"Baad Bitches" and Sassy Supermamas: Black Power Action Films

by 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 representation in popular cinema, Dunn analyzes how it emerged from a radical political era influenced by the Black Power movement and feminism. Dunn also engages blaxploitation's legacy in contemporary hip-hop culture, as suggested by the music’s disturbing gender politics and the "baad bitch daughters" of Foxy Brown and Cleopatra Jones, rappers Foxy Brown and Lil' Kim.

Genres: Film, Nonfiction, Feminism

192 pages, Paperback

First published August 4, 2008

Reviews

[Elevate Difference · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stephanie Dunn, an assistant English Professor at Morehouse College, deconstructs the representations of black women in blaxploitation films in "Baad Bitches" & Sassy Supermamas: Black Power Action Films, a fascinating cultural critique. Blaxploitation, a 1970s-era sensationalist film genre targeting an urban black audience, has been critiqued as patriarchal because of the way in which women are treated in many films. Dunn describes her interest in examining the representations of black women in blaxploitation films as an effort to expand on previous critical feminist commentaries, which she feels have been too dismissive of the importance of these characters. As she writes, “There has been little in-depth attention given to the myriad implications of the representational codes that structure the characters and action as well as the films’ importance as revealing cultural artifacts.”

Using several major black power films—including Foxy Brown, Coffy, and Cleopatra Jones—the author analyzes representations of black female sexuality and the way these films have influenced contemporary cultural ideas about what it means to be a powerful, black woman. Dunn tackles complicated concepts dealing with representation, oppression, and identity politics, yet has managed to create a book that flows well and is easily understandable. She mentions bell hooks as one of her influences, and Dunn’s inspiration and analytical background is readily apparent in the way that she seems to effortlessly illustrate the intersections of race, gender, and sexuality at the movies, and the social meaning of such representations.

"Baad Bitches" & Sassy Supermamas is a volume in The New Black Studies Series, edited by Darlene Clark Hine and Dwight A. McBride. This is a wonderfully critical contribution to the fields of film theory, cultural studies, black studies, and gender and sexuality studies. The book is sure to interest any critical consumer of pop culture who is interested in the way that power is expressed through film.

Review by Liz Simmons

[Darrell · Rating 3 out of 5]

a lively anecdote laced study of the position of women in blaxploitation action films

[Ethan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very personal study into women, race and blaxploitation's influences on and in everything.