{"product_id":"josephine-bakers-cinematic-prism-9780253223388","title":"Josephine Baker's Cinematic Prism","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eJosephine Baker, the first Black woman to star in a major motion picture, was both liberated and delightfully undignified, playfully vacillating between allure and colonialist stereotyping. \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003eNicknamed the \"Black Venus,\" \"Black Pearl,\" and \"Creole Goddess,\" Baker blended the sensual and the comedic when taking 1920s Europe by storm. Back home in the United States, Baker's film career brought hope to the Black press that a new cinema centered on Black glamour would come to fruition. In \u003ci\u003eJosephine Baker's Cinematic Prism\u003c\/i\u003e, Terri Simone Francis examines how Baker fashioned her celebrity through cinematic reflexivity, an authorial strategy in which she placed herself, her persona, and her character into visual dialogue. Francis contends that though Baker was an African American actress who lived and worked in France exclusively with a white film company, white costars, white writers, and white directors, she holds monumental significance for African American cinema as the first truly global Black woman film star. Francis also examines the double-talk between Baker and her characters in \u003ci\u003eLe Pompier de Folies Bergère\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eLa Sirène des Tropiques\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eZou Zou\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003ePrincesse Tam Tam\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eThe French \u003c\/i\u003eWay, whose narratives seem to undermine the very stardom they offered. In doing so, Francis artfully illuminates the most resonant links between emergent African American cinephilia, the diverse opinions of Baker in the popular press, and African Americans' broader aspirations for progress toward racial equality. \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eExamining an unexplored aspect of Baker's career, \u003ci\u003eJosephine Baker's Cinematic Prism\u003c\/i\u003e deepens the ongoing conversation about race, gender, and performance in the African diaspora.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eTerri Simone Francis is Associate Professor at the University of Miami.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Indiana University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50376954020114,"sku":"9780253223388","price":26.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_94dcbd45-1c54-4cb2-91f1-baadba4a6723.jpg?v=1728611852","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/josephine-bakers-cinematic-prism-9780253223388","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}