Short Eyes and the Convergence of Nuyorican Poetry, Chicago Soul, and American Independent Cinema

Abstract: Short Eyes (1977), based on Miguel Piñero’s award-winning play, is directed by independent filmmaker Robert M. Young. Its Curtis Mayfield soundtrack has led some people to see Short Eyes as a Blaxploitation film. Recognizing links between Short Eyes and the Blaxploitation movement, the analysis illustrates the more substantive factors that (1) separate Short Eyes from the proliferating exploitation elements in 1970s low-budget and studio productions, and (2) connect the film to three socially conscious US movements: Nuyorican poetry, Chicago soul, and nascent independent cinema. The discussion here identifies Short Eyes as an art house prison film that reimagines the genre. It shows how the New York Puerto Rican poetry and performing arts movement paralleled the Black Arts Movement. The discussion also explores the political dimensions of Chicago soul and Mayfield’s non-Hollywood music. It considers Young’s self-effacing work on Short Eyes in relation to 1970s East and West Coast minoritarian and independent filmmaking.