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Blog Post 6

With being sad about this class coming to an end, there are a couple works that stood out to me the most this spring quarter. The pieces of work that stood out to me the most both had a theme of capitalism attached to them. With that being said, there was the film Sorry to Bother You and the book Parable of the Sower. With both pieces of work, they felt so real when being compared to our current world; especially when it comes to capitalism. For instance, the capitalistic entity in Sorry to Bother You is WorryFree where they run slavery camps. In Parable of the Sower, it does take place in 2024, but also one of the capitalistic entities is Olivar. Similar to Worryfree, Olivar is basically a company town where the people within live and work there, but it is slave-like labor. Personally, when I first looked at Worryfree and Olivar I thought of them in a more fictional sense to where they cannot be paralleled into our current world. But, I can admit I am wrong. For example, capitalism is very present within the U.S. but it also affects people outside the U.S. As it is seen, companies like Apple have ties to the exploitation and slave-like treatment of people in the Congo for mineral products. People may think we don’t live in a dystopia, but with everything I see online and the news I feel like we do.  

Furthermore, seeing my classmates discuss their final projects was very insightful. One I found the most interesting as it connected to my final project was “Violence and Love in Afrofuturistic Technology.” What my classmate had brought up a few times was technology and policing in the film Dirty Computer. What I found so interesting about this topic of conversation is how often, even myself included, people may think technology is only constructed for good; but in reality that is not the case. Although we do not currently have flying robot police pulling people over like they did in Dirty Computer, I would not be surprised if in 50+ years they actually exist. Ultimately, I am very thankful for what this class has taught me. I am very appreciative of how this class has taught me to be more aware about current situations in our world, but also to prepare for what is to come in the future.

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Blog Post 5

As we get closer to the end of the school quarter, the Afrofuturistic material we have looked at has still surprised me. Recently, we watched and discussed the film District 9. With this film, I had never heard about it before until this class. So, prior to my viewing of the film my only understanding was that there were aliens in the film. Personally, I don’t like to spoil films for myself so I originally thought the film was going to take place somewhere else in space and not on Earth. Thus, it came to my surprise to learn that the film actually takes place on Earth in the city Johannesburg in South Africa. With the film taking place in our actual world but having sci-fi elements, there was a sense of realness to the story; especially with the dehumanization that occurs. The aliens, or prawns as they were called were treated horribly and in a way dehumanized. For example, at one point in the film they attempt to evict them. Additionally, when Wikus starts to turn into a prawn the doctors do nothing and immediately disregard him and view him as an outsider. So, in all honesty, with the way the prawns were treated and essentially dehumanized in my opinion, I could not help but see parallels of their treatment to how unhoused people are continuously treated in Los Angeles. For instance, I’ve seen unhoused people consistently be evicted from areas they have a right to be. I also wouldn’t be surprised if the city/police who do the evicting don’t even attempt to help or give them resources; which further presents the dehumanization unhoused people face. 

On a lighter note, I have been surprised to learn that mythology in a way is a recurring theme that appears throughout some Afrofuturistic works. To me personally, it does make sense as to why mythology is in Afrofuturism since imagination is connected to it often. For instance, in the short story called Greedy Choke Puppy, it is considered to be a mythological story. The mythological aspect of the story is the ‘Soucouyant’ in which it is a Caribbean vampire myth. Furthermore, I’ve also noticed mythology in past works we have looked at such as Beyonce’s “Love Drought” and “Sandcastles” Grammy performance where her outfit resembles mythological goddesses in a way. Overall, I continue to be surprised by the characteristics of Afrofuturism.

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Blog Post 4

As I delve further into Afrofuturistic works, I feel like I am learning a lot. Something new that I learned was that not all works have to take place in the future and have super advanced technology. For example, the film Daughters of the Dust is considered to have Afrofuturism in it, even though it takes place in our real world from the past. For instance, the film takes place at Igbo Landing, where Africans once resided. Cinematically, it focused on nature a lot in the film; like the lake, beach, and trees. Additionally, I’d say the technology in the film was very minimal. The technology was when they used an old looking camera to take pictures of the family. But, it can be taken into account how the film is Afrofuturistic because of an outlook towards a future. There is an unborn daughter as the narrator, but also some of the family is migrating to the mainland. Furthermore, when talking about Daughters of the Dust I was surprised to learn that Beyonce paid homage to the film in her music video “All Night” from her album Lemonade. Although I have not listened to Lemonade in its entirety, but do love “Don’t Hurt Yourself” on it, I do wonder if any other songs and their music videos reflect Afrofuturism. 

