Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Today

Interview with Isaac Julien

Aired August 02, 2002 - 13:49   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Turn now to the business of entertainment and movies that are a flash from our past. "Shaft," "Foxy Brown," "Super Fly," super cool films from the 70s that mix soul and substance in a genre known as blaxploitation.
Those films are now reaching a new generation of fans and are reflected in comedies such as "Austin Powers: Goldmember" and "Undercover Brother," but the films were fashioned from real life, born in the civil rights and Black Power movements. In the films, black actors took the starring roles as heroes instead of the victims. Now the era is documented in a new film called "Baadasssss Cinema."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If there were more than five blacks on a corner, they considered it a riot, so they brought out the dogs. And they turn the water hoses on. All this stuff was still happening in the 70s, man. And if you fought back, you went straight to jail. The only way we could get away with it was on the screen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: "Baadasssss Cinema" premiers this month on the Independent Film Channel, and it is directed by Isaac Julien. He joins us this morning from Sacramento, California -- hi, Isaac.

ISAAC JULIEN, DIRECTOR, "BAADASSSSS CINEMA": Hi.

PHILLIPS: I'm just excited I get to say "baadasssss" on television.

Now tell me, how did you come up with the name? Give me some background.

JULIEN: Well, "baadasssss" pretty much is really inspired (ph) by the first film, "Sweet Sweetback's Baad Asssss Song," by Melvin Van Peebles, and this film was really the first film that created the whole genre. And so the idea of "Baadasssss Cinema" is that "baadasssss" -- blacks behaving badly or the idea of transgression, humor, fun, irony, all those things, are really part of the expression. especially black colloquial (ph) humor is an essential part of blaxploitation cinema.

PHILLIPS: You are talking about "Sweet Sweetback's Baad Asssss Song," the director Melvin Van Peebles, right? The grandfather of black cinema?

JULIEN: That's right.

PHILLIPS: Go ahead.

JULIEN: He is the grandfather of black cinema in this country. Without him, there would be no kind of movement. We wouldn't be sitting here now talking. He is the single person that created this whole thing.

PHILLIPS: So what inspired you to do this documentary? Was it Melvin?

JULIEN: Well, Melvin, along with people like Tarantino who refashioned the genre. I guess in blaxploitation, you have got two sides. The comedic side, which is very funny and humorous, and we can see those things in "Undercover Brother" and "Goldmember," and then, of course, there is a darker aspect, which represented by people like Tarantino who explores in some ways some of the things that Jack Hill was exploring in films like "Coffy" that starred Pam Grier. And so, I think we have a whole mixture now that is really exciting for contemporary cinema.

PHILLIPS: So Isaac, some people will say that blaxploitation is exploitation, it just furthers stereotypes of African Americans. Others argue the point that it turned black victims into heroes. What do you think?

JULIEN: Well, I think blaxploitation cinema is really very interesting, because I think really what they are talking about is genres. If you have things which are comedic or humorous, and blacks perform in them, I think we are really talking about genre. And similarly, I think (UNINTELLIGIBLE) types around questions of violence, or black cats as playing gangsters. I just think if we are talking about a gangster genre, then you are going to have those elements. I think there is a way in which, sort of, blacks were obviously in the forefront of this earlier on, but they developed this to such a fantastic degree. Hence Denzel Washington and Halle Berry in their roles, securing Oscars this year. I just think that is the way things have really developed now.

PHILLIPS: And this genre is making a comeback. You have talked about "Austin Powers" being influenced, "Undercover Brother," "Shaft," came back. Tell me what is going on here.

JULIEN: Well, I think what is happening is that we are seeing in a way an appropriation of these motifs. They were in hip-hop, they are all part of the hip-hop generation in rap, and now cinema slowly has taken on these very powerful images and representations, and they are being utilized to quite good effect, I would argue, and I think the popularization of these things really comes about because of the continuation and the development of a genre, which was stopped dead in its tracks in the sort of mid to late 70s.

So we are seeing a resurgence of them come through now, and I think that is really a fantastic thing. I think it is really a very pivotal moment in Hollywood cinema that there is an acknowledgement of this very popular genre, which was somewhat repressed. PHILLIPS: All right, quickly. When can we see "Baadasssss Cinema"? Actually, I am lucky. I get to see it tonight. But for everybody else that wants to see it, what can they expect?

JULIEN: Well, they can see "Baadasssss Cinema" in Sacramento tonight at the Krebs (ph) Theater, or you can see it on Independent Film Channel on August 14 when it airs at 10:00 a.m. And what you expect to see really is this whole social history of American cinema that's never been actually voiced or seen before, stories which really matter, and some stories which are really very moving.

PHILLIPS: Outstanding. I totally agree. Isaac Julien from Sacramento. Thanks so much, we appreciate it.

JULIEN: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com