Book contents
- Richard Wright in Context
- Richard Wright in Context
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Abbreviations
- Richard Wright’s Works: A Chronology
- Introduction Richard Wright’s Luck
- Part I Life and Career, Times and Places
- Part II Social and Cultural Contexts
- Chapter 6 Black Masculinity
- Chapter 7 Wright and African American Women
- Chapter 8 He Tried to Be a Communist
- Chapter 9 Liberalism and the Color Line
- Chapter 10 “The Same Stuff”
- Chapter 11 Moviegoers and Cinematic Seers in Wright’s Fiction
- Chapter 12 Clothing
- Chapter 13 “Defeat Measured in the Jumping Cadences of Triumph”
- Chapter 14 Wright and Religion
- Chapter 15 Bandung and Third-World Liberation
- Chapter 16 Black Paris, Hard-Boiled Paranoia, and the Cultural Cold War
- Part III Literary and Intellectual Contexts
- Part IV Reputation and Critical Reception
- Index
Chapter 11 - Moviegoers and Cinematic Seers in Wright’s Fiction
from Part II - Social and Cultural Contexts
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 July 2021
- Richard Wright in Context
- Richard Wright in Context
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Abbreviations
- Richard Wright’s Works: A Chronology
- Introduction Richard Wright’s Luck
- Part I Life and Career, Times and Places
- Part II Social and Cultural Contexts
- Chapter 6 Black Masculinity
- Chapter 7 Wright and African American Women
- Chapter 8 He Tried to Be a Communist
- Chapter 9 Liberalism and the Color Line
- Chapter 10 “The Same Stuff”
- Chapter 11 Moviegoers and Cinematic Seers in Wright’s Fiction
- Chapter 12 Clothing
- Chapter 13 “Defeat Measured in the Jumping Cadences of Triumph”
- Chapter 14 Wright and Religion
- Chapter 15 Bandung and Third-World Liberation
- Chapter 16 Black Paris, Hard-Boiled Paranoia, and the Cultural Cold War
- Part III Literary and Intellectual Contexts
- Part IV Reputation and Critical Reception
- Index
Summary
Black male spectators in Wright's fiction were drawn to the fascination of watching white characters on the screen in the Jim Crow Era. They were nonetheless aware that their desires for the seductive women on the screen or in the posters were taboo during this time, creating a sense of alienation and only forced ability to identify with white protagonists. This article analyzes the responses of Jake in Lawd Today! and of Bigger in Native Son as they succumb to the temptations of the glittery world of movies on the screen and in movie posters. The article then turns to Wright's exploration of later characters in "The Man Who Lived Underground" and Cross Damom in The Outsiders,who can be considered cinematic seers. The characters place themselves as protagonists in film plots and create their own sense of power over how cinema portrayed Black males. Wright wanted to find ways for more Black impact on both cinema and other forms of media culture This trajectory is traced in the article.
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- Richard Wright in Context , pp. 118 - 127Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021