Under a Bad Sign: Criminal Self-Representation in African American Popular Culture
By
Jonathan Munby (Author)
Hardback
Available / dispatched within 1 - 4 weeks
Quantity
Description
What accounts for the persistence of the figure of the black criminal in popular culture created by African Americans? Unearthing the overlooked history of art that has often seemed at odds with the politics of civil rights and racial advancement, "Under a Bad Sign" explores the rationale behind this tradition of criminal self-representation from the Harlem Renaissance to contemporary gangsta culture. In this lively exploration, Jonathan Munby takes a uniquely broad view, laying bare the way the criminal appears within and moves among literary, musical, and visual arts. Munby traces the legacy of badness in Rudolph Fisher and Chester Himes' detective fiction and in Claude McKay, Julian Mayfield, and Donald Goines' urban experience writing. Ranging from Peetie Wheatstraw's gangster blues to gangsta rap, he also examines criminals in popular songs. Turning to the screen, the underworld films of Oscar Micheaux and Ralph Cooper, the 1970s blaxploitation cycle, and the 1990s hood movie come under his microscope as well.
Ultimately, Munby concludes that this tradition has been a misunderstood aspect of African American civic life and that, rather than undermining black culture, it forms a rich and enduring response to being outcast in America.
About the Author
Jonathan Munby is a senior lecturer in film studies and American studies at Lancaster University. He is the author of Public Enemies, Public Heroes: Screening the Gangster from "Little Caesar" to "Touch of Evil", also published by the University of Chicago Press.
More Details
- Contributor: Jonathan Munby
- Imprint: University of Chicago Press
- ISBN13: 9780226550350
- Number of Pages: 224
- Packaged Dimensions: 16x24x2mm
- Packaged Weight: 482
- Format: Hardback
- Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
- Release Date: 2011-07-05
- Binding: Hardback
- Biography: Jonathan Munby is a senior lecturer in film studies and American studies at Lancaster University. He is the author of Public Enemies, Public Heroes: Screening the Gangster from "Little Caesar" to "Touch of Evil", also published by the University of Chicago Press.
Delivery Options
Home Delivery
Store Delivery
Free Returns
We hope you are delighted with everything you buy from us. However, if you are not, we will refund or replace your order up to 30 days after purchase. Terms and exclusions apply; find out more from our Returns and Refunds Policy.