"Gates considers not only formal producers of media but also black audiences who engage with these works, successfully arguing for a more nuanced understanding of what makes for black cultural production."
~Anna J. Clutterbuck-Cook, Library Journal
"Racquel J. Gates’ unpacking of black racial media figures postulates that negative images derived from cultural theorist Stuart Hall’s encoding/decoding practice can be reconfigured to provide agency and hybridity to black figures. . . . Recommended. All readers."
~S. Lenig, Choice
"Its potential for broader application across identity studies and the culture/media industries makes Double Negative essential reading."
~Leah Aldridge, Film Quarterly
"Double Negative is unique for recovering and giving value to texts that are assumed to be without value. Gates’ sharp analysis of how negative images interrogate American society in ways that the more positive ones do not is an important contribution to the fields of media studies, popular culture, and cultural studies."
~Linnete Manrique, Ethnic and Racial Studies
"Double Negative offers evocative academic insight into past and present representations of black identity."
~Audrey Liow, Continuum
"An exciting entry into the academic study of African American media representations. . . . Gates reclaims negative images and foregrounds their importance for understanding hierarchies of media taste and the complexities of minoritarian identity and experience. The result is an evocative and provocative foray into what she calls the 'metaphorical gutter' of representation. . . . Highly accessible and engaging, Double Negative should be required reading for academics, students, and even pop-culture journalists who are interested in the complexities of race, identity, and contemporary media."
~Brandy Monk-Payton, Journal of Cinema and Media Studies
“Building on media studies, cultural studies, genre studies, media industry studies, reception studies, film and television formalism, critical race theory, gender theory and queer theory, Gates masterfully shifts the conversation about black image production from one mired in a reductive positive/negative binary to one that demonstrates how ‘disreputable’ images are productive as a conduit to nuanced discussions about black images.”
~Alfred L. Martin, Film Criticism
