The Thompson Room in the Barker Center is filled with a diverse crowd of Harvard students, professors and Cambridge residents, black and white, old and young. They have gathered to hear the words of Elvis Mitchell, the first African-American film critic for the New York Times. Mitchell, who is widely read and revered for his tough but honest reviews, spoke at Harvard on the state of African Americans in cinema as a part of the Alain LeRoy Locke Lecture Series.
Mitchell cut a distinguished figure last Wednesday and Thursday perched behind the Thompson Room’s podium. One would think that a man with almost waist-length dreadlocks might feel out of place next to an imposing marble fireplace with its giant bust of John Harvard, but Mitchell owned the room. Drawing the audience in with his incredible public speaking skills, funny jokes and anecdotes about the motion picture industry, the critic even prompted one audience member to tell him, “Not only are you a beautiful speaker, but a beautiful man and a proud representative of the African-American community.”
In his first lecture, entitled “Pride: Determination as an Art Form,” Mitchell discussed the various ways African-American pride has been displayed on celluloid. Much of Mitchell’s talk focused on the Blacksploitation era of the late ’60s and ’70s. At a time when most American cinema was dark and depressed, the Blacksploitation pictures, strangely enough, offered hope and “sheer joy” to moviegoers. The heroes of black action pictures always triumphed over their enemies and the women were empowered. Mitchell also took special care to mention Rupert Cross, a little-known African-American actor who has had a very strong influence on both Jack Nicholson and Steve McQueen, two icons of the American cinema.
In his second lecture, “Rage: Resentment as Social Commentary,” Mitchell shared his thoughts on how African-American rage has been depicted onscreen since the 1940s. “At a certain point,” Mitchell said, “black people just stopped going to the movies because they were embarrassed about the way they were portrayed. Then Sydney Poitier won an Oscar for Lilies of the Field and they thought things might have changed. Ironically they hadn’t. Poitier won an Oscar for portraying an angry black man; something that had been going on for decades.” Mitchell was quick to point out that Denzel Washington’s two Oscar-winning roles in Glory and Training Day were also for playing enraged black males. Mitchell further explained that such rage is not simply confined to male actors. Mitchell named Dorothy Dandridge as an actress that was not only “playing out a specific role, but also fought for screen time.” He also made sure to mention a number of successful black actresses such as 1939 Oscar-winner Hattie McDaniel, who almost never worked in Hollywood again after her victory.
The third and final lecture of the series, “The Aftermath: What Next?” took place at the Harvard Film Archive. While fully acknowledging the existence of bad African-American cinema (he mentioned Booty Call with a cringe), Mitchell remains hopeful for the future. He even turned Booty Call into an interesting case study, illustrating star Jamie Fox’s progression from comic to serious actor, as he moved beyond the silly comedy to his criticlly-acclaimed turn as Muhammad Ali’s trainer in Michael Mann’s Ali. Mitchell also credited Fox with engaging Will Smith when the material of the film could not.
Mitchell cited one final thing that would keep African-American cinema growing and developing: ambition. He called it “the knot that ties pride and anger together for black actors and actresses.” It is the special hardheadedness that keeps the writers, directors, actors and actresses going even if the parts are bad and the money is hard to find, he said. Mitchell also predicted that the playing field will be leveled in the future. “The next two years will be interesting because people will begin to have access to the same equipment that George Lucas uses now. It will be much more democratic.” Personally, after having listened to Elvis Mitchell expound on African-American cinema for three afternoons, I can’t wait for the next two years.
