Films in the Blaxploitation genre can have unusual or common themes central to their plots. But often, and with the best of them, they usually nod at issues that are traditional elements of African American societies. These are different from usual exploitation films, which tend to be very derogatory about its subjects.
One film could have gotten to a level that would have been a cut above the best of these epics. This was the 1972 movie Trick Baby, based on an eponymous novel by the author Iceberg Slim, then a leading light in black writing. Whereas the novel is an intense tale of the underworld, the film wasted the potential by being, as one critic put it, watered down.
This story revolves around the friendship between two conmen working in the African underground. These are White Folks and Blue Howard, who live and operate in Philadelphia, and Folks is a biracial person who can be mistaken for white. It is the one fact that makes their partnership in crime relatively successful, and they are planning a new one.
Of course racial dynamics propel the plot here, and these are mostly a given from a novel that was based on the real experiences of author Slim, a former pimp before he made bestselling novelist in the African American writing genre. These are delineated well enough in this film, although black men themselves who watched the central role of Folks were let down. Again, there was a lack of intensity and nothing of masculinity present in a half white character.
White Folks was born from the union of a prostitute and a white trick, hence the title. Since this accident of birth is the thematic focus of both novel and film, the story could have intensely examined the details behind it. However, the film went ahead with the classic need for Hollywood to have an easier subject to portray visually.
In this sense, the movie might be forgiven its being unable to really take advantage of the intensely dramatic idea of a biracial conman. However, no conflicts or friction arise from this, especially between Howard and Folks, and their relationship is mostly about the easier time they have of being able to get away with crimes. The cliched theme of black criminality was chosen above everything else.
Films from Hollywood will tend to be dehumanizing, concentrating more on great visuals than focusing on the story elements. This defect is something that is still present, and so whatever films there are that are found meritorious in a story sense will not end up successful, in comparison to those that tend to con people.
The plan hatched by the conspirators is complicated by a former crime that involved a Mafia relative. This final nod to the cliche film ending is something that will turn a critics stomach, and this is perhaps the gamble. Perhaps the real point behind this work is the bid to become an impactful sensation.
Larry Yust, the director, softened the impact of the story so that it could be accepted by most American moviegoers. However, these are people that cry from sensitivity while ignoring the blasphemies they find in their midst. Black culture provides so many telling things about the country, that the movie had to be watered down, maybe.
One film could have gotten to a level that would have been a cut above the best of these epics. This was the 1972 movie Trick Baby, based on an eponymous novel by the author Iceberg Slim, then a leading light in black writing. Whereas the novel is an intense tale of the underworld, the film wasted the potential by being, as one critic put it, watered down.
This story revolves around the friendship between two conmen working in the African underground. These are White Folks and Blue Howard, who live and operate in Philadelphia, and Folks is a biracial person who can be mistaken for white. It is the one fact that makes their partnership in crime relatively successful, and they are planning a new one.
Of course racial dynamics propel the plot here, and these are mostly a given from a novel that was based on the real experiences of author Slim, a former pimp before he made bestselling novelist in the African American writing genre. These are delineated well enough in this film, although black men themselves who watched the central role of Folks were let down. Again, there was a lack of intensity and nothing of masculinity present in a half white character.
White Folks was born from the union of a prostitute and a white trick, hence the title. Since this accident of birth is the thematic focus of both novel and film, the story could have intensely examined the details behind it. However, the film went ahead with the classic need for Hollywood to have an easier subject to portray visually.
In this sense, the movie might be forgiven its being unable to really take advantage of the intensely dramatic idea of a biracial conman. However, no conflicts or friction arise from this, especially between Howard and Folks, and their relationship is mostly about the easier time they have of being able to get away with crimes. The cliched theme of black criminality was chosen above everything else.
Films from Hollywood will tend to be dehumanizing, concentrating more on great visuals than focusing on the story elements. This defect is something that is still present, and so whatever films there are that are found meritorious in a story sense will not end up successful, in comparison to those that tend to con people.
The plan hatched by the conspirators is complicated by a former crime that involved a Mafia relative. This final nod to the cliche film ending is something that will turn a critics stomach, and this is perhaps the gamble. Perhaps the real point behind this work is the bid to become an impactful sensation.
Larry Yust, the director, softened the impact of the story so that it could be accepted by most American moviegoers. However, these are people that cry from sensitivity while ignoring the blasphemies they find in their midst. Black culture provides so many telling things about the country, that the movie had to be watered down, maybe.
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