On the morning of March 8, 2006, artists everywhere awakened to the sad news that the legendary Gordon Parks had passed away peacefully in his sleep the night before. As if that weren’t bad enough, even more depressing were the headlines plastered all over the Internet, newspapers and magazines that almost unanimously proclaimed “Gordon Parks, Director of Shaft dies.” AOL Black Voices, like the New York Times, Jet Magazine, and the Chicago Tribune, among others, made the same mistakes. Although some of these same articles eventually got around to proclaiming his work as a multitalented artist, too many focused on one aspect of his life’s work, Shaft, that—in my opinion—influenced the world in the least significant way.
In the case of Mr. Parks’ death, most journalists stuck with what was familiar. frame placed around Gordon Parks’ death put him in a box that did him no justice.
Jet Magazine—the No. 1 African-American weekly magazine in the world—seemed to focus only on what he did to contribute to the advancement of blacks in art rather than to the general public as a whole. Although it is true that he single-handedly knocked down many walls for African Americans, the story neglects to reflect enough on his impact on American history, not just black history.
In the same way, one international publication sharply framed its story to paint Mr. Parks as a pioneer of the “blaxploitation” era while it was merely sprinkled with his accomplishments as a photographer for Life magazine, filmmaker, poet and composer. Hence, for those not familiar with who he really was, the public discussion about Mr. Parks is limited to one that boxes him into being just a black man for blaxploitation. In an article about his life’s work (The Times of London, March 9, 2006), one journalist wrote, “In international terms, however, The Learning Tree was eclipsed by Shaft, one of the films that ushered in the ‘blaxploitation’ genre, presenting streetwise African Americans as heroes or anti-heroes, rather than buffoons or loyal family retainers.” Furthermore, the subtitle of the article read, “Life photographer…helped to launch the ‘blaxploitation’ boom.” Moreover, because of the popularity of Shaft in the United Kingdom, the frame of the story remained familiar rather than bringing forth a more complete and colorful picture of the artist Gordon Parks instead of just the black man Gordon Parks.
Finally, though, Mr. Parks’ story was framed in a way that was both unique and all-inclusive. In another article, in the New York Post, March 14, 2006, Jasmin K. Williams finally got it right as the headline properly proclaimed, “Gordon Parks, A Man for All Seasons.” Moreover, the opening paragraph excited me to satisfaction: “Legendary photographer, filmmaker, author, composer, and musician Gordon Parks did it all—extraordinarily well. Gordon Parks wore so many hats, it’s hard to define him, except to say that his genius was truly groundbreaking and far-reaching.” In fact, the story was framed as a biographical piece that both mentioned his contribution to the blaxploitation era without neglecting to mention his work in other parts of the world as well. For this reason, a discussion centered on this article is bound to be more complete and, consequently, closer to the whole truth than other articles.
Ever since the civil rights movement, the media have been quick to run articles that tally African-American firsts. In fact, when any minority is the first of their respective communities to achieve unprecedented success, there is a tendency for the media to start an imaginary “scoreboard” for that minority group. (I don’t really like the imaginary scoreboard because I think it pits people in the same minority group against one another.)
But what is the purpose of keeping score if in the end someone decides to take points away? In recent coverage of Gordon Parks, most journalists subtracted lots of “points.” These so-called professionals left Mr. Parks in a dim light and left it up to readers to brighten it themselves.
Daphne J. Davalié is a journalism and media studies major at Rutgers-Newark. Posted September 2006.
