

24:47.200 --> 24:52.700
but that power has corrupted
him.  And you see Melvin Van

24:52.700 --> 24:54.700
Peebles, he's the
lead in his own movie,

24:54.700 --> 24:57.070
you know, going through I
mean any kind of slice of

24:57.067 --> 24:59.967
life you can imagine,
representing the 1970s: drug

24:59.967 --> 25:05.097
use, sex scenes,
pimping, prostitution,

25:05.100 --> 25:07.900
crime, always trying to stay
one step in front of the

25:07.900 --> 25:12.000
man. And the movie becomes
an inspiration for the

25:12.000 --> 25:14.500
formula that
becomes blaxploitation.

25:14.500 --> 25:18.000
It's a movie that
dismisses assimilation,

25:18.000 --> 25:23.100
that declares the system's
corrupt.  It is a reflection

25:23.100 --> 25:28.370
of Black Power militancy, no
matter what it's a counter

25:28.367 --> 25:33.097
to white hegemony.  This is
how you could characterize

25:33.100 --> 25:36.000
most of the blaxploitation
films.  There are wrinkles;

25:36.000 --> 25:38.500
we'll get to that in a
moment.  But I want to play

25:38.500 --> 25:44.500
for you one of the last few
clips of the movie.  What

25:56.300 --> 25:58.900
you're seeing here, it's
a, it's a strange close up,

25:58.900 --> 26:01.300
the camera looking
down in a shallow creek,

26:01.300 --> 26:04.300
panning up to
see a, to see a,

26:04.300 --> 26:07.270
a gutted, a gutted police
dog that had come to hunt

26:07.267 --> 26:11.397
down the narrator.  You
see it from a slightly

26:11.400 --> 26:13.000
comfortable distance.

26:13.000 --> 26:15.300
And again, it's a, it's a
movie that's about flight.

26:15.300 --> 26:21.300
It's actually hard to watch
because of the dissonance

26:48.200 --> 26:50.500
and the rough film quality.