Moreover, since technology comes up often when discussing and looking at works of Afrofuturism, I cannot help but admit I have sort of become a bit scared of what technology can develop into. For example, in our lecture recently we discussed robots. Although I do not currently think robots can somehow take over the world, I feel like robots are being developed in ways where they are much more self aware. For instance, we looked at a robot named Bina48. At first, I was not too scared of her as she reminded me of other robot videos I have seen. But, at one point when she was in conversation with the real Bina, she said something along the lines of them merging into super beings. I wonder how a robot like that, would even have a thought like that. Thus, I do think it is important to highlight, improve, and create new technology but at what point does advanced technology become too much? I do think and hope that the ethics when it comes to creating robots is being taken into account.

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Blog Post 3

What stood out to me through the material I am choosing to discuss, is how much they relate to our current world. With Sorry to Bother You, the capitalism, slavery, and protests reminded me of our current society. For example, with capitalism and slavery, there is the brand Worryfree that presents itself as a wonderful place to work, when in actuality that is far from the truth. The people who work in Worryfree are subjected to slave-like labor and living conditions. Worryfree in a way reminds me of Amazon. The reason why is we see these CEOs who run the companies make so much money and live lavishly. But then you look at their workers who actually do all the labor, they can barely get by to pay for necessities. Moreover, the protesting in the film reminded me of how important it is to stand up for what is right. Personally, I feel like in our current time people in power like politicians or even chancellors of schools view protesting to be distasteful. When in reality, like we have seen from the past, protesting can help us progress to make changes. Furthermore, to reflect back on Parable of the Sower, this book honestly scared me because it was about a dystopian society in the current year we live in; 2024. When I was reading it, the topic of climate change felt shocking to see because our current climate is being hurt very negatively. I feel like in our current world we only keep hurting the climate, and if we continue to do so, Parable of the Sower will further become a reality. Lastly, Rusties intrigued me on the topic of surveillance. Not only do I think our current technology like ‘Alexa’ or ‘Siri’ surveils us, but it reminded me of the panopticon I learned about in my sociology class from Foucault. Essentially, the panopticon was created to surveil prisoners, but in a way where they did not know if they were being watched. The ‘rusties’ in the reading at first seemed harmless, but as the story progressed it was evident they were surveilling the community for so many years; even without them knowing. Ultimately, the material we’ve looked at is making me realize we live in what feels like a dystopia. I keep hoping maybe our world will progress but sometimes I feel like we are going back in time.

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Blog Post 2

With my own Earthseed community, the first real-life issue that has made it necessary for me to create my community is climate change. I find that our current climate is not improving and is only worsening; which makes me highly concerned. The second real-life issue that makes it necessary for me to create my own community is women’s rights. It has become apparent to me that women’s rights, especially the ones regarding their bodies, are being exceedingly policed and controlled. Essentially, in my community, I am seeking shelter away from areas that have been negatively affected by climate change. But also seeking shelter away from areas where women’s rights feel threatened. 

Next, there are two Earthseed verses that feel applicable to my community. The first verse is from chapter seven where Lauren said: “Earthseed is all that spreads Earthlife to new earths…Destiny of Earthseed is to take root among the stars” (Butler, 1993, p.114). This applies to my community because I want my community to expand outward into the world. I find that where we currently are on Earth is just not the best place to be. With that, I want my community to think and be aware that we can move to a more habitable planet and or a new Earth that is somewhere amongst the stars around us. The second verse is from chapter seven as well: “All that you touch, You Change. All that you Change, Changes you. The only lasting truth is Change” (Butler, 1993, p.116-17). This applies to my community because I want the people to understand that change is something we can achieve and work towards. For example, I want my community to know we are capable of making changes on issues like climate change and protecting women’s rights. I want them to look at that quote and know that the changes we make will not only help our lives for the better but that the changes can benefit us individually in the present and future.

