Jelani Cobb considers Django Unchained and history at The New Yorker. “Tarantino’s attempt to craft a hero who stands apart from the other men—black and white—of his time is not a riff on history, it’s a riff on the mythology we’ve mistaken for history. Were the film aware of that distinction, Django would be far [...]
In an interview with the National Visionary Leadership Project, the late Gordon Parks talks Life Magazine, photography, racism, his hometown and offers advice to young Black people.
It’s the beginning of January, cold and dark where I am. The critics are all putting out their best of year lists, and maybe you’re looking for something to read. So here’s my entry into annual lists: 10 comics I liked in 2011 that I haven’t written about. Well 9 comics I haven’t written about [...]
Jen Yamato interviews Pam Grier on her experience working on Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown and in 1970s action films doing her own stunts. (via Grindhouse Database)
One man laboring in obscurity in has finally done what scientists working for vast think tanks have struggled for decades to accomplish. Behold, the “Periodic Table of Exploitation!“
At The Revivalist, Adrian Younge offers his, “Top 5 Blaxploitation Soundtracks.” (via @World_Of_Hurt)
Adult Swim has posted the pilot episode of Black Dynamite, its new animated series based on the Michael Jai White Blaxploitation parody/homage film. (Via It’s Komplicated and @World_Of_Hurt)
Here at the Gutter we like our podcasts. We especially like Infernal Brains and The Projection Booth. At Infernal Brains, Todd and Tars discuss Thai pulp hero, Insee Daeng and Wisit Sasanatieng’s recent screen adaptation, Red Eagle. Meanwhile, at The Projection Booth, Mike and Mondo Justin report on Robocop (including news on Detroit’s statue) and [...]
The 1984 documentary, Black Hollywood: Blaxploitation and Advancing an Independent Black Cinema, is available, for free and in its entirety, online. Solid. (via Jay Potts of World of Hurt)
The Eisner-nominated Afrodisiac is now online for your reading pleasure!
It has always been my long held contention that cinema–while being a medium of mass entertainment–can also be a powerful art form that can illuminate, inspire and ultimately change the world we live in. One artist that worked in the mediums of photography and film making that truly exemplified my theory that film can be [...]
Janell Hobson connects Saturday Night Live‘s, “Bride of Blackenstein” to Sara Baartman, the Hottentot Venus, via Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.
Sometimes it’s easy to forget why I like comics and 2010 was a particularly tough year, in comics and otherwise. But here are 10 that reminded me why I do like them. There’s a lot of crime, anthropomorphic animals, gorgeous art, silly fun, people dealing with things the best they can, and plenty of Greg [...]
Travel through pop culture history a premake of Marvel’s Avengers (sneak peek of Emma Peel included), faux 1911 silent animated shorts from Red Dead Redemption and Lando Calrissian as Blackstar Warrior–a Blaxploitation film set in the Star Wars universe.
Shaft vs. Scarface, and other comics based on (mostly 80s) movies that should be.
It’s Pam Grier’s birthday. Celebrate with this interview by NPR.
Ron Van Clief. the Black Dragon, remembers Bruce Lee, Carter Wong, Jimi Hendrix, racism and underground fighting in the 1950s and working with Blaxploitation auteur, Berry Gordy: “What made The Last Dragon so special is that it was shot in New York City and it starred an African American. No drugs, no prostitution. Just a [...]
The B-Masters Cabal unites to ponder the films of foremost B-movie purveyor, American International Pictures. 5 blogs look at Roger Corman, misleading advertizing, crappy monsters and what finally took AIP down.
Scroll down for some rap based on Welcome Home, Brother Charles, a film about a Black man castrated by a white cop who gets revenge when his penis grows back.
The idea for this article occurred to me a few seconds into “Life is a Gamble,” track 10 on Marvin Gaye’s score for Ivan Dixon’s Trouble Man. The churning sax and bubbles of Moog rolled over me, and suddenly I was in Los Angeles, circa 2019. I pulled my Blade Runner soundtrack off the shelf [...]
