"Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song"

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses how Melvin Van Peebles' landmark film, "Sweet Sweetback's Baadassssss Song" deviates from traditional Hollywood cinematic techniques. his he does in order to directly comment on early 70s race relations and usher in the 'Blaxploitation' film genre.

From the Paper:

"In the movie, Hollywood's traditional three-act structure is also discarded. The climax of the movie comes when Sweetback kills the policemen, as there are no further conflicts. His goal is escape, and the rest of the movie is spent following him as he runs to Mexico. Additionally, the resolution of the movie is decidedly unclear. Sweetback has escaped, but will return. We do not know when or how, or what he will do when he does. The racial issues presented in the movie are also left wide open. The end is not an end at all, but rather a means to continued action off-screen in the real world. Because the movie so reflected society at the time, to neatly resolve the issues it puts up with consign it to mere fantasy. Thus the three-act structure is insufficient in accurately portraying the world of the movie because the movie so reflects society, and society cannot be summed up in three acts."

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