Furthermore, for the best interest of my community, I find that going into space to another planet in our solar system that is possibly habitable like Mars or the Moon can be a place for my community to be safe. The reason why is I believe my community needs to make the change and start life on a new planet where we know we can be safe but also build in a way where we can stop climate change from happening there. Also, creating my community on a different planet can let us start fresh and not have an authoritarian control on women’s rights. Bearing that in mind, I want my community to be open to many people, but specifically, I find that those who can join are people who believe in what we find truthful. This means that we will not let people in who think climate change is a hoax and not let in those who think they can dictate women’s rights. I want my community to be a safe place and letting in people with the same beliefs can help us strive for the change we want. If we were to let in those who oppose our beliefs, there could be negative harm done to the community that we do not want. Moreover, the leadership model for my community will be transformational leadership. This means I want my community to work together to create and develop the changes we want for our community to be a utopia. I do not believe we should have a sort of democracy where one person reigns power over the rest of the community. 

Additionally, the future technology that will help improve life in my community would be satellites that are stronger but also technologically more advanced than the ones we have currently. I believe that the advanced satellites should be built in a way where they can immediately communicate with the community. For example, everyone in the community should be notified and be made aware instantly if we are hurting our new climate or if danger is near. Having this instant line of communication can help my community be safe. Next, my community will survive by working together. By this I mean creating an environment where we know our climate can survive. We may make a few mistakes, but I want my community to build an environmentally safe place where we know our climate is thriving, not hurting. Also, women in our community will survive by making mutual agreements that their rights are safe and protected to where they have control. Lastly, two steps my community will make to build a better future are focusing on conservation and education. With conservation, we will monitor our community to make sure it is remaining in its natural condition. We want future community members to be living in a place that will not have harm on the climate. With education, since I am concerned about women’s rights I think it is important to continuously educate community members about why we are and need to protect the rights women have; from within and beyond the community.

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Blog Post 1

With this class, I am stepping into a whole new genre of works and ideas. Prior to taking this class I was never truly immersed into the sci-fi genre and Afrofuturism itself. But, I have learned a few surprising things recently about what Afrofuturism is. For example, something that stood out to me with Afrofuturism is that often in pieces of work it creates a future or a utopia for Black communities. A film that I believe greatly represents that theme that I watched is Black Panther. In Black Panther we see this place known as Wakanda where we see Black people thriving in their environment; especially someone like Shuri with technology. On the topic of Shuri and Afrofuturism another recurring theme in Afrofuturistic works I have noticed is women in power; which does display feminism. Originally, I thought with Afrofuturism we would be dealing with a lot of men in power and them being the center of stories. But, I was proven wrong with that through works like Pumzi. In the world Asha lives in there are women leaders, which is not common even now in our real world. But also, Asha herself in the film displayed so much power as a woman through her determination to find the tree she dreamed. Although, I did find the ending upsetting as she had to sacrifice herself for the tree to be planted. 

Furthermore, I was not aware that pieces of music could be considered Afrofuturism. Janelle Monae is an example of someone who incorporates Afrofuturism into their music. With Dirty Computer she presented this dystopian world where if you show any opposition or refuse to live a certain way you are “dirty.” To me, Dirty Computer highlighted greatly how with hierarchies, people who are above us will always want to police you and your entire body based on what they believe is the right way to live. Moreover, on the topic of music, an artist who I was shocked to learn that has Afrofuturism in their work is Kendrick Lamar. I am very familiar with his song “Alright” and understood it had this message of hope. I have now learned that the song is considered Afrofuturistic because not only is he flying at one point in the music video, but the lyrics itself provide a positivity that things will be alright and that there is a utopia ahead of us.

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Blog Post #6

With our class coming to an end, I found the student films we looked at to be amazing! With an overview of all the student films, what stood out to me with all of them is how we can interpret and present horror in different ways. For example, the first film we watched called Shadowfang, felt like a very typical horror film. It had the typical themes of there being something that haunts, which was a mirror, but also the theme of there being sacrifice and death which is common in horror. On the other hand, in Always A Mom, it felt like a brutal real-life horror film. It took in real-life experiences such as child loss and defeat from government systems like welfare. The pain that the mother presented in the film was not only real, but I also could just imagine the horrors she has faced throughout her life. Furthermore, what also stood out to me throughout the films was one recurring theme that kept appearing throughout a few of the films; ritual and conjuring. For instance, in the first film Shadowfang, there was a ritual of putting salt in a circle, an untitled film focusing on paying tuition had a ritual, and Till Death Do Us Part had a conjuring. I do think my classmates were inspired by those themes in their films from the short film we watched in class called Wake. 

