Hollywood Jim Crow: The Racial Politics of the Movie Industry

The Hollywood Jim Crow explores the racial inequality in the American film industry, focusing on the practices and biases that limit the production and circulation of movies directed by racial minorities. It exposes the relationship between genre and race, the ghettoization of Black directors, and how Blackness is perceived by Hollywood producers and studios. The book suggests that increased representation of African Americans behind the camera is not the sole answer to the racial inequality gap and calls for focusing on the obstacles to integration for African American film directors.

\n Format: Paperback / softback
\n Length: 240 pages
\n Publication date: 05 February 2019
\n Publisher: New York University Press
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The #OscarsSoWhite campaign and the leaked Sony emails have highlighted the limited opportunities for people of color in Hollywood. In her book, The Hollywood Jim Crow, Maryann Erigha explores the practices and biases that perpetuate inequality in the film industry. She examines over 1,300 contemporary films, focusing on directors, to expose the key elements that maintain "the Hollywood Jim Crow." Unlike the Jim Crow era, Hollywood's version uses economic and cultural explanations to justify the underrepresentation and stigmatization of Black filmmakers.

Erigha highlights the relationship between genre and race, the ghettoization of Black directors to black films, and how Blackness is perceived by Hollywood producers and studios. She questions the notion that increased representation of African Americans behind the camera is the sole solution to the racial inequality gap. Instead, she suggests focusing on the obstacles to integration for African American film directors.

Hollywood movies have a vast reach and exert tremendous power in the national and global production, distribution, and exhibition of popular culture. The Hollywood Jim Crow provides a comprehensive analysis of the racial inequality embedded in this industry and offers alternative approaches to address the issue.

\n Weight: 374g\n
Dimension: 153 x 230 x 14 (mm)\n
ISBN-13: 9781479847877\n \n