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Blog post 6

In class we recently watched the film “Abby” and I thought it was very interesting considering the different themes which were involved. The story mainly focuses on spiritual conflict, sexuality, and faith. The story is about how Abby’s father in law, an archaeologist, digs up an ancient spirit in Nigeria. The spirit ends up possessing Abby and changes her entire personality. She goes from a kind and calm woman, to one who is filled with anger and violence. After trying to figure out how to save her, they come to the conclusion that they must perform an exorcism and they do just that. After the climactic exorcism she is freed from the spirit. The main example of spiritual conflict is the collision between African spirituality and Western Christianity, with the spirit representing a powerful cultural force. The spirit also brings concerns of sexuality as the possession amplifies fears around the community about her sexuality as a possibility for danger. Faith is seen through the exorcism, as the use of faith in religion was used to save Abby.

As this class comes to an end I look back on all the different lessons we had and movies that we were assigned, and I am very grateful to be a part of this class. When I first enrolled in this class, I thought it would only be about watching movies and giving opinions on them. As we learned more about concepts and how to analyze these films and stories, I started to realize that this class was much more than just a film review. Topics such as liberal racism were things that I wasn’t even aware of before beginning this class. The main films that I found enjoyable and interesting were “Get Out” and the original “Candyman” film. I enjoyed these films so much that I would end up writing my final essay on them and how different topics of racism can be seen through these films. Everytime we were assigned a new movie to watch I found myself excited to analyze it and see what conclusions I could find within them. I found the lectures to be very informal as well, as I would sometimes find myself a bit confused regarding different films and what messages were supposed to be portrayed. This on top of the discussions proved very useful as I can confidently say I have a much stronger understanding of black horror in comparison to when I first enrolled in this class. 

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Blog post 5

A film which I found very interesting recently in this class is Blacula. The movie follows an African prince named Mamuwalde as he is turned into a dracula-like being. The movie begins with this prince visiting Dracula in Transylvania in the 1700’s to ask for help with the slave trade. Instead of helping him, he turns him into Blacula and traps him in a coffin after insulting him and his wife. The movie then moves forward to take place in 1970s Los Angeles. Two antique dealers are transporting the coffin which Blacula is stuck in and accidentally open it. After the coffin is open, he is free to roam around Los Angeles and feast on the living. He encounters a woman by the name of Tina in the movie as well. This ends up being his main love interest as he sees her as the reincarnation of his past wife. He turns her into a vampire and they end up falling in love. Unfortunately, later in the movie she is killed by a doctor and Blacula takes his own life as he is heartbroken. The film covers certain topics and themes such as racial identity, romance, grief, and tragedy. This movie in particular caught my attention as it is a very unique concept. The twist that is played on the old dracula story provides a new freshness for a seemingly old and played out story that had been told for many years. I also think it weaves in these different themes very well. The racial identity aspect can be seen throughout the whole film, especially the name of the main character. This name can be a bit controversial, as it can be seen as a label which separates dracula from this new character just based on skin tone. Although this situation can be seen as odd, I think the overall move still possesses certain factors which show its importance. The themes of romance, grief, and tragedy can all be intertwined. The romance is seen as Blacula shows high interest in Tina and becomes madly in love with her. I think that it shows how he still has certain human values even though he had been changed into a non human being. The tragedy and grief aspect can be seen in Tina’s death, as he believes there is no point in being alive anymore if she is not there by his side. I enjoyed this movie a lot due to its use of these themes and the way it was able to retell an old story through a new lens with different topics being used to enhance the overall messages.

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Blog post 4

The Girl with All the Gifts really grabbed my attention this past week. The movie takes place in an apocalyptic world where certain people have been infected with a plague which turns said people into nonhuman creatures. The main character in the story is Melanie and the movie follows her as she is stuck in a prison-like facility and is forced to undergo cruel treatment in order to find a cure to this disease. Throughout the movie Melanie is treated well by one doctor in particular who goes by the name of Dr. Caldwell, where she is able to showcase empathy and her true feelings as a little girl. Later in the movie, the facility is overrun by the infected and a small amount of infected plus the doctor and a sergeant escape the area and explore England after the pandemic had ruined the city. There is a sense of hope, as there is a new beginning for the world waiting to be created. The movie showcases a deeper meaning of how people may be mistreated when incarcerated, and the meaning of being human. In the facility, the people who are infected are subject to major inhumane mistreatment, which can be a parallel to people who are facing mistreatment in prison today. This parallel is heavily showcased as the people in the facility are dressed in prisoner uniforms and are unable to leave the place. The meaning of being human is touched on in this film as well as throughout their journey through England, Melanie learns to embrace her differences and learns to love herself. This can also be a parallel as her learning to be different shows how people should learn to love what makes them different because our differences is what makes us human. I overall enjoyed this movie very much as it was very unique and the concept itself was interesting. I am enjoying this class very much as I had not really touched on the topic of black horror prior to joining this class. I was unaware of the importance and history of the overall genre of film and didn’t realize how many layers it has. Instead of just pure horror, these films tend to touch on more sensitive topics and even raise awareness for certain topics. I am more than glad that I enrolled in this class and believe that I am becoming a more experienced film watcher in the process.

