Do African Americans Direct Science Fiction or Blockbuster Franchise Movies? Race, Genre, and Contemporary Hollywood

While scholars have long considered the relationship between genre and Black film production, less is known about African American directors' participation in contemporary Hollywood film genres, especially the spaces where they are least included. An examination of post-2000 Hollywood films reveals that Black directors are routinely underrepresented in the most financially lucrative film genre, science fiction, and are therefore denied the success that comes with it. The underrepresentation of Black directors in the science fiction genre operates in dialogue with racialized ideological discourses about the place of African Americans in U.S. societystereotyping them out of intellectual cultures. Race-bound practices of marginalization in science fiction films, and thereby top franchises, also impedes Black directors' ability to attain the highest levels of economic success in the Hollywood film industry. Both outcomes present material and symbolic barriers for the complete inclusion of African Americans in contemporary media institutions and in U.S. society.