Lastly, I can say this class has taught me so much about Black horror. Coming into this class my only knowledge about Black horror had been because of GET OUT. I had thought that in Black horror the only theme that would be used consistently would be racism, but I have learned that is not true. For example, a horror film we watched in class that I say did not use racism as the main theme for horror is Eve’s Bayou. The horror in that film was the infidelity of the father, the death of the father, and the loss of innocence both sisters experienced. Moreover, I was very intrigued by a film we watched recently called Ganja and Hess and how they took in the concept of addiction but presented it through a lens of vampires and blood. Ultimately, this class educated me in so many ways and I can now admit I greatly enjoy the horror genre even more because of it.

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Blog Post #5

Although I was not the biggest fan of the film, I found Beloved to be the most intriguing watch of the week. I was not the biggest fan because the way it was filmed at times felt off and felt too much like a movie set rather than actually somewhere in Ohio. I did struggle watching points of this film because of the trauma and real-life horror scenes shown. For example, it was a tough watch to see Sethe being raped and having her breast milk taken from her. I had to pause the film at times to just gather my thoughts because of how heartbreaking those scenes were. Other scenes that I found hard to watch were seeing the Black people hanging from the chokecherry tree and the point in the film where Sethe tries to murder her children. But, I do understand the importance of including these scenes in the film as these types of emotions and trauma were very real and lived through around the time of slavery and further. On a lighter note, I did enjoy that there were scenes that presented contentment. Such as when Sethe, Paul D., and Denver were at a carnival. It showed a sense of community and that Black people were allowed to be part of some parts of life at times. Other scenes that I felt presented contentment were with the grandmother in which she was outside and would talk to the people. To me, she presented a feeling of calmness and also brought the community closer together; such as when she told everyone to love their hands, even after the trauma they had been through from slavery. 

With my project, I am still working through some ideas and trying to finalize what I have. I do have three subtopics that I feel are strong with my conversation of racism being the monster in pieces of work. But, I am thinking of possibly adding a fourth subtopic. The fourth subtopic I am considering adding to my paper is trauma. This idea came to mind while watching Beloved because the racism in the film that Sethe had endured not only felt monstrous but she was left with a lot of trauma because of it. I do think that this subtopic of trauma could also work well with other pieces of work I may discuss in my paper; such as Wet Pain.

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Blog Post #4

Whenever I hear the word horror as a genre I will often associate it with things like terror, jump-scares, shocks, and startles. However, this current week and class overall has opened my eyes a lot more about what horror can actually be and mean. Looking at our material from this week I have come to a realization that I find readings and films that reflect real-life horrors to be more interesting. For example, Tales from the Hood greatly reflects real-life horrors that Black people and other minorities face. The Tales from the Hood stories that stood out to me the most were “Rogue Cop Revelation” and “K.K.K. Comeuppance.” With “Rogue Cop Revelation” I was honestly shocked how this story, made in the 90s, reflected so well to real horrors today. With a focus on police brutality and corruption, I could not help but think the way the police treated the Black man Martin in the film, is mirrored into why we have movements such as the B.L.M. one in 2020. It is a real-life horror of being mistreated by people like the police. Black people and other minorities have continuously faced the horror of the mistreatment for years and to me, it seems like not much has been done or changed. With “K.K.K. Comeuppance,” the real-life horror I found here is how from the past to the present we have had racist White people running our government. Especially now, I could not help but think how Senator Metger in the film reflected a lot of Republicans we have in our current government. Thus, Tales from the Hood greatly showed that real-life horrors like racism, to police brutality, and corruption are still around today. 

Secondly, The reading Wet Pain, which is my current favorite reading of the class, greatly depicts how racism, homophobia, and misogyny are real-life horrors. As I did this reading I could not help but feel sickened seeing Dean becoming what I would say is a monster and treating his friend Greg and wife Lynn horribly. This reading feels close to home because in my life I have seen people fall down these horrible rabbit holes. It is frightening to see a person who was once close to you change in the blink of an eye to something horrible and get infected by something you feel like you cannot cure them from.

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Blog Post #3

The Candyman films were both interesting to watch and I had never watched them before this class. I enjoyed the newer Candyman from 2021 in comparison to the one made in 1992. What I really took away from the films was that even if something is an urban legend or myth; you should always look at the stories with truth. As it was seen with the Candyman stories, they were linked to racial injustices that Black people have faced. With the original one, Daniel, he was essentially lynched back in the 1800s. In the newer Candyman, I saw how Candyman is multiple people; such as Sherman a Black man who was beaten to death by the police. Thus, having Candyman allows these very real racial injustices to be told and remembered. Furthermore, I was intrigued how Candyman represented someone as a protector, rather than an evil monster in the second film. To me, I saw Candyman not only as a protector of the Cabrini-Green area, but a protector of the Black community as a whole.

