The Cinematic Break: DJ Aesthetics and Political Subjectivity in Melvin Van Peebles

Abstract: Alongside his filmmaking, Melvin Van Peebles was a musician with a unique, spoken word style. Often he would mix artistic disciplines, integrating his music with his editing and soundtracks. In his first three films there are moments where he mixes sound and image in such a way that he interrupts the narrative, creating a “break” with the dominant style and story. He develops this cinematic break throughout his early films, creating an artistic signature that both resembles, and precedes, the popularity of breaks in hip hop culture a few years later, where DJs would introduce and juggle breaks in their performances. These interruptions are not just for the sake of style, however, as they are also moments in Van Peebles’s early films where political subjectivity is produced in character and viewer. In other words, the break creates a space within dominant discourse where new ideas emerge, counter to hegemonic and racially motivated ideologies. In this respect, the cinematic break in the work of Van Peebles speaks to a larger cultural moment on the heels of the American Civil Rights Movement, where long held artistic forms and ideas were challenged in the arts.