From SWEETBACK to SUPER FLY

Race and Film Audiences in Chicago's Loop

Gerald R. Butters

• Publisher: University of Missouri
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9780826273291
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Performing Arts

Racial politics and capitalism found a way to blend together in 1970s Chicago in the form of movie theaters targeted specifically toward African Americans. In From Sweetback to Super Fly, Gerald Buttersexamines the movie theaters in Chicago's Loop that became, as he describes them, "black spaces" during the early 1970s with theater managers making an effort to gear their showings toward the African American community by using black-themed and blaxploitation films. Butters covers the wide range of issues that influenced the theaters, from changing racial patterns to the increasingly decrepit state of Chicago's inner city and the pressure on businesses and politicians alike to breathe life into the dying area. Through his extensive research, Butters provides an in-depth look at this phenomenon, delving into an area that has not previously been explored. His close examination of how black-themed films were marketed and how theaters showing these films tried to draw in crowds sheds light on race issues both from an industrial standpoint on the side of the theaters and movie producers, as well as from a cultural standpoint on the side of the moviegoers and the city of Chicago as a whole. Butters provides a wealth of information on a very interesting yet underexamined part of history, making From Sweetback to Super Fly a supremely enjoyable and informative book.

Index

ABC Gateway, 145–47, 149

ABC-Great States Theater Chain, 27, 34, 59, 61, 76–77, 79, 81, 89, 114, 122, 124, 142–43, 147, 152, 190–91, 196; and programming changes in 1973, 112–13, 123–25, 213n

ABC-TV, 152, 199

Academy Awards, 115–16, 147, 158, 174, 223n

Action-adventure films, 56, 89–90, 101–2, 104, 108, 110, 124, 154, 177; criticism of, 90, 108

Actors, African American, 30, 32–33, 51–52, 60–61, 88, 131, 134, 162; and racial responsibility, 96, 131–34

Advisory Council on Historical Preservation, 188, 193

Affirmative action, 120

African American film audiences, 30, 33, 38, 43, 47, 51–52, 57–60, 62–64, 87, 97, 123, 128, 154, 158, 161–63; and black-themed films, 33, 51–52, 59–60, 62–64, 107, 161–62; and The Exorcist, 145–47; and 110th Street, 108–9; in the Loop, 2–4, 9, 33, 126–27, 162, 202; and martial arts films, 111–14; participation of, 4, 43, 62–64, 90, 107, 127; youth of, 46, 50, 63–64, 96, 134, 154, 163, 180, 202, 235n

African American masculinity in film, 34, 56–57, 62, 70, 79, 82, 122, 151; and heroism, 43–44, 122, 129, 171; and sexuality, 48, 54, 56, 59, 70, 79, 81

African American press in Chicago, 35, 43–45, 48–49, 68, 132

African American representation in film, 33, 47, 63–64, 94, 103, 132, 203, 206

African American women in film, 46–47, 59, 94, 101–3, 106, 129, 168, 218n; as heroines...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• One - Race, Civil Rights, and Chicago’s Loop, 1945–70
• Two - Sweetback and the Rise of Black-Themed Films, 1970–71
• Three - Blaxploitation, Black-Themed Films, and Film Spectatorship, 1971–72
• Four - Super Fly and Resistance to Blaxploitation, 1972
• Five - Karate Rape in Harlem, 1973
• Six - The Exorcist and the Decline of the Loop as a First-Run Market, 1973–74
• Seven - The Beginning of the End: Loop Theaters under Attack, 1975
• Conclusion - Demolition and Rebirth, 1976–
• Appendix A - Kuumba: Principles for Creativity and Liberation
• Appendix B - Seating Capacities for Downtown Movie Theaters, 1972
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index
• Index of Films Mentioned