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Blog Post #6: The Evil Within Us

Jordan Peele’s Us is a great horror film that has such a multifaceted message.  First it shows us how marginalized people are forced to hide away in the shadows.  The doppelgangers represent the marginalized people of this world.  Oftentimes people that are oppressed are overlooked by society, while privileged people get to enjoy the benefits of society.  Peele referenced the “Hands Across America Campaign” from 1986 to highlight how there are many movements that arise under the guise of helping marginalized people, but they never actually do.  The doppelgangers uprising in the film is symbolic of the rage that many disenfranchised people feel.  They also force the characters, as well as the audience, to address the evil within ourselves.  Sometimes evil is not an external force but something.  We live these privileged lives and never think about the people who are not as fortunate as us.  There are some of us that live privileged lives that treat the less fortunate like they are less than human.  The point I’m making is that the film highlights how we all have a darker side about us.  Some of us are aware of that darkness within ourselves, and some of us unconsciously suppress it.  The latter is the case with Lupita Nyong’o character, Red.  She spends the whole film trying to escape with her family from their doppelgangers, but they eventually had to confront them.  Red rediscovers the truth about her life when she finally confronts her clone.  She discovers that she herself is the original tether, and that she forcefully swapped themselves.  I think another thing the movie makes a point to address is to never be afraid to confront the darker side of ourselves.  We all have a shadow self and we should acknowledge that side of ourselves.  I’m not saying that we give into that version of ourselves, but it is important to be aware of that part instead of hiding from it.  Because whatever is hidden in the dark will eventually come to the light.  It's a cautionary tale about the consequences of ignoring our shadow selves and the importance of acknowledging and confronting our darker impulses.  No one can run from themselves forever.  This is just another one of Jordan Peele’s ingenious masterpieces.  Us is a great entertaining piece of media and it is something that never gets old.  A timeless classic that will live on forever in Black Horror.

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Blog Post #5: Blacula Is Too Intriguing

Blacula is quite an interesting movie as it is a combination of two film genres: horror and blaxploitation.  Which had to be rather strange during the time when it was released as most blaxploitation films definitely didn’t fall in the category of horror.  It really was the first of its kind in that.  I heard about the film several times throughout my life from my father.  My father saw the film when he was about six years old, and he always tells me how it was so scary to him and his siblings.  It was scary to them because, in his words, “He look like a nigga that live down the street!”  Which I imagine is a good thing that it was so relatable in the manner, because I’m sure one of the reasons that the director made the film was for Black people to see themselves in a genre that they normally aren’t in.  The plot of the film was rather creative as well.  It’s about an African prince named Mamuwalde journeying to Transylvania seeking the aid of Count Dracula.  Mamuwalde wanted Dracula’s help in destroying the slave trade.  Dracula denies Mamuwalde’s request for help, and then turns him into a vampire.  Thus creating a Black Dracula, or Blacula in this instance.  That in of itself is a rather compelling origin story for a movie especially considering it was a blaxploitation film and they didn’t really stray too far from the same concepts.  This was a breath of fresh air for the genre and a unique take on Dracula and vampirism.  It is definitely a film that stands out in comparison to other vampire films.  That being said, the film comes with an issue as well.  While this film was a great step in representation for black people in the horror genre, it still had some of the same problematic elements that many blaxploitation movies possess.  Blaxploitation films perpetuate negative stereotypes about African Americans, such as portraying them as violent or hypersexualized.  They should still be acknowledged for their positive impact on Black representation in the media, however, we can also point out how they reinforced harmful and inaccurate views about black people.  While Blacula is such a unique and intriguing film, it still contains negative stereotypes of Black people.  It is still a great watch and something that made history in its own right.

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Blog Post #4: What If Sweeney Todd Was Black?

