"People make films about themselves": race, identity, and (re)writing history in Julie Dash's Illusions (1983) and Daughters Of The Dust (1991)
Year: 2018
Type: dissertation
Abstract: This thesis explores how history is (re)written alongside representations of race, \nplace, and the “self” in Julie Dash's films Illusions (1983) and Daughters of the Dust \n(1991). Although Dash was the first Black American female filmmaker to have a feature \nfilm released theatrically in the United States, her work is often left out of traditional \nnarratives of film history, signaling the continuation of racism and sexism in the \nmainstream film industry. Through a close analysis of Dash’s films, and her role in the \nBlack independent film movement, I argue that Dash’s narrative approach creatively \nblends history, myth, and auto/biography, and thus works to reimagine, redefine, and \nrewrite the history of Black Americans. In an attempt to reinscribe Dash as a significant \nfigure in U.S. history, this thesis puts Dash’s work in conversation with writers and \nthinkers from such fields as film studies, literature, and Black geographies, allowing for \nan interdisciplinary analysis of race, place, and Black feminist subjectivity in Dash's \npivotal films.
Author: Lesley Butler
Language: English
Topic: Cinema History and Criticism
Subfield: Visual Arts and Performing Arts
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W3028132161