26:50.500 --> 26:55.470
Well, the movie's shot on a
five hundred thousand dollar

26:55.467 --> 27:01.067
budget, shot in the
course of two weeks,

27:03.767 --> 27:08.297
has an all-black crew.  So
it's giving a message about

27:08.300 --> 27:10.500
sort of a
non-assimilationist black

27:10.500 --> 27:13.300
pride and it's actually
doing it as well.  And the

27:13.300 --> 27:18.700
movie--oh and I think it
aspires for an X rating,

27:18.700 --> 27:20.300
which had a different
connotation early seventies

27:20.300 --> 27:23.370
than it does now, because
that way they could get

27:23.367 --> 27:27.067
outside of the union system,
and then have an all-black

27:27.067 --> 27:28.697
crew.  Shot for
five hundred grand,

27:28.700 --> 27:30.800
grosses two million--ten
million dollars,

27:30.800 --> 27:32.100
excuse me, ten
million dollars,

27:32.100 --> 27:34.770
a tremendous return on
investment.  And this is

27:34.767 --> 27:36.667
what really launches this
five-year period of the

27:36.667 --> 27:40.597
genre.  They are
often low budget,

27:40.600 --> 27:44.700
Shaft being really a
different creature in this

27:44.700 --> 27:46.700
regard, it's a high budget
film.  Most of them are low

27:46.700 --> 27:51.400
budget.  They make a ton
of money.  The production

27:51.400 --> 27:54.070
values aren't that
wonderful.  They're mostly

27:54.067 --> 27:57.597
action films.  They're
very simplistic in its

27:57.600 --> 28:02.500
construction: black is good,
white is black--bad.  They

28:02.500 --> 28:10.170
are hyper-masculine, and
they're misogynist. So when

28:10.167 --> 28:12.167
people think
about blaxploitation,

28:13.900 --> 28:17.600
is it about black identity,
about a certain kind of

28:17.600 --> 28:21.900
blackness?  Is it about
cultural production?  Or was

28:21.900 --> 28:25.300
it a co-opted capitalist
venture?  AfterSweet

28:25.300 --> 28:27.670
Sweetback's Badasssss Song,
most of the blaxploitation

28:27.667 --> 28:33.897
film--films become studio
productions.  No matter what

28:33.900 --> 28:35.400
you decide
blaxploitation is,

28:35.400 --> 28:38.200
it's important to think
about the images that it

28:38.200 --> 28:45.300
presents.  They all weren't
about revolutionaries or

28:45.300 --> 28:49.200
tough upstanding men. 
They're about different

28:49.200 --> 28:55.200
kinds of people.  I'll play
a clip from the movie Super

29:06.600 --> 29:09.800
Fly as a way to access
this particular part of the

29:09.800 --> 29:10.800
narrative.

29:10.800 --> 29:16.900
I'm your mama,
I'm your daddy,

29:16.900 --> 29:23.500
I'm that nigga in the alley.

29:23.500 --> 29:29.500
I'm your doctor when
you need want some coke,

29:33.467 --> 29:39.467
have some weed.You
know me, I'm your friend.

29:42.300 --> 29:48.900
Your main boy,
thick and thin.

29:48.900 --> 29:55.500
I'm your pusherman,
I'm your pusherman.

29:55.500 --> 30:03.270
Ain't I clean, bad
machine super cool,

30:03.267 --> 30:05.467
super mean.

30:05.467 --> 30:10.967
Feeling good for the man.

30:10.967 --> 30:16.497
Super Fly here I stand.

30:16.500 --> 30:22.500
Secret stash, heavy bread,
baddest bitches in the bed.

30:26.400 --> 30:29.700
I'm your pusherman.

30:29.700 --> 30:33.870
I'm your pusherman.

30:33.867 --> 30:37.597
So this is a song
celebrating a pusher. "I'm

30:37.600 --> 30:39.500
your mama, I'm your daddy,
I'm that nigga in the alley.

30:39.500 --> 30:42.170
I'm your doctor when
you need want some coke,

30:42.167 --> 30:43.967
have some weed.

30:43.967 --> 30:45.197
You know me,
I'm your friend.

30:45.200 --> 30:48.500
Your main boy,
thick and thin."

30:48.500 --> 30:49.800
So who is the pusherman?

30:49.800 --> 30:55.800
I'll play the opening
montage from Super Fly.

31:03.000 --> 31:09.000
The main character is
getting out of his car.

31:17.100 --> 31:18.570
That is the main,
lead character.

31:18.567 --> 31:24.567
You with me or not?

31:32.800 --> 31:36.370
Yeah.

31:36.367 --> 31:42.367
Next mother
fucker come in here,

31:57.400 --> 32:03.400
we off him, right.

32:11.467 --> 32:17.467
You got that shit?

32:26.167 --> 32:27.597
The filmmakers
didn't need a set;

32:27.600 --> 32:31.200
they had New York
City.  Used it as a perfect

32:31.200 --> 32:33.200
backdrop.

