ReFocus: The Films of John Singleton

Buch | Hardcover

216 Seiten

2025
Edinburgh University Press (Verlag)
978-1-3995-4404-7 (ISBN)

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Critically re-evaluates the work of John Singleton, a celebrated Black American auteur whose work helped break a glass ceiling in Hollywood.

In 1992, John Singleton became the first Black filmmaker, as well as the youngest, to be nominated for the Best Director award at the Oscars. In the following decade, Singleton cemented his reputation as a Hollywood auteur who could move across genres while making critically acclaimed films that share a preoccupation with the triumphs and tribulations of Black life in America. And yet, Singleton’s films have received relatively little academic attention.

ReFocus: The Films of John Singleton fills this scholarly vacuum. This collection of original chapters addresses Singleton’s treatment of gender and racial difference, the family, urban space, and traumatic histories; it also identifies sources of inspiration in both Hollywood and world cinema, as well as draws connections between his films and the work of Black American literary figures. This collection is an invaluable resource for the future of Singleton studies.

Daniel Dufournaud is an Assistant Professor at the University of Macau. He is the editor of ReFocus: The Films of John Singleton (EUP, 2024). His work appears in such journals as Poetics Today, College Literature, Studies in the Novel, Journal of Modern Literature and Journal of American Studies.

List of Figures

List of Contributors

Acknowledgements

Introduction: Singleton Agonistes
Daniel Dufournaud

Part I. Singleton’s Themes and Tropes

1. Failed Mothers in Boyz N the Hood and Baby Boy
Indya J. Jackson

2. Can Daddy Save the Day?: On John Singleton’s Use of Realist Fantasy in Boyz N the Hood, Baby Boy and Rosewood
Angela Tharpe

Part II. Singleton’s Politics of Resistance

3. Black Men Loving Black Men and the Centrality of Women in John Singleton’s Films: A BlackCrit, Queer, Feminist Analysis
Martez Files, Dominique J. Hector, and Victor Terry

4. Running from Predation: Hush Harbors and the Place of Black Student (Bodies) in Higher Learning
Khirsten L. Scott and Ariana Denise Brazier

Part III. Singleton and African American Literature

5. “Hope to God There’s Another Place that’s Better than This”: Blues Spaces and The Pittsburgh
Cycle in John Singleton’s Boyz N the Hood and Baby Boy
Trevon Pegram

6. Love and Black Privacy: Watching John Singleton with James Baldwin
Daniel Dufournaud

Part 4. Singleton and History

7. The Shadow of the Past: Hauntology, Melancholia, and Rosewood as Reparative Narrative
Ed Cameron and Linda Belau

8. “The Ghetto Game of Thrones”: Snowfall, Auteur Theory, and Historiographic Television
Daniel Dufournaud

Erscheinungsdatum	15.08.2025
Reihe/Serie	ReFocus: The American Directors Series
Zusatzinfo	25 B&W images
Verlagsort	Edinburgh
Sprache	englisch
Maße	156 x 234 mm
Themenwelt	Kunst / Musik / Theater ► Film / TV
ISBN-10	1-3995-4404-7 / 1399544047
ISBN-13	978-1-3995-4404-7 / 9781399544047
Zustand	Neuware