Black on Black: Urban Youth Films and the Multicultural Audience

Images of violent black masculinity are not new in American culture, but in the late 1980s and early '90s, the social and economic climate in the country contributed to an unprecedented number of films about ghetto life. And while Hollywood reaped financial gains from these depictions, the rest of the country saw an ever widening "opportunity gap" between marginalized groups and mainstream society, as well as an increase in juvenile violence. These events added to the existing discomfort of the viewing public with representations of young black males living in urban ghettos.

Black on Black: Urban Youth Films and the Multicultural Audience tackles the under-examined subject of black, male-focused, coming-of-age films in American society. Of central concern is an analysis of responses made by culturally diverse young adults to selected "Hood" films of the early 1990s. Grounded in Reader-Response Theory and utilizing qualitative research design and analysis, author Celeste Fisher examines student interpretations of three representative films of the period: Boyz N the Hood, Juice and Menace II Society.

This book provides insight into how meaning is made by a multicultural audience in response to a particularly controversial representation of "Blackness" in American society. Developed to make sense of the violence that accompanied the screenings of some Hood films, this research provides a greater understanding of how such films are interpreted. Black on Black is suitable for scholars and students interested in the subject, as well as for anyone interested in film, race, multiculturalism, and identity politics.