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Blog post 3

A film which caught my interest as of recent was “Tales from the Hood.” The movie showcases four different stories which showcase different levels of black horror through different perspectives and scenarios. The first story is about a black cop who witnesses his white colleagues beating up and killing a black activist and framing for drug possession. After his death, the black cop, Clarence, is haunted by the activist's ghost. The next story is about a little kid who is abused by his mother’s boyfriend and he copes through art. These art pieces end up gaining supernatural powers which help him fight against his abuser. The third story shows an ex-KKK member who is running for governor and moves into an old plantation. The plantation has many old dolls which are haunted by the ex-slaves of the house. These dolls terrorize and end up fighting against Duke who is running for governor. The final story is about a gang member who is arrested and rehabilitated. His rehabilitation process involves him confronting his past through different hallucinations. These stories showcase different struggles and occurrences such as police violence, guilt, trauma, racism, gang violence, and more. One thing which makes this horror film different from others is the level of satire which can be found throughout these stories. This can be seen as a good and bad thing in my opinion as although it may shed some light on these dark predicaments, it could take away from the overall seriousness of some of these topics. This critique could be heavily understood, yet I feel like the use of slight satire and humor makes this horror film different from the rest. The overall format of this film is not one you see often and does a great job with keeping the viewer intrigued with all the different stories and moving plotlines. My personal favorite story was the first one about the cop as it can showcase the true feelings of guilt and how it can take a heavy toll on someone. The story also showcases a terrifyingly realistic plot, as police brutality is seen very often in our society and it shows the true horrors of it in this story in particular. I can definitely see me dabbling in the future sequels of this movie as it shows different social problems in way which ropes the viewer in through the different uses of different movie tropes.

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Blog post 2

A film which we recently viewed in class which caught my interest was “Us” by Jordan Peele. The movie showcases an apocalyptic world where a family on vacation is pursued by a group of doppelgangers known as the “tethered.” This eventually spirals into a worldwide problem as the tethered begin to take over and attack families all over the world. The main family in the movie is followed as we see their struggle with fighting off their counterparts who are attempting to kill them. The family does a good job in getting rid of most of the doppelgangers, but the one which takes the most trouble is Adelaide’s double. She is the only tethered individual who is able to talk and proves to be the leader of the tether family. She is eventually defeated but there is a big twist at the end of the movie. Adelaide is actually a doppelganger and the one she killed was the original Adelaide. This is shown in a flashback where she and the tether were swapped as kids at a theme park. I believe that there is a deeper meaning behind this movie instead of it just being portrayed as a basic horror movie. The movie can showcase the fact that there is bad in all of us. This doesn’t mean that everyone wants to be a killer, but the tethered from around the world are seen as these violent creatures that want to collapse society and take over. This thought can be further evaluated through the fact that the violent figures are doppelgangers, so they can be seen as a direct counterpart. Another interpretation of this film could be a class divide. In today’s society, a big divide in upper classes and lower classes are very prevalent, and the tethered can be seen as individuals who have had to endure some sort of suffering from this divide. This results in them fighting back against an unfair system while the regular humans who are deemed as “higher class” are chased after. Jordan Peele is quickly becoming one of my favorite directors, as the past two movies we have watched by him have become some of my favorite movies of all time. His films tend to touch on difficult topics and portray them in interesting, yet informal, ways. He does a great job of roping in the viewer with interesting characters and plots which help immerse whoever is watching.

[ryanboud]

Blog post 1

This class has been quite different from what I had been expecting. When I first heard about this class, I thought it would mainly consist of just watching movies and saying our thoughts on said movies. The course has proven to be way more than that, as I have learned much about symbolism, how black movies were seen and portrayed in the past, and about important figures which heavily involve themselves with this topic. A part that stood out to me the most was the fact that famous sociologist WEB Dubois had infatuated himself with black stories as well. As a sociology major, I have always known Dubois as an activist for the black community in Philadelphia mainly, and was unaware of his more artistic works involving this genre of writing. I often find myself looking forward to this class more than others, as the topics which are at hand tend to be more compelling than those which I have noticed in other classes. A piece of black horror which really stood out to me in this class was the film “Get Out.” This movie follows a black man who is lured to the middle of nowhere to meet his white girlfriend’s family. The film showcases levels of liberal racism, as the antagonists often make claims and forgo actions which display a level of true racism which we see on a daily basis. A scene which stood out to me was the famous “sunken place” scene, where the main character, Chris, is somewhat hypnotized by the mother of Rose. The scene showcases a great level of symbolism as Chris is forced into an immobile state of helplessness and shows the first true act of animosity by the family. The scene is very out of the ordinary, as it showcases a supernatural space where Chris sinks into. This place can be seen as the level of hopelessness which he feels being the only black man in a situation where he is consistently surrounded by white racists who have fundamentally trapped him in a situation where is deemed unsafe. As the movie continues there are many unnerving scenes such as the silent auction which has a direct relation to slave auctions from America’s past. The film showcases the casual racism which african americans are often subject to in many different subtle and crude scenes. Chris is eventually captured and almost has his own brain and consciousness replaced by the family with the goal of turning him into someone which they can control and treat as a slave. Luckily he is able to escape with the help of a friend who comes to help him, and the movie ends with the viewer having to sit back and digest the film they were just presented with. The movie is definitely an important experience to endure as it can really show different viewpoints of mistreatment and racism which aren’t often covered in other films and pieces of literature.