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is one of my favorite movies and musicals of all time.  The reason for this is my older brother.  He was watching it one day, told me he wanted to watch it with me, and that is exactly what happened.  It was directed by Tim Burton so I knew I was probably going to enjoy the film.  My prediction was indeed a correct one, as I found myself really enjoying the film.  The movie could best be described as a horror musical.  Sweeney Todd is about a barber who was wrongfully exiled from London and imprisoned by a judge because the judge wanted Sweeney’s wife.  Sweeney then comes back to London years later and becomes a serial killer to get his revenge.  While the actual imagery isn’t pleasant, this is a wonderful film that I would recommend to anyone.  Recently I’ve been beginning to wonder what if there was a version of this story where the whole cast was Black.  Especially after seeing how Nia DaCosta reimagined the Candyman character.  It was just an intriguing thought, because I’m not sure if it could be done in a way that would make sense.  The original story takes place in England during the late 1700s.  So I guess the most logical course of action if one wanted to make a Black version would be to make the story take place in the present time period.  Or maybe it could take place in a time period like the 50s or 60s? I think it would be very interesting to explore a concept like this.  Especially considering that Black people (Black men especially) have been wrongfully imprisoned for the gain of a white man with some type of status.  These are just some random thoughts that I had in regards to the story, because I think there is an opportunity to make something great here potentially.  It would be a Black film, it would be a horror film, and a musical.  I just believe that this is a concept that could be explored.  The Sweeney Todd story has a foundation in place to make a rather captivating story if it was reimagined with a Black cast of characters.  It also has the potential to be a terrible idea, but I believe it is a risk worth taking.  I’m sure there is someone out there that agrees.

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Blog Post #3: Candyman Was Problematic

In 1992, Candyman was released in theaters for the masses to watch.  The movie was received very well by audiences, especially Black audiences for the fact that the movie had a Black lead antagonist.  Tony Todd took the role of the original Candyman and he did a very great job.  From his demeanor, to his voice, and appearance, he came off as very menacing and played the role fantastically.  His performance in the film is legendary to say the least.  As much as this film was a success for Black horror, it was also harmful in many ways.  One issue is that it perpetuates the “Black Beast” stereotype.  This stereotype basically promotes this decades old notion dating back to slavery about how Black men are these violent, deviant beings looking to violate white women.  Candyman is a great antagonist, but the whole plot of this movie is essentially how he is obsessed with a white woman.  Some of their interactions with each other come off as sexual as well and it is overall just kind of weird.  Another issue with the film is that he terrorizes Black people even though white people are the ones who murdered him.  The idea that Candyman is some vengeful spirit is pretty cool.  I’m not going to lie.  What is NOT cool though is how he is going around murdering people in the ghetto.  It’s just wrong, and doesn’t really make sense.  Why would a man that was murdered by racist white people take his vengeance out on his own people? That is just purely and utterly insane.  It is clear from these issues that the writer, Bernard Rose, did not write this story with Black people intentionally in mind.  This was a movie made for white people.  Did he intend to be so problematic with this movie? Probably not, but it still goes to show how embedded racism is in the minds of white people.  I am so glad that Nia DaCosta decided to revamp the character and fix these issues in her 2021 version of the story.  She corrected these aspects to the character that were just flat out wrong, and created a very impactful film in the process.  It would be interesting to see similar movies like this that seek to correct Black characters in movies that were created for the white gaze and not for the Black community.  One character that comes to mind is Blacula.

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Blog Post #2: Why Did Everyone Say Nope Made No sense?

Nope is a very unique film and very random if you take the film at face value.  Many people said the film did not make any sense, but I just think they were not paying close enough attention.  I think it’s that combined with the fact that most people that go see movies go for the sole purpose of being entertained and not to analyze a film.  Out of the three of Peele’s films, I think this one was the most subtle with its message.  All the films are very entertaining but you kind of at least pick up the gist of the message from the first watch.  Get Out is a horror film that speaks on the horrors of white supremacy on many levels, and Us shows how social division and class inequality leaves people unseen.  However, I think it’s safe to say that one might not grasp the core message of the film from one watch alone.  I think the message was pretty clear to me from the first watch though.  The movie is a commentary on people’s obsession with spectacle.  Once the suspicion of an alien arises many of the characters become obsessed with the idea of capturing it on camera.  Most of those characters in the film actually die as a result of chasing that spectacle.  This is supposed to represent the lengths in which many individuals would go just to witness and/or be a part of spectacle.  Obviously I can not honestly say I got every single thing about the film from my first watch, however, I think enough is there to gather a general understanding.  Which is why I don’t understand how some walked away from that movie saying they didn’t like it because they thought it didn’t make sense.  It, much like Peele’s other works, is so creatively made.  He always takes a concept and cultivates a whole storyline around it and that’s what I love about his work.  He continues to create masterpieces that are so thought provoking and captivating.  There are many things throughout history that people did not understand at first, or the general population said they didn’t like it.  Then those things become revered years later.  I feel like that is the case for this film.  Many referred to this as Peele’s worst film.  However, I don’t know if they will say that decades from now.  Nope made so much sense to me and I’m glad it made sense to others as well. 

