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Pam Grier: ‘Blaxploitation’ Originated as Term Meant to Deter Black Audiences from Box Office, Was ‘Political Marketing Ploy’
Pam Grier explained how the origin of the term 'blaxploitation' was meant to deter Black audiences from theaters.
The then-president of the Beverly Hills-Hollywood branch of the NAACP, Junius Griffen, is credited with combining the words “Black” and “exploitation” to create the term that was intended to criticize the sex and violence of the genre that seemingly perpetuated racist stereotypes. However, the blaxploitation films in question progressively included civil rights and Black Power movement storylines (along too with plots of pimps and drug dealers), and became box office hits. You’ll have the food, the culture, the dialogue, the “deuce and a quarter” [a nickname for the Buick Electra 225, named for its length of 225 inches], everything,'” Grier said.
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