Chapter 1
In: Resistance and the City
Author:
Ingrid von Rosenberg
Ingrid von Rosenberg
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Abstract
The black struggle for equality in British society reached a peak in the 1970s and 1980s, and public spaces were an important venue. Representations mirrored and supported these efforts. After a brief sketch of the economic and social situation of the black population, this article focuses on the analysis of two seminal films, representing different stages in black film history, in which street scenes, symbolising steps in the fight for equality, play a central role: Horace Ové’s Pressure, a film narrative from 1975 in the realist tradition, and John Akomfrah`s Handsworth Songs, a highly acclaimed experimental documentary from 1986.