Charles Burnett
The publisher and the University of California Press Foundation gratefully acknowledge the generous support of the Robert and Meryl Selig Endowment Fund in Film Studies, established in memory of Robert W. Selig.
Charles Burnett
A CINEMA OF SYMBOLIC KNOWLEDGE
James Naremore
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Naremore, James, author.
Title: Charles Burnett : a cinema of symbolic knowledge / James Naremore.
Description: Oakland, California : University of California Press, [2017] |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2017016678 (print) | LCCN 2017019353 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780520960954 (ebook) | ISBN 9780520285538 (pbk. : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9780520285521 (cloth : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Burnett, Charles, 1944—Criticism and interpretation. |
African American motion picture producers and directors—United States.
Classification: LCC PN1998.3.B865 (ebook) | LCC PN1998.3.B865 N37 2017
(print) | DDC 791.4302/33092—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017016678
Manufactured in the United States of America
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For Darlene Sadlier, who helped in more ways than I can count; for Jay Naremore (who writes novels under the name Jim), Amy Rubin (memoirist and photographer), and Alexander and Patrick Naremore (budding filmmakers); and in memory of Phyllis Klotman.
CONTENTS
1 • A Cinema of Symbolic Knowledge
2 • Beginnings
4 • My Brother’s Wedding (1983)
5 • To Sleep with Anger (1990)
6 • The Glass Shield (1994)
7 • Three Films for Young Adults and Families: Selma, Lord, Selma (1999), Finding Buck McHenry (2000), and Nightjohn (1996)
8 • The Wedding (1998)
9 • The Annihilation of Fish (1999)
10 • Nat Turner: A Troublesome Property (2003)
11 • Warming by the Devil’s Fire (2003)
12 • Namibia: The Struggle for Liberation (2007)
13 • Two Screenplays: Bless Their Little Hearts (1984) and Man in a Basket (2003)
14 • In His Element: Three Short Films and an Epilogue
Filmography
References
Index
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
My thanks to the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences, which awarded me a scholar’s grant in support of this book. Thanks also to Michael T. Martin, Brian Graney, and the staff of the Black Film Center Archive at Indiana University; to John Vickers and the staff of Indiana University Cinema; to Linda Harris Mehr, Matt Severson, and Elisabeth Cathcart of the Herrick Library in Los Angeles; and to Mark Quigley and the staff of the Research and Study Center at the UCLA Film and Television Archive. For individual help and advice, I’m especially grateful to Edward Dimendberg and Robert E. Kapsis, who read and supported the manuscript. Thanks also to Janet Cutler, Julie Dash, Allyson Field, Jonathan Rosenbaum, and Craig Simpson. As usual, I could never have written the manuscript without the help of my wife, Darlene J. Sadlier, a talented scholar and writer who read each chapter, gave me invaluable suggestions for improving things, and was always there with love and moral support.
Mary Francis, a former editor at University of California Press, initially contracted the project. Her successor, Raina Polivka, has been a great gift to me; unfailingly patient, intelligent, and encouraging, Raina provided editorial support beyond the call of duty when it was most needed. Her editorial assistant, Zuha Khan, cheerfully guided me through the production process; Sharon Langworthy was a fine copy editor, and the designers at the press did their work skillfully.
Portions of the book, in different forms, appeared in Charles Burnett, a Troublesome Filmmaker, edited by Maria Miguez and Victor Paz (Cantabria, Spain: Play-Doc Books, 2016); the March 2017 issue of Black Camera: An International Journal, edited by Michael T. Martin; the Summer 2017 issue of Cineaste, edited by Gary Crowdus; and the September 2017 issue of The Ryder magazine, edited by Peter LoPilato. I am grateful to these publications for their help.
One of Charles Burnett’s best producers, Carolyn Schroder, answered my e-mail questions and gave me permission to quote her; she also made it possible for me to talk with Burnett in Los Angeles. And I’m especially thankful for the help of Charles Burnett himself. I’ve never written about a filmmaker whom I have had the pleasure of meeting. In this case I tried to maintain a certain distance because I didn’t want to distract him from his work or make my book seem “authorized.” We had only a couple of conversations, and he kindly answered the factual questions I asked him via e-mail. (In the text, whenever I mention things Burnett told me, I’m referring to the e-mail remarks he gave me permission to use.) He also gave me a copy of his unproduced screenplay for Man in a Basket and a video of his seldom-seen The Final Insult. As anyone who knows him can probably tell you, he’s a modest, generous man, always ready to give credit to others, whose considerable knowledge and strength of character are clothed in an unpretentious, gentle personality. He’s not responsible for any errors in this book. It was an honor to meet him, and I hope I’ve done him justice.
ONE
A Cinema of Symbolic Knowledge
CHARLES