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[swantakes]

Tough Times

The films assigned for us this week were really interesting to watch. I really enjoyed them despite the movies being on the older side. Out of the two I would say that Eve’s Bayou was more appealing to me than Night of the Living Dead. Eveen with my preferences I think they said alot about how we choose to interact with the situations we’re given. Even if it’s not a favorable situation, the main characters of both films did their best to navigate their circumstances. 

Eve had to deal with her father’s infidelity and her family’s response. Eve was shaken to her core after finding out her dad was a cheater, but her family response to his cheating was to ignore it, or deal with it covertly. She ended up cursing heer father and causing his death. His death was the best possoble outcome in her mind, because how else can she stop him? She was a child and children in black households aren’t suppose to get into “grown folks business”. If no one was going to stop his cheating or try to divorce him, death seemeed like the only solution. May have been a little over board but you have to do what you have to do. I liked this movie has much as I did because it felt like a household I could have grown up in. Not only that the actresses really impressed me in this film. They did amazing at portraying the black woman majority of a household and having to support each other during times of turbulence.

Night of the Living Dead showcased this cool as heck, black man taking charge during the zombie apocalypse. Even in the face of all these people that disagreed with him, or their non-cooperation. He did pretty well to survive. This was even more surprising that this was duringthe peak racial divide in America. Unfortunatley he ended up dying, but I think this character showeed how black Americans are prepared to take on the issus conformtning America, but the people stuck in the past, hold us back from progress. Almost every character was stuck in their own ways and unwilling to move as a group. 

As for the similarities between the films, I think they’re highlighted in the main characters being put into a less than favorable scenario and having to figure out their own solutions that are not supported by the people they’re surrounded by. 

[swantakes]

Real Life Horror

The media assigned to us this week provided a look into more specific issues within the black community. The films were the two Candyman films and Tales in the Hood. 

The original Candyman was problematic in its depictions of the people in the area. The movie is told from the perspective of an “outsider”, Helen. The dirty atmosphere created for the movie portrays the black residents of the areas as people comfortable living in these crappy conditions. I get that the story takes place in a poor neighborhood, but that doesn’t mean the residents don’t care for their space. It’s too stereotypical and I feel like the harsh conditions feel like an insinuation of justification for Candyman going after the residents. That’s why I appreciate the second film in that the residents, specifically black people weren’t the primary targets. The movie cared more about the black residents and the wrongs committed against them. Candyman was more of a weapon to avenge the people rather than a spirit going around killing whoever. The Candyman movies didn’t resonate with me as much as Tales from the Hood did thought

It was my first time watching but I thoroughly enjoyed each story within the film. The first story was interesting to me because of the ongoing and long history of police brutality towards black people. I thought it was interesting to include a black officer witnessing police brutality and the attempt to cover it up by the white officers who committed the crime. I liked that the black officer seemed to have gone insane over the guilt of not stepping up for his fellow community members. As a black person, I know we have a tumultuous relationship with an enforcement agency meant to watch over the public, and for good reason. It’s hard to trust a group of people who continue to fail you and harass and harm you. So when we join organizations, I believe that there’s a hope to improve the relationship between the two communities. But the black officer failed the black man who died and is then subjected to taking the blame for the white officer's death and insanity (based on guilt in my eyes). All the stories felt satisfying in exacting the revenge/punishment, though it was still sad to see some of the characters going through or dishing out harmful behavior in the first place.

The other story in the anthology that struck me was the last story about the prison reform experiment story. I think our community wants to be better and we have a lot of issues concerning the treatment of African-Americans in America, that has created a culture that we perpetuate. I think even despite the harsh imagery used and the comparison with white supremacy was a forceful awakening to make us realize that although there’s a history that created the context for our situation, we as individuals still make the active choice to act in a harmful manner or not.

[swantakes]

Magic and Black Horror

The past two weeks of class displayed how black horror isn’t always about race, but can stem from other fears that manifest as supernatural phenomena. 

