Shaft

Gordon Parks was the first Black director to sign a contract with the major studio MGM. His Shaft is the defining film of the genre known as blaxploitation, in which Black filmmakers created stories intended for Black audiences. Most of these films were made on shoestring budgets as a cinematic expression of the Black Power movement. Their protagonists fought against evil represented by white society. At the same time, blaxploitation perpetuated stereotypes about the Black world as one filled with violence, drugs, and sex.

Parks’s film is different. Richard Roundtree created a character in the spirit of Sidney Poitier: a Black New York detective—smarter, funnier, and better dressed than his white adversaries, with whom he clashes in the alleys, bars, and underground of New York. The film proved to be a hit, drawing both Black and white audiences to theaters. In a memorable scene, a police officer holds a black pen up to Shaft’s face. Against its background, his skin appears light.

“You ain’t so black.”

Shaft holds a white cup up to the cop’s face.

“And you ain’t so white.”

Maciej Jarkowiec

Gordon Parks (1912–2006) – American photographer, film director, composer, and social activist. His work explored the complexities of life in the United States, with particular attention to racial inequality, poverty, and civil rights. He became the first African American to write and direct a feature film for a major Hollywood studio (Shaft).