Black Magic

by Gabbard, Krin

• ISBN13: 9780813533841
• ISBN10: 0813533848
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-04-01
• Publisher: Rutgers Univ Pr

Summary

Why do so many African American film characters seem to have magical powers? And why do they use them only to help white people? When the actors are white, why is the sound track so commonly performed by African Americans? And why do so many white actors imitate black people when they wish to express strong emotion? As Krin Gabbard brilliantly reveals in Black Magic, we duly recognize the cultural heritage of African Americans in literature, music, and art, but there is a disturbing pattern in the roles that blacks are asked to play-particularly in the movies. Many recent films, including The Matrix, Fargo, The Green Mile, Ghost, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Pleasantville, The Bridges of Madison County, and Crumb, reveal a fascination with black music and sexuality even as they preserve the old racial hierarchies. Quite often the dependence on African American culture remains hidden-although it is almost perversely pervasive. In the final chapters of Black Magic, Gabbard looks at films by Robert Altman and Spike Lee that attempt to reverse many of these widespread trends.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction Sarah in Wonderland	1	(18)
PART ONE: BLACK MAGIC, DISEMBODIED
Marlon Brando's Jazz Acting and the Obsolescence of Blackface	19	(32)
Borrowing Black Masculinity: Dirty Harry Finds His Gentle Side	51	(22)
Passing Tones: The Talented Mr. Ripley and Pleasantville	73	(34)
PART TWO: SERVING THE WHITE AUDIENCE
The Racial Displacements of Ransom and Fargo	107	(36)
Black Angels in America: Millennial Solutions to the ``Race Problem''	143	(36)
PART THREE: UNREPRESENTABLE SUBJECTS
Evidence: Thelonious Monk's Challenge to Jazz History	179	(20)
Revenge of the Nerds: Representing the White Male Collector of Black Music	199	(36)
PART FOUR: BLACK MAGIC, INVERTED
Robert Altman's Jazz History Lesson	235	(16)
Spike Lee Meets Aaron Copland	251	(24)
Conclusion	275	(4)
Notes	279	(14)
Works Cited	293	(12)
Index	305