What the Hell Is Blaxploitation?

            Blaxploitation was a hot topic in our class where the focus was the 1971 (and original) version of Shaft.  It had a lot of meaning, depending on which film was being discussed and who was discussing it.  Different definitions include it being filmmakers in general figuring out how to exploit the black crowd but putting out films with all black people.  Others saw it as a way to exploit the black actors AND black audiences.  I almost found this to be a bit racist.  Only having black actors in the main roles?  Why was it so difficult to have racially-mixed casts?

            It was definitely an interesting film but I find myself more and more preferring newer films, which would mean I preferred the Samuel L Jackson version more.  I know I'll never hear the end of it if I ever bring that up in conversation so I'll delegate those feelings to this entry.  The feeling I get is that older people like older movies more.  It's more of a memory jogger of the "good 'ole days" rather than actually being better quality films.  The viewers were younger, livelier, and still had a full life ahead of them so that was when they were enjoying these films.  Not only that, but also these films were brand new back then, where everything else comparable couldn't actually surpass it in quality.

            Not to sound too contradictory, but a perfect example of why I could be wrong about older films is ANY TYLER PERRY movie.  I don't understand who gives this guy money to make movies.  I understand that they make money because every black person in the United States goes and sees every movie that he releases, which seems to practically averages about a dozen a year!  He writes and directs all of them but they're all about the same stupid characters whether it's about him, Madea or a "mad black woman" that will drive you nuts.

            Tyler Perry is definitely not stupid.  He'd have to be dumb to listen to every person that tells him how much his movies suck.  If he listened, he'd stop wasting everyone's time by making these movies.  But instead, he listened to some film professor or history teacher somewhere when they were covering the 70s and Blaxploitation.  He watched Shaft and thought to himself "Hmm… Black people like this movie and it's all black people in it… I should do the same thing when I'm older!" and that's how he started to make these idiotic movies such as Madea's Family Reunion, Diary of a Mad Black Woman, and Daddy's Little Girl.

            I really do understand why these movies keep getting made.  They make money.  They're following the same business model of films like Shaft and Superfly: Blaxploitation.  It's a relatively untapped resource at this point and is no different than the biggest trend of this past decade: super hero movies.  It's also no different than Disney movies, 3D movies, and horror movies that follow the same stupid guidelines for how to scare people.  It's almost as if Tyler Perry read "Blaxploitation Films for Dummies" when he was in film school.