Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898 – 1971 Curriculum Guide

Black: We have elected to capitalize the “b” in Black as a way to recognize the history and culture of Black people as a shared experience. See this New York Times article for more context: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/05/ insider/capitalized-black.html?searchResultPosition=2. blackface: The practice of applying darkened facial makeup to make the eyes and lips look disproportionately large while performing stereotypical Black characters, commonly used by white actors. Because of its popularity, Black performers have also worked in blackface. cakewalk: A dance mainly performed by Black people that became a theatrical phenomenon in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This staple of minstrel shows was a counterpoint to formal European stage dances and Broadway entertainment. With roots in the minstrel walkaround, plantation ring shout, and African circle dance, the cakewalk features Black performers taking turns dancing using a variety of high-energy steps, many of them improvised. casting: A pre-production process that involves choosing actors to fill the roles in a particular TV show, movie, commercial, or play. Directors and producers will hire a casting director to oversee the process, which includes auditions, screen tests, and callbacks.

Michael Boyce Gillespie. Film Blackness: American Cinema and the Idea of Black Film . Duke University Press, 2016. Killer of Sheep website https://www.killerofsheep.com/

vantage point of the historically marginalized. “Counter” itself implies a space of resistance against traditional domination. A counternarrative goes beyond the notion that those in relative positions of power can just tell the stories of those in the margins. Instead, these must come from the margins, from the perspectives and voices of those individuals. A counternarrative thus goes beyond the telling of stories that take place in the margins. The effect of a counternarrative is to empower and give agency to those communities. By choosing their own words and telling their own stories, members of marginalized communities provide alternative points of view, helping to create complex narratives truly presenting their realities. counterculture: A culture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, sometimes diametrically opposed to mainstream cultural mores. A countercultural movement expresses the ethos and aspirations of a specific population during a well-defined era. dominant narrative: A term referring to the ways history, experience, and events are told through the perspective of a dominant culture. A dominant culture in society typically holds power over other groups. Dominant narratives form because they are the stories that are upheld by the structures of power and are repeated, eventually becoming understood as truth. Dominant narratives often omit or suppress the experiences and perspectives of marginalized groups and do not encompass a holistic point of view. documentary film: The cinematic observation and representation of reality. Documentary filmmaker John Grierson defined documentary film as the “creative treatment of actuality.” According to film critic Bill Nichols, there are six modes of documentary production: expository, observational, participatory, reflexive, poetic, and performative. editing: The process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, and many other modifications performed with the intention of producing a correct, consistent,

accurate, and complete piece of work.

historical record: Documented, archived, and preserved information about what happened in the past.

F. Additional Resources

inquiry-based learning: A learning process that engages students by making real-world connections through exploration and high-level questioning. It is an approach to learning that encourages students to engage in problem-solving and experiential learning. independent film or cinema: Movies made and/ or distributed outside the mainstream major movie studio system. These films, sometimes referred to as “indies,” can also be different in their style and content, and by the way in which the personal artistic vision of the filmmaker is realized. Some of this may be due to smaller budgets; however, independent filmmakers are often afforded more freedom to express their ideas and vision more directly. Jim Crow laws: A variety of discriminatory laws, rules, regulations, and customs aimed at Black people and enforced largely in the South and border states until the late 1960s. minstrel show: A type of stage entertainment featuring songs, dances, and formulaic comic routines based on stereotyped depictions of Black Americans and typically performed by white actors in blackface. It developed in the US in the early nineteenth century and was widely performed until the mid-twentieth century but is now regarded as highly offensive. mise en scene: The setting or surroundings of an event or action in a play or movie. The French term translates as “setting the stage.” Motion Picture Production Code (also known as the Hays Code): Applied to films made in the US from 1934 to 1968, the Code was a set of rules and guidelines enforced by the Production Code Administration (PCA), which regulated and censored what Hollywood films could depict on screen. The idea was to use a set of moral guidelines to make Hollywood pictures “presentable” and “safe” for the public at large, which meant not covering or featuring certain “sinful” or “controversial” topics, themes, or actions. Some of

1. Glossary of Key Terms and Concepts

abolitionist: A person who favors the abolition of any law or practice deemed harmful to society. Regeneration describes the work of key abolitionists seeking to abolish slavery in the nineteenth century, including Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth. Today, abolitionists seek to eradicate systemic oppressions, for example, advocating for dismantling the prison-industrial complex, among other social justice movements and issues. antebellum South (derived from the Latin ante bellum , meaning “before the war”): A period in US history spanning the end of the War of 1812 to the start of the Civil War in 1861. During this time, slavery was described in the cultural lexicon of Southern leaders as a positive good, classifying it as a benevolent, paternalistic institution with social and economic benefits, an important bulwark of civilization, and a divine institution superior to wage labor in the North. The South’s economy was largely plantation-based and dependent on exports. Society was stratified, inegalitarian, and perceived by immigrants as lacking in opportunities. Consequently, the South’s manufacturing base lagged behind nonslave states. Wealth inequality grew as larger landholders took the greater share of the profits generated by slaves, which also helped to entrench their power as a political class.

character design: The full creation of a character’s personality, behavior, and overall visual appearance. Character designers create characters as a vehicle for storytelling. cinematography: The art and craft of making motion pictures by capturing a story visually with a motion picture camera.

archive: Records created or received by a person, family, or organization and preserved because of their continuing value.

close-up shot: A type of camera shot that tightly frames a person or subject.

bit part: An acting role where there is direct interaction with the principal actors but typically, in contemporary film, has no more than five speaking lines and is mostly one-dimensional, meaning the character does not grow in any significant way. Bit characters are often the roles where stereotypes and tropes are employed, and little of the character’s point of view is revealed to the audience.

conceptual art: Art for which the idea (or concept) behind the work is emphasized more than the object itself or the artist’s creative expression through materials. Conceptual art emerged as a movement in the late 1960s.

counternarrative: A narrative that arises from the