Afro-Asian rhetoric in women-led blaxploitation and Japanese genre films of the 1970s

Raven, Erick Brainard

Item

Afro-Asian rhetoric in women-led blaxploitation and Japanese genre films of the 1970s

Raven, Erick Brainard

Date

2025-04-12

Abstract

Afro-Asian Rhetoric in Women-led Blaxploitation and Japanese Genre Films of the 1970s analyzes women-led genre films from the early 1970s from two social contexts: the United States and Japan. I argue that, through a Blues consciousness, the women-led blaxploitation and genre films from the United States and Japan, respectively, express counter-hegemonic conceptions of Black, Korean (Zainichi), and Japanese women through Afro-Asian rhetorics. The first half of the project focuses on the blaxploitation films of Pam Grier and Tamara Dobson. Using the writings of the women of the Black Panther Party, the testimonies of the Vietnamese “long-haired warriors,” as well as the Black feminist ideas of the Combahee River Collective, Patricia Hill Collins, and Toni Cade Bambara, and others, I trace how Grier’s and Dobson’s characters enact their quest to enact community justice. The second half focuses on Japan where I use texts ranging from Onishi Yuichiro to Shigematsu Setsu to analyze how Wada Akiko’s and Kaji Meiko’s performances of Afro-Asian rhetoric in two Stray Cat Rock youth genre films enable them to be leaders dedicated to the rights and well-being of Japanese women, Korean (Zainichi), and Afro-Japanese communities in Japan. Afro-Asian Rhetoric in Women-led Blaxploitation and Japanese Genre Films of the 1970s reflects my overall goal in centering how intercultural rhetorical expressions between African American and East Asian women in popular culture aided each group in their mutual quest for complete liberation and social equality. The study of this legacy offers greater understanding between contemporary African American and East Asian women and inspires strategies and ideas for greater harmony globally.