Hollywood in the 1980’s can be seen as a milestone in American media. After the Civil Rights era in the 1960’s and 70’s Hollywood became less focused on creating artistically genius films in effort to appeal to a larger audience (The History of the Hollywood Movie Industry) Often utilizing comics such as Richard Pryor and Eddie Murphy to play the main protagonists in their films, the intentions in the creations of these films were focused on making money thus the shift of attention from storytelling to outrageous concepts became common.  

In the 1980’s, the past creativity of the film industry became homogenized and overly marketable. Designed only for audience appeal, most 1980’s feature films were considered generic and few became classics. This decade is recognized as the introduction of high concept films that could be easily described in 25 words or less, which made the movies of this time more marketable, understandable, and culturally accessible. (The History of the Hollywood Movie Industry)

Though the movies were far less spectacular and lacked creativity in the 80’s the black men that played these roles were always represented well, often playing roles raging strong, brave,  like Mr. T in his Rocky III role, to whitty, calculated, and smart. Eddie Murphy slayed the 80’s starting out on Saturday Night Live (SNL) a late night skit show focus on poking fun at relevant topics that dominated the news. Neil Levy the talent coordinator for SNL received a call from 19 year old Eddie Murphy pleading for a position on the cast, which he got.  Eddie Murphy’s success on SNL was unparalleled his sense of humor was unique often playing as Mr. Robinson a character that taught extremely adult situations to children. Eddie Murphy found his stardom on SNL and in 20 months he would find himself on the set of his first movie 48 Hours. (Jason Guerrasio) Through the 80’s Eddie Murphy continued to delivered movie after movie almost on a yearly basis. Trading Places (1983), Beverly Hills Cop (1984), Best Defense (1984), and The Golden Child (1986) to name a few from his discography. He pushed the envelope, not only opening the door for future comedians but his involvement in writing and directing opened the door for aspiring black directors as well.

The 1980’s black men did not exclusively find success in in front of the camera.  Directors, and executive producers ran the 80’s with the help from blaxploitation,  a term coined in the 70’s. Once a term intended to insult, blaxploitation and its definition was flipped like a coin, once describing a heavily stereotyped black movie starred in and made by a full African American cast, to now defining a point in history in which groundbreaking and exciting cinema was produced and casted by an entirely black team. Blaxploitation played a major role in the late  80’s as black filmmakers such as Spike Lee emerged from the once docile Hollywood landscape. Along with film, Hip Hop began to move the image of the black man.