From our readings, I highly enjoyed The Most Strongest Obeah Woman of the World. However, I can admit it originally took me a bit into the reading to fully grasp and comprehend what was going on. The first thing I enjoyed about this reading is it was not like other readings I have done before; both inside and outside of school. In school, I am usually reading some sort of scholarly article since I major in Sociology. Outside of school, I tend to read romance and mystery books. So, I am surprised I enjoyed a reading like The Most Strongest Obeah Woman of the World. What I further found interesting about this story was the type of horror it was. Usually, I feel like the horrors I read focus more on jumpscares, but this horror was “body and creature horror” as we discussed in class. Despite there being some description of the devil/monster, I enjoyed the mystery of imagining what the devil/monster looked like in the water but also attached to Yenderil. Furthermore, I admired the determination Yenderil had throughout the story; I wish I had the determination she does. Her determination was surprising as well at first because I thought the devil/monster was going to be stuck to her forever; I am glad she got it off and got her revenge.

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Blog Post #2

I surprisingly enjoyed watching the film US this week. I say that I am surprised because sometime around 2020 when the film was put onto streaming services, I had attempted to watch it. When I attempted to watch it sometime around 2020 I honestly got too scared when the tethered had shown up to the Wilson’s home in Santa Cruz. I had never seen a horror film where it had characters looking exactly the same; it freaked me out a bit. Due to that I never made it through the entire film until this class. During my full watch of US I actually really enjoyed the film; even more than GET OUT. What I found particularly interesting about the film was the message about class. It was obvious to me while watching the film that the tethered resembled what we call the “lower-class.” In the film the tethered were exploited for an experiment done by the government. I feel this greatly reflects into the real world with the lower-class because they are continuously exploited like the tethered were. For example, in the U.S. people are often given demanding jobs, but the pay is not good at all. The last thing I took away from US is that a film can be considered Black horror, even if the film does not entirely center the conversation about race like GET OUT does. The main leading roles in US were Black so it makes sense why it is considered Black horror.  

I found The Rider to be the most interesting reading we had. What first took me into this reading was how a story about a very real-time in the U.S., the Civil Rights Movement, could be written about in a way with two different forms of horror incorporated in. I noticed the first horror to be the racism that Black people faced during the Civil Rights Movement and the second horror to be “The Rider.” During my first reading of this short story, I can admit I was confused at first who “The Rider” was and what its purpose was. But, it was interesting to learn from Professor Due that actually it was a guardian angel. I sort of thought the entire time it was a monster in a way, but from a new perspective, I can see how he actually ended up helping Patricia and Priscilla on the bus.

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Blog Post #1

I occasionally enjoy watching horror films and reading thriller books. But, this course has made me realize one thing about myself. This is my first time being deeply immersed into Black horror. I would like to think watching GET OUT in 2017 was my first time being introduced to Black horror, but if anything it seemed more like a small stepping stone. When I first watched the film, I definitely did not grasp the entire meaning of it. I had known it was supposed to be scary and address race. But, ignorantly I did not fully take in the ways race was addressed. During my recent viewing of the film, I realized there were two forms of horror taking place. Of course there was the occasional jumpscare, like the deer being hit by a car. But, there were the actual horrors that black people have faced; such as slavery. The Armitages take control of black people and their bodies. It was interesting how the Armitages hid their racism but also made it noticeable. Dean Armitage said he would vote for Obama for a third term. But then he also made a weird comment about being happy a deer was dead but also needing to get rid of them. That comment definitely had racist undertones to it.   

With Wake, it was not my favorite film. I had difficulty understanding the story the first time I watched it. What had confused me was the root work magic Charmaine had done. I am not too familiar with traditions people have, so it took me a couple watches to grasp what was occurring. But, seeing the root work magic done in the film does make me wonder how many different directions there are of Black horror since the film is very different from GET OUT. 

Then, The Comet stood out to me the most this week. I have never read anything like it before and the story really drew me in. It had shown that even in an apocalyptic world, people’s racism will persist. I couldn’t believe how Julia’s father instantly assumed Jim, a Black man, did something to his daughter. Julia’s father, to me, seemed to care more about the man with his daughter than a comet that just hit Earth. Ultimately, I would definitely like to do more readings like The Comet or even read a book that is similar to it.