33:50.400 --> 33:54.500
So I played this extended
clip the same way I played

33:54.500 --> 33:56.270
Shaft.  I mean these
movies are coming out at

33:56.267 --> 33:58.097
essentially the same time,
but they're telling quite a

33:58.100 --> 34:00.200
different story.  Walking
through different parts of

34:00.200 --> 34:03.000
New York City, certainly. 
Shaft walking with power and

34:03.000 --> 34:04.800
authority, since
he is the man,

34:04.800 --> 34:07.800
and the pusherman doing
something really entirely

34:07.800 --> 34:10.900
quite different.  Still,
also walking through New

34:10.900 --> 34:13.470
York City and its
economic--sights of economic

34:13.467 --> 34:16.697
devastation.  Right
before this clip,

34:16.700 --> 34:21.600
you see the pusherman
getting out of bed.  He has,

34:21.600 --> 34:23.570
as the lyrics in the
Curtis Mayfield song,

34:23.567 --> 34:27.297
"the baddest
bitches in the bed,

34:27.300 --> 34:28.470
getting out of bed
with a white woman,

34:28.467 --> 34:30.997
which is of course
important for all the racial

34:33.100 --> 34:36.300
narratives about that kind
of coupling possibility,

34:36.300 --> 34:38.300
living in a very
fancy apartment,

34:38.300 --> 34:40.470
and he's really trying to
get out.  He's made enough

34:40.467 --> 34:43.297
money, trying to get out of
the system.  Then he's got

34:43.300 --> 34:45.400
to get these petty thieves
who are trying to take some

34:45.400 --> 34:49.370
of his, his dope. The story
is then about a pusherman

34:49.367 --> 34:53.367
trying to exit the high
life.  He's going to make

34:53.367 --> 34:56.597
one final score
and retire.  But he,

34:56.600 --> 35:00.700
as the story goes through,
he discovers that the people

35:00.700 --> 35:02.600
who are actually
the drug pins,

35:02.600 --> 35:05.800
kingpins in New York City,
the ones he has to make this

35:05.800 --> 35:08.700
final score with, are the
police.  The commissioner of

35:08.700 --> 35:10.800
the police is the
biggest kingpin,

35:10.800 --> 35:16.300
drug kingpin in the city,
and the pusherman comes to

35:16.300 --> 35:19.400
the heroic
conclusion, by framing,

35:19.400 --> 35:23.800
or setting up, the police
commissioner.  So you have

35:23.800 --> 35:27.770
here perhaps a hero, perhaps
an antihero.  It's really

35:27.767 --> 35:29.197
quite unclear, but you
certainly--I mean in terms

35:29.200 --> 35:30.870
of what's being celebrated
here--but you certainly have

35:30.867 --> 35:36.497
the lingering part
of blaxploitation,

35:36.500 --> 35:39.600
that the man, when it is the
white man--not John Shaft of

35:39.600 --> 35:43.270
course--the man, usually a
person of great authority,

35:43.267 --> 35:48.997
structurally in the system,
is the cause of degradation

35:49.000 --> 35:55.000
in the black community. Now,
I've talked about the fact

35:58.567 --> 36:05.397
that blaxploitation is
celebrating manhood of a

36:05.400 --> 36:11.400
complicated nature.  It's
also doing something quite

36:13.700 --> 36:18.700
different.  You know, people
often point to Pam Grier as

36:18.700 --> 36:23.000
a wonderful example of a
blaxploitation film star. 

36:23.000 --> 36:29.400
You know, she's always
winning in the end.  One of

36:29.400 --> 36:30.470
her first movies
in this regard,

36:30.467 --> 36:37.297
Foxy Brown, is a story about
Foxy.  Her brother is set up

36:37.300 --> 36:39.300
by drug kingpins.  This is
one of the great narratives

36:39.300 --> 36:46.370
of blaxploitation.  Her
boyfriend is killed by the

36:46.367 --> 36:50.567
man, and she's going to
infiltrate the mob to exact

36:50.567 --> 36:52.967
her revenge.  And the
way she infiltrates it is

36:52.967 --> 36:53.997
becoming a prostitute.

36:54.000 --> 36:56.100
In fact, at the
beginning of the movie,

36:56.100 --> 36:58.000
before this stuff
un, un, unwinds,

36:58.000 --> 37:01.100
you have Pam Grier getting
out of bed with the phone

37:01.100 --> 37:04.900
ring, phone rings.  And
within a few seconds,

37:04.900 --> 37:08.670
she's bare-chested.  I mean
this is what blaxploitation

37:08.667 --> 37:11.867
and white--and, and female
power is suggested by Pam

37:11.867 --> 37:14.397
Grier, her sexuality
is her power.  Anyway,

37:14.400 --> 37:17.600
I want to play the last
couple of minutes from Foxy

37:17.600 --> 37:21.200
Brown.  It has a twist on
this narrative of who's the

37:21.200 --> 37:27.500
man, in fact, how Black
Power is interwoven in this,

37:27.500 --> 37:35.100
in interesting ways. What
you're seeing here is the

37:35.100 --> 37:40.870
drug kingpin's boyfriend
being stopped.  Black

37:40.867 --> 37:48.497
mobsters have taken
over.  Posing as the police,

37:48.500 --> 37:53.300
and now they've caught him.

