Shaft is a very interesting movie in which you can see how African American’s culture being mixed with but also differentiates from Hollywood’s ideology. It is a James Bond film in African American version—A though guy with great sense of humor and good taste, saving people’s lives and having sex with beauties. However, it reflects and mocks racism by making Shaft not only black but also an angry one.
It is clear that he does not trust white people, even Vic who always helps him. His attitude towards Vic and those black guys is very different. He can help and forgive black guys who hurt him before because they are black and in Shaft’s heart, they are brothers. On the contrary, he cannot treat Vic as brothers because he is a white man. Another example is his attitude towards black women and white women. We can tell that he is serious about the black woman who loves him; he is very gentle and caring to her. However, he plays a player’s role to Lisa, the white woman who has a crush on him; he just wants to have sex with her and then ask her to leave. We should acknowledge that although he is very capable, he has not been treated equally as white men in the society and that is where his anger comes from, for instance, the taxi driver who prefers to take a white man than Shaft.
As Tidyman mentioned in his film review, although shaft has a swinging bachelor pad in Greenwich Village and works out of an office in Times Square, he always hang out in Harlem and other black neighborhoods. “His clients and friends come from the streets, and his cases often involve various black mobsters and/or radicals”. The difference strengthened by the society between black and white influences Shaft’s self-identification and also makes us view him more as a black person than an agent. In another world, his race contributes more to who he is than his occupation.
The music in this movie is very famous. They are also originals of classic black music. They strengthened Shaft’s identity and make this movie different from normal Hollywood gangster films. As I wrote before, music in this film also contributes as means to highlight black ideas.
I agree that we focused on Shaft's race more than his independence but I think the director wanted that to show the challenge in ideological difference by the black man having power. I also agree that the music adds to Shaft's identity and makes him seems much more tough than it should.
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