Black Cinema & Visual Culture

This culturally and politically timely collection examines new Black films and moving images that have, once again, excited and possibly shifted the global media landscape. At a moment some scholars have described as post-post-racial, Black Cinema & Visual Culture provides new, urgent definitions and theories for Black cinema and furthers the development of its critical discourses. Gathering some of the leading scholars and critics in the field, this book enriches and advances the study of Black film and media and its social and political implications at a breakthrough period of expansion in the 21st century. This anthology tackles a wide range of topics from social justice, new media, and Afrofuturism, to race, gender, sexuality, mass incarceration, cultural memory, and Afrosurrealism, exploring the current climate of Black cinematic art that has proven wildly popular with domestic and global audiences, including hit films like Get Out and Marvel’s Black Panther. Together, these essays deepen understandings of Black visual culture, its creative image-makers, the political economy of Hollywood, and the cultural politics at the intersection of modern cinema, streaming platforms, and digital technologies. Black Cinema & Visual Culture will serve as an important learning tool for university courses spanning topics in film studies, American film and television, cultural studies, American studies, African Diaspora studies, media activism, social analysis, and African-American studies. This volume will also provide a benchmark in popular and intellectual circles for anyone interested in popular culture, Black-American cinema, media, issues of race in Hollywood, or Black culture and the conditions that shape both its art and politics.

Artel Great is the George and Judy Marcus Endowed Chair in African American Cinema Studies and Assistant Professor of Critical Studies at San Francisco State University. He is an Independent Spirit Award–nominated filmmaker, cultural critic, and Black cinema scholar. Dr. Great has written on film, race, and popular culture in both academic and popular publications. Ed Guerrero is a film historian and Black cinema scholar. He has written extensively on Black movies and his influential books explore Black cinema, its critical discourse, and political economy. Dr. Guerrero has served on numerous editorial and professional boards including the National Film Preservation Board of the Library of Congress. He has also taught Cinema Studies and Africana Studies at New York University.