37:53.300 --> 37:59.300
What are you going to do? 
What do you want?  What are

38:04.800 --> 38:10.800
you guys going to
do?  What are you crazy?

38:13.400 --> 38:18.200
What do
you--He's ready, sister.

38:18.200 --> 38:26.000
No, you--You're crazy.  You
can't do this!  You can't do

38:26.000 --> 38:27.300
that!  No!  No,
Foxy!  Oh no,

38:27.300 --> 38:29.500
you can't.  [Screams.] And
this is the drug kingpin,

38:29.500 --> 38:35.500
as it turns out, the
person behind Foxy Brown's

38:44.800 --> 38:47.100
boyfriend's
murder, her brother,

38:47.100 --> 38:49.500
her brother being
set up as well.

38:49.500 --> 38:55.500
The alarm's been tripped.

38:57.967 --> 39:03.967
Hold it right there, spook.

39:18.900 --> 39:24.900
You're going to be a spook
for real pretty soon.  Hands

39:38.767 --> 39:43.967
up.

39:43.967 --> 39:50.897
Don't pinch the
fruit, faggot.

39:50.900 --> 39:54.570
You watch your mouth
or I'll--No Eddie,

39:54.567 --> 39:55.567
later.

39:55.567 --> 39:59.197
I want to know what
she's doing here.

39:59.200 --> 40:01.800
I'll take that thing now.

40:01.800 --> 40:05.270
Sure, I brought it
for you, Ms. Pimp.

40:05.267 --> 40:11.267
Like I said, it's a present
from your faggot boyfriend.

40:15.067 --> 40:19.967
See what it is, Eddie.

40:24.867 --> 40:27.797
[Man 2 opens the
bag]  What is it?

40:27.800 --> 40:33.800
I don't know, it looks like
a pickle jar or something,

40:38.567 --> 40:44.397
Bring it here.  Oh, Steve!

40:44.400 --> 40:50.400
[screams] [Foxy pulls her
gun out and shoots Man 1 and

40:54.200 --> 41:00.200
Man 2.  Woman 1 grabs a
knife.  Foxy shoots at

41:04.000 --> 41:10.000
her.]  Why don't you
kill me too?  Go on,

41:12.800 --> 41:19.670
shoot, I don't
want to live anymore.

41:19.667 --> 41:25.667
I know.  That's the idea. 
The rest of your boyfriend

41:29.400 --> 41:35.400
is still around.  And I hope
you two live a long time. 

41:41.200 --> 41:47.200
And then maybe you get to
feel what I feel.  Death is

41:52.900 --> 41:58.900
too easy for you, bitch. 
I want you to suffer.

42:02.700 --> 42:07.600
Super bad.The
party's over, Oscar,

42:07.600 --> 42:09.570
let's go.

42:09.567 --> 42:15.797
So you have in this clip
justice being exacted along

42:15.800 --> 42:18.470
the terms that in the
black--blaxploitation

42:18.467 --> 42:22.997
vernacular made the
most sense.  But still,

42:23.000 --> 42:26.670
what kind of messages are
being offered here?  And

42:26.667 --> 42:28.797
when you were in
the movie theater,

42:28.800 --> 42:30.870
I mean the production
value, the acting and such,

42:30.867 --> 42:33.067
you know, in the, the gun
being pulled out of the

42:33.067 --> 42:35.597
afro, these are
all humorous,

42:35.600 --> 42:38.570
but in the movie theater,
these are moments of

42:38.567 --> 42:40.397
celebration.  This is a
whole different kind of

42:40.400 --> 42:44.100
cultural logic that
people had not seen before,

42:44.100 --> 42:49.300
not on a screen, and they
wanted to celebrate it. 