As mentioned before in my previous blog post, horror is a reflection of real-life fears. An example of this is shown in The Riders, black activists were in constant fear of what would happen to them attending protests. The sisters, Priscilla and Patricia, of this tale, were in fear of violence from the white people they encountered while they were traveling to join the Freedom Fighters. The thought of going against the grain and questioning white society was seen as a crime deserving of death. So when these sisters are waiting for their bus to Montgomery, and the glares from the surrounding white people alarmed them of the potential harm that could come to them. This fear increased dramatically seeing the appearance of the white authority figures and the whispers they traded with their bus driver. Their fears worsened after seeing how their bus began driving an unfamiliar route. This is thankfully the story how how the supernatural aids in the struggle of black people in the face of their fear. The mysterious figure boarding the bus revealed the true plot of the driver and the sheriffs they encountered before, and their fears were confirmed. An ambush was planned to harm the sisters, but this entity forced this plot to reveal and gave Patricia the push she needed to break through the crowd itching to kill the sisters. This is an uplifting spin for the reason that usually black people are the victims of violence and don’t have a way to safety. Seeing that there was a saving grace for these women, who would have otherwise died if the entity didn’t appear. This is similar to the graphic novel we read for class. The Keeper had a similar spin. A young girl is left alone after the death of her family and after her granny passes, a spirit is summoned to care for her in her stead. Though this story has less sympathetic victims. The entity took the life force of whatever was around to remain alive. I think this aspect of the story was a nuanced aspect of Aisha’s fears. I say this because is it right to allow this spirit to take the lives of other beings even if it prevents your fears from coming to life? I don’t agree personally. There’s no use, in my opinion, in trying to put off negative outcomes by ignoring “necessary evils”. This would come to be true when the spirit tries to feed off Aisha’s friends and she has to allow the fears she avoided to come true. 

I believe stories like this are hopeful tales despite some of the sadness and death that are tied to the plot. But it gives a little bit of hope to the vulnerability that came with being black. We’re a population that is suffering whether it be socially, economically, systemically, or all three. 

And now that I’m on the topic of populations that have struggled, I’d like to shift attention to the US. This movie moved me because it speaks about the revolt of the tethered, which I would consider a representation of marginalized, “forgotten” people. These people were left abandoned underground to fend for themselves despite the knowledge that they were people who existed and needed help. To them, there’s a whole civilization above ground that’s flourishing and enjoying privileges while the people below suffer. This felt even more heinous when Adelaide was one of these people living underground, but was able to take the opportunity to live with the privilege. In doing so, she has forgotten her people. In real life, there’s a similar occurrence when you move up to a socioeconomic class and you leave behind those that are below you. It feels to your original community that you abandoned them or are a traitor. But to the individual, it was an opportunity for better living. It’s a complex issue, but in no way should it be right to go ahead and kill those who have made it out of the mud.

[swantakes]

Black Horror Blog 1

Black horror is a sub genre that deserves the growth it’s seeing. Horror is a genre that reflects the fears of the creator. In America, black people have had a lived horror story while existing in this country, however have been seen and portrayed as the monsters that infect society by the white population. This is what we can view in media produced and created by white creators, at least in the earlier days of film.

 An example of this is seen in Birth of a Nation. The film depicts the Civil War and the Reconstruction period that followed. At a point, the characters that are supposed to be black are given the image of evil villains and in some cases beasts that wish to destroy white society. This is demonstrated when Gus is seen pursuing and attempting to rape a white woman. Films like this depict the fear of integrating black people into society. It fails to humanize and show the personhood of these characters. As time progressed, we see the formation of black artists creating media that depict the perspective of black characters in horror situations. One is the is in The Comet by W.E Du Bois. The short story describes the short adventure of a black man during the aftermath of the apocalyptic event that’s thought to have destroyed the city. He meets a white woman and it’s thought that because the world has ended, the racial walls that have been built, would be destroyed and the two can come to see each other as individuals. To the dismay of the black man, there are survivors of the comet, and the racial wall is rebuilt in an instant. I think this goes to demonstrate the fear that at the end of the day, interracial relationships whether they’re platonic or not, will always have the lingering influence of the racial divides created by the past. It’s a sad reality to feel like you’re never really accepted by friends of other races. A similar message applies to the film Get Out. 

The main character, Chris, is going home to meet his white girlfriend’s family. Initially, he is hesitant to meet them due to him being black and his girlfriend, Rose, not relaying this to her family, which could spark a negative reaction. We see though that this was actually planned and they were luring in black people to take their bodies. Although greatly exaggerated, this is reflective of the current culture. Black ideas and creations are often promoted and thrown onto a pedestal, not because black people are respected, but because it’s envied. Get Out is a symbolic representation of how it feels to be a black person in a white majority space. You feel like an outsider and a spectacle at the same time. It makes a person feel like they are an object that’s to be copied and used, rather than a subject that has agency. This movie places the power back in the black protagonist’s hands when he is able to fight back and reclaim his fate.