Black Films Through a Cultural and Psychoanalytic Lens

Presented by: Katherine Marshall Woods, PsyD

• Sept 18, 2025

• 8 - 10pm ET

• Location: Virtual

• Source/ Event Link: Houston Psychoanalytic Society

“Black Film Through a Psychodynamic Lens delves into the nuanced character development and narrative themes within the struggles and successes presented in Black films over the last five decades. In this pioneering book, Katherine Marshall Woods looks at Black cinema from a psychological and psychoanalytic perspective. Focusing on a decade at a time, she charts the development of representation and creative output from the 1980s to the present day. She deftly moves from analyzing depictions of poverty and triumphs to highlighting the importance of cinema in shaping cultural identity while considering racial prejudice and discrimination. Adopting theoretical viewpoints from Freud to bell hooks, Marshall Woods examines the damaging effect on cultural psychology as a result of stereotypical racial tropes, and expertly demonstrates the healing that can be found when one sees oneself represented in an honest light in popular art. From Do The Right Thing, The Color Purple and Malcolm X to contemporary classics like 12 Years a Slave, Black Panther, and American Fiction, this book is an essential read for those interested in the intersection between psychology, psychoanalysis, film theory and African American cultural identity.

Following a presentation about the characters and themes depicted in Black films over time, Marshall Woods will engage in a conversation with Ricardo Ainslie. He is a psychologist-psychoanalyst who makes documentary films focusing on sociocultural themes. He will interview the author, offer commentary about her book, and interweave comments about his films, especially his first film which focused on African American experiences of school desegregation.”