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Blog Post #1: The Genius of Get Out

Jordan Peele really showed the world his creativity when making Get Out.  For me, I was really interested in seeing the film because I only knew Peele through the Comedy Central show Key & Peele.  It was a comedy sketch show in which he contributed to a great deal of the material.  So there is no doubt in my mind that he was very creative, but to see him pivot from the show to the creation of a horror film was something that piqued my interest.  Especially a horror movie with a Black lead.  I really did not have any expectations for the film when I first saw it.  I was just excited to go see the film, and what I saw really blew my mind.  The movie was so much better than I could ever have anticipated.  The acting was phenomenal, the cinematography was incredible, and it was an overall great experience.  It’s a horror film that simultaneously serves as social commentary about Black people’s lived experience in the United States.  The antagonists of this film are a white family with the last name of Armitage.  They kidnap Black people and perform a surgical procedure on them where they take the consciousness of a white person and implant it in a Black body.  The Armitages are just a symbolic representation of white supremacy.  They are a metaphor on how white supremacy has an obsession with Black bodies.  It is such a brilliant idea and Peele executed it excellently.  He has revolutionized the horror genre for Black people.  Most of the time Black characters in horror films are written by white people, for white people.  This film is one of the few horror films made specifically for Black people.  It’s something that is entertaining, but really encapsulates how being Black in this country is for many of us.  Hopefully Peele’s creation opens a door for other artists and directors looking to create movies in genres where Black people generally are not seen.  Genres like horror, sci-fi, etc.  We are already starting to see that with Nia DaCosta as Peele was the executive producer for her rendition of Candyman back in 2021.  The genius of Get Out shifted the culture with its release in 2017.  It broke barriers for Black horror and hopefully Peele will continue to inspire others to do the same going forward. 

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My Earthseed Community

Black people within the United States have been and continue to be victims of racism and contaminated water in many lower socioeconomic communities.  That is what my Earthseed community is seeking shelter from.  There are two Earthseed verses that I will apply to my community.  The first is verse 51 from the Book of Living which goes as follows:  “Purpose Unifies us: It focuses our dreams, Guides our plans, Strengthens our efforts. Purpose Defines us, Shapes us, And offers us Greatness.” The second is verse 16 from the Book of Living: “Civilization is to groups what intelligence is to individuals. It is a means of combining the intelligence of many to achieve Ongoing group adaptation. Civilization, like intelligence, may serve well, serve adequately, or fail to serve its Adaptive function. When civilization fails to serve, it must disintegrate unless it is acted upon by unifying internal or external forces.”  I will apply verse 51 by keeping the people of the community driven by purpose; the purpose is that we intend to create a utopia for Black people where things such as racism and contaminated water do not exist.  The second verse is meant to give people the general guideline that a sense of community is the most important thing here for us to thrive.  The people who are allowed to join are all Black people looking for a safe haven from a world where white supremacy has been running rampant for centuries.  The people who are not allowed to come are non-black people because a great deal of them are responsible for pushing racism against Black people forward.  The leadership model of my community will be government based and democratic.  We will hold elections for the people to choose who they want in power.  The future technology that my community would create is water purifiers that can decontaminate any impure water.  My community will survive by being a village that looks out for each other and raises each other up. Our community would have an educational system that is mostly Afrocentric and teaches our children about their history.  It would also have a heavier emphasis on the STEM field, but still remain liberal in the fact that it will guide people to do what they are passionate about.  In addition to that, we will become proficient in agriculture and farming so that the people can eat organic, healthy foods as opposed to the various unhealthy foods in the rest of the world. 

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The Afrofuturist Formerly Known as Prince

