Several Friends and The Horse : The positioning of Black working-class men in the short films of Charles Burnett.

This article analyzes Charles Burnett’s short films *Several Friends* (1969) and *The Horse* (1973), focusing on how Burnett’s filmmaking style and narrative approach depict the social positioning of Black working-class men amid the historical contexts of the second Great Migration, the Watts Unrest of 1965, and the legacy of sharecropping in the Jim Crow South. Through loose narrative structures, long takes, and handheld camera work, Burnett explores themes of masculinity, labor, and cultural memory in South Los Angeles, highlighting the cyclical nature of limited economic opportunities and the internalization of male chauvinism among Black men. The films use spatial narration to connect past and present struggles, portraying Black male characters’ responses to socio-economic stagnation and the erosion of traditional labor roles. Burnett’s work situates these characters within broader historical and cultural frameworks, emphasizing the impact of systemic economic decline on Black masculinity and community dynamics.