Posterized: The Wondrous Work of Ruth E Carter
Friday, April 10, 2020 at 12:30PM 
For today's Posterized, a special birthday treat. We've only covered themes, sub-genres, directors and actors in this series so today a first... a costume designer. Today is the 60th birthday of Oscar winner Ruth E Carter (Black Panther) and she's designed so many important pictures over the years (including multiple Spike Lee classics) that she's definitely worth celebrating in this form.
We're still not over her bizarre Oscar snub for Dolemite Is My Name last season but let's look back on the whole feature film career in movie poster form.
How many of her 51 feature films have you seen?
Act 1 - Spike Lee Introduces... (1988-1991)
Though Carter did not costume Spike Lee's breakthrough debut (She's Gotta Have It) she was onboard for his second feature, the musical School Daze, and stuck around through his build up to legend status with the one two three punch of Do The Right Thing, Jungle Fever, and Malcolm X. Other black filmmakers were the first outside of Spike Lee to catch on to her considerable costuming gifts with Keenen Ivory Wayans (I'm Gonna Git You Sucka) and Robert Townsend (The Five Heartbeats) the first (of many other directors) to come calling.
Act 2 - The Mainstream Catches On (1992-1999)
Box office hits (How Stella Got Her Groove Back, Money Train) Oscar buzz (Malcom X and Amistad brought her first two nominations) and prestige bios (Cobb, What's Love Got To Do With It) followed her early breakout years with Spike Lee. Other filmmakers began grabbing her for various projects and she missed a few Spike Lee joints though they kept reuniting (Crooklyn, Summer of Sam, Clockers) during this decade. Even Steven Spielberg tried her on for size in the 1990s (though with the exception of a couple of people he rarely repeats costume designers for reasons unbeknownst to us.)
Act 3 - Spike Lee Wanders. So Does She! (2000-2011)
Ruth had costumed most of Spike Lee's joints until this period (missing only 4 of his first 12 pictures). But they curiously parted ways after Bamboozled, not reuniting until a dozen years later. In the meantime she stayed very busy. Her work during the Aughts was mostly found in comedies (Dr Dolittle 2, Black Dynamite, Imagine That, Kangaroo Jack), action (Abduction, I Spy) and sports dramas (Against the Ropes, Love & Basketball, Price of Glory) . Her most atypical project from her entire career was surely in this time frame when Joss Whedon hired her for the film sequel to his Firefly TV series, Serenity. It was her only serious foray into sci-fi/fantasy before the wonderment of Black Panther.
Act 4 - Momentum Towards Her Legendary Oscar-Winning Status (2012- 2019)
The glamour of Sparkle, historical prestige outings with The Butler, Marshall, and Selma, more Spike Lee Joints like Oldboy and Chi-Raq ... it was all an exciting buildup to a spectacular double feature: Black Panther and Dolemite is My Name, the former of which brought her her much deserved Oscar and for her victory lap, another eye-popping wonder in which she had great colorful flashy fun with the blacksploitation biopic/comedy which also happened to be her sixth collaboration with Eddie Murphy.
Act 5 -???
Whatever will she do for an encore? She has one we-believe-unreleased movie, Above Suspicion, a thriller starring Emilia Clarke but after that? Given the work she's been turning out this past decade, she's on quite a roll as she turns 60. Let's hope there's more excitement to come... and further Oscar nominations, too!
Reader Comments (15)
Much of the heat in How Stella Got Her Groove back was due to the snug costumes that accentuated the lean torso of each lead actor and emphasized a bold color palette that complimented the rich skin tones. Too often mainstream films emphasize the beauty of the lighter African American woman. Carter reminded the audience that a dark pigment was sexual and thrilling.
11. Do the Right Thing, Malcolm X, Doolittle 2, I Spy, Kangaroo Jack, Daddy Day Care, Serenity, Lee Daniels' The Butler, Selma, Black Panther, Dolemite is My Name. Of what I haven't seen? The most I'd get up to is 19. Six Spike Lee movies (School Daze, Mo Better Blues, Jungle Fever, Crooklyn, Clockers, Chi-Raq), What's Love Got to Do With It? and Black Dynamite.
26
Though Carter did not costume Spike Lee's breakthrough debut (She's Gotta Have It) she was onboard for his second feature, the musical She's Gotta Have It
31! She's way more versatile than she gets credit for, I didn't even know she had worked on some of these.
/3rtful - fixed. oops.
Good article and also are you working on the Oscar Predictions April Fools edition? I looked at the predictions section and it's empty. Also I just did some of my Oscar Predictions April Fools version on my own in notebook.
Alex -- empty is a great sign. haha. that happened today which means prepping the new stuff and had to move the old stuff ;)
17, but most of that number is in the first half of her ... costumography. Black Panther was a well deserved Oscar.
35, damn. Her work in Black Panther is unparalleled. It is costume design of the highest order as if she returns for Black Panther 2, I will be eager for what costumes she would create.
24 and eager to watch more.
33. And none of the nominees this year could touch her outstanding work in Dolemite, especially the winner.
26, and reevaluating her filmography, three Oscar nods are too few, especially considering some of the work that won when she wasn't even nominated.
Troy H.: Agreed. I'd say she should be at at least...5? The three she got (richly deserved) plus Chi-Raq and Dolemite. If there were a period/non-period division? I'd add at least another two (Meteor Man and, of all things, Kangaroo Jack (mostly off that jacket)).
If there's a title she deserved Academy recognition for it was What's Love Got to Do With It? -- Ike and Tina's wardrobes trounce everyone else ever called legendary for their looks. I think she missed out on Dolomite when they failed to penetrate SAG. That was such a SAG movie.
Your cracker faves could never.