Baad Bitches and Sassy Supermamas: Black Power Action Films
Stephane Dunn
Blaxploitation action narratives as well as politically radical films like Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song typically portrayed black women as trifling "bitches" compared to the supermacho black male heroes. But starting in 1973, the emergence of "baad bitches" and "sassy supermamas" reversed the trend as self-assured, empowered, and tough black women took the lead in the films Cleopatra Jones, Coffy, and Foxy Brown.
Stephane Dunn unpacks the intersecting racial, sexual, and gender politics underlying the representations of racialized bodies, masculinities, and femininities in early 1970s black action films, with particular focus on the representation of black femininity. Recognizing a distinct moment in the history of African American ... Read more
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About Stephane Dunn
Reviews for Baad Bitches and Sassy Supermamas: Black Power Action Films
Atlanta Journal-Constitution “Using a variety of informal polls, surveys, and friend-girl networks, Dunn reconstitutes the very nature of the female gaze for postmodern Black women.”
Multicultural Review "An irreverent and well-intentioned appeal to rethink how we talk about black women in popular culture as capable of being both sexy blues women and erudite thinkers."
Journal of American Ethnic ... Read more