Much like many other people around the world, I am an avid listener of music.  I just love hearing people use their creativeness to express themselves in a rhythmic fashion.  That is the main reason as to why I was always excited when Professor Due talked about music artists.  Sun Ra, Janelle Monáe, Fela Kuti, George Clinton and Parliament are all artists that I am familiar with and listen to.  One artist that I feel as though was an Afrofuturist during his peak performance years was Prince Rogers Nelson.  Prince’s peak years were during the 1980’s.  He is up there in the musical pantheon with other great artists such as Michael Jackson, James Brown, Curtis Mayfield, and more.  I say that Prince was an Afrofuturist due to the boundaries that he pushed in regards to expression of sexuality in music and androgyny.  The bulk of his music within his first couple albums was very sexual, especially when he would perform his music live on stage.  I would not say he was the first artist to have such heavily sexual music, but I would say he was the one of the first mainstream pop artists that was so outwardly sexual in such a vulgar way.  It was also because Prince’s sexuality was such a mystery to people due to the fact that he was quite the androgynous figure.  He wore makeup, high heels, thigh high boots, blouses, and much more.  In addition to the fact that he also exuded a lot of feminine energy in his mannerisms which was in stark contrast to his very deep voice.  Many people thought he was homosexual for these reasons, however, Prince was seemingly a heterosexual presenting man.  So much so that one of his girlfriends laughed when asked by paparazzi if Prince was gay.  Prince also had several songs addressing these rumors in which he never really stated what his sexuality was, but he was always dating a beautiful woman.  In my opinion Prince helped redefine masculinity black men.  While some would disagree with me, I would say that Prince was a prime example of masculinity.  He was a man that was unapologetically himself and never backed down when challenging the status quo at the time.  I don’t wear women’s clothing, but Prince is actually one of my style inspirations.  He was a great musician that paved the way for many artists today, and was actually a mentor for Janelle Monáe.  Rest in power to the Afrofuturist Formerly Known as Prince.

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Space Traders Is a Realistic Fictional Piece

I probably would have never known about the film The Space Traders if I had not taken this course in Afrofuturism.  It is a decent movie, but I feel as though the concept is what makes it so intriguing.  Extraterrestrial beings come down to Earth, The United States of America to be even more specific, and ask for all the Black people in the nation who are darker than a brown paper bag in exchange for gold, safe nuclear power, and other technological advances.  The thing that makes this even crazier is that the people of the United States have to decide if they agree with this bargain within five days.  The film ends with the USA having a vote with the majority of voters being on board with giving away millions of Black people to these otherworldly beings.  At first glance, the storyline to this film sounds very wacky and out there.  I would actually agree with the sentiment that the premise is very wacky and out there, however, I believe that the ideas present in the film about how the American people would react is very realistic.  I would go so far as to say that I believe the end result of the film would be the end result in real life.  Which is very surreal given that this movie was released over twenty five years ago.  This might be very pessimistic of me, but I have absolutely no faith in the people of the United States to vote to keep us here given the history of this country, the systematic institution of white supremacy, and the rampant racism by non-black people that is still going on presently.  I do not think it would be a 70 percent to 30 percent split as illustrated in the movie, but I definitely believe the majority would vote to get the Black people of the U.S. off this planet.  I feel like it would not be as blatant as depicted in the movie.  It would be more like how the Trump versus Clinton election went.  During that election you had all kinds of people saying how they thought Trump was a horrible person and that they were voting Hillary Clinton, but we realized on election day just how many people were lying.  I remember a statistic that had said 50 percent of white, college educated women voted for Trump.  Just from that alone I have no reason to think that white people, or even other non-black groups of people would vote in favor of keeping the darker skin black people on Earth.  I think that we would see a whole lot of  “allyship” until it came down to the day to vote.

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I Really Enjoyed the BET Black Panther Series

The Black Panther series that aired on BET in 2010 was a very fun piece of media.  I like that we, the audience, get to see so many familiar faces (such as Captain America, Wolverine, Cyclops, Storm) and some characters that we do not see very often (Nightcrawler, Juggernaut, The Black Knight).  The series is also somewhat an adaptation of T’Challa’s origin story in regards to taking up the Black Panther mantle.  The villain, Ulssyes Klaw, is much more involved in this than his counterpart in the 2018 Black Panther film.  From the start of the series to the end, he is the main culprit.  Sometimes I believe it is a good thing to have a more linear set of villains; I just do not feel like every story needs too many twists in it.  Another thing I enjoyed is that T’Challa’s intellect is shown off more in this work.  I would not say that T’Challa is not shown to be intelligent in the film, but I do feel as though he is sort of dumbed down.  In the comic books, T’Challa is portrayed as having a genius level intelligence.  He is actually one of Marvel Comics’ most intelligent characters, and the creator of this mini animated series really illustrates that.  According to the Marvel Database wiki page, “T'Challa is a polymath genius and has an eidetic (aka photographic) memory.  His knowledge of physics and engineering ranks him among the top eight intellects of the world.  He possesses accomplishments such as a PhD in physics from Oxford University.” From scenes of T’Challa giving orders to his army to another scene where he is manually re-coding Wakanda’s security system while simultaneously flying an aircraft, they really show just how intelligent he is.  I was very glad to see that Storm made an appearance in this miniseries, because not too many people are aware that Storm and Black Panther are actually quite the power couple in the comics.  My only gripe with her cameo is that I wish we got to see a little bit more of her.  One of the last things I liked about the series is that King T’Challa got his revenge in the end.  I am not a very big fan of narratives where a character has been plotting on getting their revenge for years just for it to end with that character taking some kind of moral high ground and not following through with it.  T’Challa chased down the man that killed his father and was terrorizing his kingdom, and did what need to be done for himself and his country.  I really enjoyed the BET Black Panther series.  It is a shame that the series is so short, because I would have loved to see another six or more episodes.

