Shaft. Obviously we've all heard of the movie (I think), but I had never sought it out for one reason or another. It turned out to be an okay movie, pretty simple plot line with some snappy one liners, and a dash of suspense at times, mainly in the rescue scenes.
I'm a little unclear on the differences between masculinity and black masculinity in films. I mean obviously if Shaft is black, it'll be somewhat black masculinity, but is it that when the character is black, it brings in more stereotypes and culture of the race to make it specifically black masculinity? On a more general level, could it be referred to as just masculinity? But if we want to get specific, we could say black masculinity. Is there a white masculinity that brings in stereotypes of white boys?
Another small confusion I had was if Shaft had a girlfriend/wife. I had assumed the first lady he had relations with was his woman, especially considering she had a big picture of him on her end table, and since he had seemingly let himself inside her apartment. So is it playing into the 'black masculinity' stereotype again that he had sleep around with another woman (white woman at that)? I suppose its possible that he just takes on all sexual conquests as they come along, nothing ties him down.
I appreciated the correlation made between the 'army' that rose up in the movie and the Black Panthers during the class discussion. I wasn't sure when watching why those guys were the people that Shaft sought out to form an army of gunned men to help with the rescue. I assumed they were just criminals, but they seemed a bit more organized.
I had rented the 'remake' of Shaft in hopes of watching it following the original, but after the reading, I'm just not sure I even want to anymore. They make it sound like crap. Not to mention I thought it was a remake, and not a new storyline. I guess the original Shaft remained in the same role, only older, as Uncle Shaft to Sammy J's younger Shaft? It's likely I will try to watch it, but no guarantees.
Best scene in the orig. was the bar scene I thought, for the interaction between the mafia guys and the homosexual dude. On the homosexual dude, I think it was Shaft's utter control, pride, and encompassing of his own sexuality that the bartenders comments and actions didn't phase him at all. I don't think he's surprised that a man would talk to him like that, and it's likely that he enjoys it, although he doesn't want to take it to next level I'm guessing. But with the swagger that he walks with, I think he's simply not shocked when he gets rise out of people. He even seems to draw in the mafia fellow at the bar. Not in a sexual sense at all, but just in an attention sort of manner. He's got a lot of control over so many things it seems, people included.
There was a funny line in the reading that I'll close with:
"What are we to make of the resurgent interest in blaxploitation films in American culture,
and how are we to receive this newly erected Shaft?"
Great stuff.
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You ask some really interesting questions here, that I'd have liked to see you answer. _Is_ there a difference between black and white masculinity, in terms of cultural stereotypes? The reading suggests that there is, and that the movie plays on them, right down to the level of the main character's name and theme song. Your point that it's unsurprising that a man that sexually confident would also attract men and not particularly mind it is also very well-taken. It's the sort of moment that you'd almost never seen in 70s movies though. A more typical depiction of homosexuality would be the queeny would-be muggers in Vanishing Point.
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