Mysteries Behind Cinéma

OVERVIEW

The film movement that was termed, The Black Market Cinema, was a major culture movement in the world of cinema that first began in 1910 when the first black casted films were made to 1949, when Director Eddie Green produced his last film. The movement overall took place over the course of forty years, from 1910-1950. Being one of the most controversial movements in film history, the inclusion of African Americans into the film world meant that they would need to jump through many obstacles in order to be accepted in their films.  This movement first began when African Americans were exclusively seen in slapstick comedies in 1910 to 1915, when the first all black motion picture company was formed in 1916. Lincoln Motion Picture Company resided in Los Angeles California, where it was ran & operated exclusively by blacks (Sampson 27). The first film released by Lincoln Motion Pictures was The Realization of a Negro’s Ambition in 1916. The company that succeeded Lincoln Motion Pictures was the Micheaux Film and Book Corporation, founded in 1918 by Oscar Micheaux. Micheaux was the first legendary film director of this movement, along with several other directors that played a major role in this movement. William Foster, who produced several of the slapstick comedies featuring an all-black cast in 1912 as well, shared a large role in the Black Cinema movement (Boggle 101). Another director that had a large impact on this movement was Booker T. Washington’s secretary, Emmett J. Scott, who released the all black film The Birth of a Nation. These companies produced uniquely styled films that appealed to primarily black audiences. There were many sociological and political dimensions that shared major impact on the creations of these films throughout the era. There was a lynching movement that occurred during the time period that this took place in, along with blacks being looked down upon and disrespected by some white corporations. It wasn’t until 1915, when the Ebony Film Company was established to incorporate both black and white filmmakers.

CONTEXT

CONTRIBUTIONS 

This movement did provide a new twist on existing narrative.
This movement did introduce stylistic innovations
 This movement did introduce a new film aesthetic. A look at Independent Black Filmmakers reveals their incorporation of the dominant society’s conception of beauty. This was a period when the closer a character was to white, the more beautiful the person was considered to be. Also as long as dark-skinned men had money and a bit of power, they were considered to be like white men. (Yearwood, 108)
 This movement did introduce new filmmaking techniques.
 This movement did introduce new production.
 This movement did introduce a new subject of matter. Black filmmakers cant not view film primarily as entertainment, if so, this would mean acceptance of a fully destructive set of cultural assumptions. (Yearwood, 108)
 There is a significant relationship between this film movement and social/historical conditions that took place at the time. Related to the dictionary of the West in the ways the African image is defined; meaning African beauty was devalued into a deformed and warped negative criteria. Although filmmakers identified with the urge of black people to rebel against the system and to express themselves, this rebellion was still levied within white American ethnic expression. And in doing this, it damaged the whole historical movement of a powerful and significant transformation of our people’s lives. In order for black filmmakers to rise in the future, there must be a fundamental and total examination of these errors plus a clarification of pitfalls of independence. Also at the time when black people were finding ways to freedom, being a filmmaker was the way to be free. The independent black filmmaker should have a strong sense of history, because in that history the filmmaker finds his or her freedom. A sense of history provides a context and a meaning for one’s work; and struggle must play a central role in the course of this history. (Yearwood, 108-109)
 They wanted to give the full artistic expression to the possibilities of the black American culture and expressing themselves in the prevailing romantic literary style. (Yearwood, 109)
Wanting to express the urgency and poverty of lynching have difficulties expressing the starkness of a lynching in a romantic cultural style. (Yearwood, 109)

CONTEMPORARY RELEVANCE