42:49.300 --> 42:53.900
It's an era of great
struggle for the nation,

42:53.900 --> 42:58.100
truly.  We're still not out
of that moment.  And you'd

42:58.100 --> 43:01.000
see it articulated with its
great cultural products of

43:01.000 --> 43:03.700
the age.  It's a
moment of despair,

43:03.700 --> 43:06.400
it's despair that's
certainly likely what urged

43:06.400 --> 43:10.200
Stevie Wonder to write
some of the most socially

43:10.200 --> 43:12.300
conscious lyrics of the
era.  And are--and these

43:12.300 --> 43:15.270
are, you won't be surprised,
these are not the ones that

43:15.267 --> 43:17.797
are heard on the radio
when people play back,

43:17.800 --> 43:20.470
you know, Stevie Wonder
reflections. Wonder had

43:20.467 --> 43:25.197
negotiated a new contract,
just like Marvin Gaye had

43:25.200 --> 43:28.770
done before, that broke him
out of the studio system in

43:28.767 --> 43:32.267
Motown, and re--and the
result was about a six-year

43:32.267 --> 43:34.897
cycle of albums that
was nothing short of

43:34.900 --> 43:37.870
astonishing.  I mean,
one, that the albums are

43:37.867 --> 43:40.497
released, so many are
released in just a five-year

43:40.500 --> 43:44.270
window--actually, just a
four-year window when you

43:44.267 --> 43:50.297
think about it.  Albums are
Music on My Mind in 1972. 

43:50.300 --> 43:54.500
He's only 21 years old. 
Talking Bookreleased the

43:54.500 --> 43:57.200
same year, in '72. 
Innervisions is released in

43:57.200 --> 44:01.300
'73.  Fulfillingness'
First Finale in '74,

44:01.300 --> 44:04.770
Songs in the Key of Life in
'76.  This is not the Little

44:04.767 --> 44:08.397
Stevie Wonder of--he's
coming out with Motown

44:08.400 --> 44:12.270
with--I'm forgetting the
name of the song--playing

44:12.267 --> 44:15.967
his harmonica, but a Motown
sort of dance tune.  This is

44:15.967 --> 44:17.997
not the Stevie
Wonder in later years of,

44:18.000 --> 44:19.470
you know,
"Don't Drive Drunk,

44:19.467 --> 44:21.897
thing.  This is Stevie
Wonder of a different kind

44:21.900 --> 44:24.600
of political vintage.  You
can hear it here in this

44:24.600 --> 44:25.600
song "Big Brother."

44:25.600 --> 44:31.600
Your name is big brother,
You say that you got me all

44:40.567 --> 44:46.567
in your notebook,
Writing it down every day,

44:50.600 --> 44:56.600
Your name is I'll see you,
(Your name is I'll see you,

45:05.667 --> 45:11.667
I'll change if you
vote me in as the pres,

45:18.200 --> 45:24.200
President of your soul
I live in the ghetto,

45:29.500 --> 45:35.500
You just come to visit
me 'round election time.

45:40.767 --> 45:46.767
I live in the ghetto,
Someday I will move on my

45:54.567 --> 46:01.797
feet to the other side.

46:01.800 --> 46:03.670
The sound quality's much
better.  I had the settings

46:03.667 --> 46:06.667
off on this, I apologize. 
But in this song itself,

46:06.667 --> 46:08.597
he's going on, You know,
"I live in the ghetto,

46:08.600 --> 46:10.870
Someday I will move on my
feet to the other side,

46:10.867 --> 46:13.197
My name is secluded, we live
in a house the size of a

46:13.200 --> 46:17.800
matchbox, Roaches live
with us wall to wall" He

46:17.800 --> 46:19.400
concludes the song with,
"You've killed all our

46:19.400 --> 46:20.600
leaders.

46:20.600 --> 46:23.100
I don't even have to
do nothing to you;

46:23.100 --> 46:26.770
You'll cause your
own country to fall."

46:26.767 --> 46:28.167
This is a different
kind of Stevie Wonder,

46:28.167 --> 46:30.597
of course.

