Cooley High 3 (1975)

Cooley High 3 (1975)

Black Film Promotional Materials

The images in this final piece of promotional material show boys attempting to be men in the only way they know how, by acquiring women and staying loyal to people outside of the home. Unlike in Sounder, the characters in Cooley High perform masculinity as lustful and proud through scenes of romantic kissing and joking in the face of authority.

The film portrays young men as having some agency in their lives; they are able to determine where they will go and what they will do with little or no consultation from an authority figure. This performance of masculinity is a response to the greater social condition of poverty and abandonment that the young men have no power to change. Guerrero would argue that the masculinity displayed in Cooley High is not as defiant as it seems. He states that, “(…) potent force, sexuality and assertiveness are expressed in the images, bodies, and portrayals of macho men, their strength was almost always at the service, or under the control of white supremacy” (70). Without male role models, the boys are left to determine for themselves what masculinity means after reaching the landmark of adolescence. Friends joke amongst one another about sexual prowess and risk taking. In a pivotal scene, a character named Preach brags about being able to drive well while joyriding with carjackers. After police become involved, the carjackers believe they were revealed to the authorities, and they kill a boy named Cochise in retaliation. Cochise's death is ultimately the result of a miscommunication of intention and a consequence of the way the characters perform masculinity in the film.

Guerrero, Ed. Framing Blackness: The African American Image in Film. Philadelphia: Temple UP, 1993. Print.

Washington University Archives: Black Film Promotional Material Collection. Cooley High. American International Pictures, 1975. Film.