The Mask of Art : Breaking the Aesthetic Contract - Film and Literature

"In this critique of aesthetics and the politics of representation, Taylordemonstrates astonishing breadth and depth in arguing for 'breaking the aesthetic contract' thatexcludes anything that does not conform to Eurocentric notions of beauty.... it brings to blackstudies and cultural critique an internationalism that emphasizes the richness of forms of creativeexpression outside the norms set by European aesthetics. Highly recommended..."--Choice Cultural critic Clyde Taylor exposes the concept of "art"as a tool of ethnocentricity and racial ideology. By examining various texts including The Birthof a Nation and The Cotton Club, Taylor demonstrates how rationales of "art" are used tomask personal, class, and cultural biases. Other works such as those by Toni Morrison, ChinuaAchebe, and Spike Lee are scrutinized in terms of resistance to the dominant system ofaesthetics.