Author Spotlight

Racquel J. Gates

Racquel J. Gates is an associate professor of film at Columbia University. She is the author of Double Negative: The Black Image and Popular Culture (Duke University Press, 2018) and is currently writing her second book, Hollywood Style and the Invention of Blackness.

2 Results
10 Things I Learned: Melvin Van Peebles: Essential Films

The consulting producer of our box-set tribute to one of American cinema’s most uncompromising artists shares some facts she learned about the filmmaker’s eclectic career and global perspective.

By Racquel J. Gates

Production Notes— Oct 13, 2021

Melvin Van Peebles: Essential Films

Watermelon Man: Melvin in Hollywoodland

Melvin Van Peebles takes aim at Hollywood’s way of representing race in this blistering satire about a white man who wakes up one morning to discover that he has turned Black overnight.

By Racquel J. Gates

Essays— Sep 28, 2021