Description
Book SynopsisTrade Review"In The Poitier Effect, Sharon Willis is an illuminating analyst of film as a visual and sonic art form and perhaps our most astute interrogator of the workings of race in American film."—Michael Awkward, University of Michigan
"Sharon Willis is one of our most trenchant—and wittiest—critics of how popular cinema casts narratives of race and gender. She unfolds a remarkably resilient script, featuring not only the actor Sidney Poitier but the Poitier effect, a mechanism of reassurance of white tolerance, of change without change."—Patricia White, author of Women’s Cinema, World Cinema
"Rewardingly thoughtful."—CHOICE
"The Poitier Effect, complicated by contemporary ideas about feminism, sexuality, and privilege, continues to inform our collective memory as well as our visions of postracial society."—CBQ: Communication Booknotes Quarterly
"A taut and insightful book concerning race representation in cinema."—Journal of Film and Video
"The Poitier Effect should be considered for inclusion in courses in African American cultural history, communication, feminist or cultural studies, as well as U.S. popular culture."—Journal of African American History
Table of ContentsContents
Preface
Introduction: Racial Pedagogy and the Magical Negro
1. Passing Through: The Obsessive Sameness of Sidney Poitier
2. Feminism as Alibi: When White Women Encounter Color
3. The Lure of Retrospectatorship: Hitting the False Notes in Far from Heaven
4. Black Authenticity and the Ambivalent Icon: Keeping It Real in Talk to Me
Conclusion: Chasing Sidney
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index