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I Love Black Panther, but....

Black Panther is a fantastic film that celebrates various African cultures, and introduces one of Marvel Comics’ greatest characters, T’Challa.  Be that as it may, there are some things about the movie that I feel as though it is not that great from a plot perspective.  Firstly, T’Challa is not as great of a character in his own movie as he is in the film Captain America: Civil War.  His motivations, dialogue, and overall attitude in Civil War is just so much better in comparison to the Black Panther film.  One of my favorite lines that Chadwick Boseman (Rest in Power) delivers as T’Challa in Civil War goes as follows: “So I ask you, as both warrior and king, how long do you think you can keep your friend safe from me?” That line of dialogue is too cool not to love.  T’Challa, in my opinion, is just kind of dull in his own movie.  He is not terrible by any means, but he is also not really as great as he was in Civil War.  Secondly, he is also kind of nerfed from a superpower perspective.  The Black Panther does not seem as strong in this movie.  In Civil War, T’Challa was running at the same speed as cars and kept up in hand-to-hand combat with some of Marvel’s top fighters.  Even in the comics he is supposed to be trained in virtually all forms of armed and unarmed combat.  When T’Challa and Killmonger first cross paths, T’Challa could have chased down the van that Killmonger escaped in…but he didn’t.  Another scene that is questionable is when T’Challa fights Killmonger for the title of Black Panther.  T’Challa is defeated in a rather convincing fashion and I do not believe that should have been the case.  Sure, Killmonger is a highly trained killer, but T’Challa is just as highly trained as him (if not more).  T’Challa, the same man who pushed Captain America and the Winter Soldier to their limits, is somehow easily bested by some guy that was in the military? I understand that these things had to happen in order to push the plot, but I feel as though some of it is lazy writing.  If you are going to establish the abilities of characters in one movie, you have to keep their abilities consistent in the next.  The last issue I have is that I’m not particularly a fan of the main villain of the film being another black man.  I do not completely dislike it,  I would say I am more so conflicted on the matter.  I think that it was an interesting way to address the tension between Africans and African Americans, but I just feel like it could have been written better.  I feel as though Killmonger did not have to be as evil.  He could have been written to be more of an anti-hero and maybe persuaded to aid Wakanda as opposed to being killed.

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Civil Rights Activists As Afrofuturists

Afrofuturism is a much more broad concept than I thought.  I never really had a solid definition of what it was to begin with, but I guess in my mind I just reduced it to simply things that portray Black people in the future or in a futuristic lense.  That idea is not completely wrong, however, that is only one component to Afrofuturism.  Afrofuturism is simply anything that promotes a future for Black people. An activist can be an Afrofuturist because they are working for a better future for Black people.  Once professor Due stated that in this course’s first lecture that really opened my eyes to just what exactly Afrofuturism is and could still potentially be as it is a concept that is continuously being built upon as the years go by.  It makes me think back to the legendary activists that we are all familiar with like Dr. Martin Luther King and Malcolm X.  I even think about James Baldwin as well due to him not only being an amazing author, intertwining political themes in his works, but also being a homosexual black man doing all of that during the 1950s and 60s.  I also think about more contemporary Black activists like the author of a book entitled The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, Michelle Alexander.  Then finally I think of my peers/friends at UCLA who either do work here on campus in student organizations or other grassroots activist work in Los Angeles.  All of these people can be considered Afrofuturist and that is a rather intriguing concept to me.  It makes me think of myself as an Afrofuturist because I help Black transfer students here at UCLA through a student organization, then I also do peer advising for Black community college students who are looking to go to UCLA or other four year institutions of higher learning. That idea opens up so many possibilities under the Afrofuturism umbrella outside of the usual ideas involving science fiction themes.  Though that is something that I am also interested in learning about in this class as I am an avid fan of the science fiction genre, and I am definitely a huge black people enthusiast. The lack of black people in science fiction media is another fascinating aspect, but that is a topic for another day. I am very excited to see how much more we discuss in this class as we go further and further into the quarter.