Ch. 8 (209-240)
By saying that old stereotypes resurfaced “simply dressed in new garb,” Bogle means that these stereotypes were reworked to appeal to both black and white fantasies. “The age of the buck,” as Bogle says, applies this stereotype to Black male characters who set out to tear down the system (210). Melvin Van Peebles’s Sweet Sweetback’s Baadassss Song scored points for its depiction of a Black man who “met violence with violence and triumphed over the corrupt white establishment” but loses points for its depiction of the same Black man as “the familiar brutal black buck” (2130. Shaft’s stylistic choices heighten the film, as Bogle notes the Academy Award winning “Theme from Shaft.” Perhaps the most mixed messaging came in the form of Super Fly, which, according to Bogle, features clashing themes of radical action against a corrupt system and individualism that abandons said system.
Bogle also introduces the concept of the “crossover film,” a movie with Blacks and whites that included “built-in devices to please white audiences” (233). The chapter concludes with Hollywood’s conclusion at the end of the 1970s: “the black film and black audience were both dead” and the crossover film firmly taking root (240). In context of modern motion pictures, this idea is still prevalent — at least among studio blockbusters. The Walt Disney Cooperation, the entity that holds a stranglehold on the box office and major theater chains, has been a brutal example of this throughout their acquisition of Marvel and Lucasfilm properties. The snake-eating-its-own-tail expansion of the “Marvel Cinematic Universe,” boasting almost thirty features, only includes one Black-led film in its entire lineup. For the majority these movies, Black characters serve as a slick sidekick to the white protagonist. Even when the Black character Sam Wilson was offered the moniker of Captain America, the final product did not receive a theatrical release. Instead, the story was split into an eight episode miniseries, “The Falcon and The Winter Soldier,” with top billing given to Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stain — the accompanying white superhero.