martin

Shaft

I was recently at a conference where a friend of mine spoke about Bulgarian rap freestyles and kung fu. One thing let to another, and we ended up discussing blaxploitation films and their influence on culture and rap music. Shaft came up, of course, as the quintessential movie from this genre, making me want to revisit it. The last time I watched it was two years ago in Brazil, this time after a discussion after a seminar on American racism. Every time I watch this movie, I am more and more amazed how crazy cool and stylish it is. The lines are crisp, the music is funky and sexy, and the fights are awesome. But what's best about this particular Shaft (maybe not so much for the later remakes, reimaginings, reboots or whatever) is that it reclaims racist stereotypes as a means of empowerment. Shaft is a cool-ass sex machine that makes fun of the lame-ass white people not because he is an animalistic subhuman (as the racists make it to be), but the opposite - because he is a free man. What sucks, though, is that his power, freedom, and masculinity are realized through the use of women.