46:30.600 --> 46:36.600
Now, Wonder is using lyrics
that are call and response

46:39.400 --> 46:40.400
to Jesse Jackson.

46:40.400 --> 46:42.370
Now we've not talked about
Jesse Jackson pretty much at

46:42.367 --> 46:43.797
all in this course. 
We'll be talking about it,

46:43.800 --> 46:47.770
I think, next week.  But
Jackson has made a name for

46:47.767 --> 46:50.567
himself with a
famous call and response,

46:50.567 --> 46:53.097
"I am somebody."  "I
am," and the audience says,

46:53.100 --> 46:55.670
"Somebody."  Trying to boost
up in these rallies sort of

46:55.667 --> 46:58.197
the notion of self-esteem. 
And Wonder's saying,

46:58.200 --> 47:01.000
"No, my name is Nobody. 
My name is Secluded." 

47:01.000 --> 47:08.100
Incredible economic violence
and despair.  "You have

47:08.100 --> 47:10.370
killed all of our leaders. 
I don't have to do nothing

47:10.367 --> 47:14.197
to you to cause your own
country to fall.  The nation

47:14.200 --> 47:17.300
is going to
collapse in upon itself.

47:17.300 --> 47:19.570
" So you have, then, across
in the early years of the

47:19.567 --> 47:22.297
1970s, and this lecture's
really focused on about four

47:22.300 --> 47:24.400
years, three years, three
or four years in the 1970s,

47:24.400 --> 47:29.170
a moment of incredible
cultural production,

47:29.167 --> 47:32.097
but of a type
that sends, well,

47:32.100 --> 47:34.800
a range of messages, I
suppose.  It's talking about

47:34.800 --> 47:38.300
black virility and at a
moment of rising black

47:38.300 --> 47:40.570
feminism, which we'll be
talking about on Wednesday,

47:40.567 --> 47:42.597
sends very
interesting message,

47:42.600 --> 47:45.070
"interesting" in quotes,
interesting not in a good

47:45.067 --> 47:49.997
way, messages about the role
of the black woman.  Still

47:50.000 --> 47:54.600
wrestling with tensions
over who "the man" is,

47:54.600 --> 47:59.000
what the man looks like,
what the man does.  Who's to

47:59.000 --> 48:01.800
be blamed for the
excesses?  In a sense,

48:01.800 --> 48:05.470
profoundly co--confusing
messages about the cultural

48:05.467 --> 48:10.197
celebration of people who
are putting drugs into the

48:10.200 --> 48:16.300
community and destroying
that community.  As you walk

48:16.300 --> 48:18.700
out, I'll be playing
"Village Ghetto Land" from

48:18.700 --> 48:22.970
Wonder in 1976.  He was
inviting people to come with

48:22.967 --> 48:25.567
him down to his
dead end street,

48:25.567 --> 48:29.167
to Village Ghetto Land: See
the people lock their doors,

48:29.167 --> 48:31.267
While robbers
laugh and steal,

48:31.267 --> 48:35.267
Beggars watch and eat their
meals--from garbage cans,

48:35.267 --> 48:39.197
Broken glass is everywhere,
It's a bloody scene,

48:39.200 --> 48:42.000
Killing
plays--plagues the citizens,

48:42.000 --> 48:44.970
Unless they own police."

48:44.967 --> 48:46.097
Not the most
uplifting lecture,

48:46.100 --> 48:48.800
I know, but this is the
cultural moment of the early

48:48.800 --> 48:51.000
1970s.  We'll overlap and
we'll start talking about

48:51.000 --> 48:55.000
black feminism in the same
moment and see a series of

48:55.000 --> 48:57.770
conflicting messages
about blackness in the

48:57.767 --> 49:03.767
early 1970s.  Class is over. 

49:11.567 --> 49:16.367
Would you like to
go with me,

49:16.367 --> 49:26.197
Down my dead end street,
Would you like to come with

49:26.200 --> 49:28.200
me, To Village Ghetto Land,