Resulted from black dismay about bland black characters in mainstream movies, Hollywood's awareness that black people constituted 30% of the audience in city cinemas, and greater black awareness generated by Black Power
Characterised by black heroes overcoming corrupt whites, depiction of black and white women as sex objects, suggesting the genre owned much to feelings of emasculation in the ghettos
Contributed to the dramatic increase in cocaine use among ghetto youths and the glamorisation of ghetto life distracted blacks from the collective political struggle
