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Blog Post- 4

In class we discussed the horror film Blacula. The film follows a black man who forced into becoming a Vampire and must reside in a slumber for over a century. The film was released in 1972 and did much better than anticipated in the box office. There is one aspect of the film that I wanted to touch on in this post, which is the usage of “the sacrificial negro trope.” In many films the black character is usually killed off first because they are only used for entertainment int he beginning of the film. TVtropes.org describes it as “They are usually black and/or poor, but may come from another oppressed minority. They step (often clad in a clean, white suit) into the life of the much more privileged (and, in particular, almost always white) central character and, in some way, enrich that central character's life.” This is seen in many film such as The Defiant Ones, Final Destination Series and many more. The reason I wanted to point this out is because this film did something very different. Instead of killing off a black character first, they alluded to this trope that is used, by killing off a gay couple in the beginning of the film. By doing this they are using another minority to exemplify this idea that minorities are looked at as disposable in Hollywood. Now why is it important to notice tropes in films? What is the significance? Some may say “who cares that the black character is killed off first, I'm sure it was not intentional, why even bring this up? It is often said that racism does not exist in the US anymore because there is no separate seating anymore, and we are integrated and there is no more slavery, however these statements cannot be further from the truth. Maybe racism is not embedded and reflected in our federal laws, but they are apparent in many of our societal norms and culture. By killing off the black character first in every movie, it reinstates this idea and ideology that they are disposable, not fully human and only used for entertainment purposes to help the white antagonist. This then sub-conscienceless enforces this idea that black people are not legitimate characters in our society. These small things that may seem insignificant to the naked out but when they are embedded into our culture it shows how racism still does in fact exist. Racism may not be apparent in a grand way like it was in the past, but these small instances just show us how we have covered up racist tendencies, which make it easier for people to ignore. We as a society cannot claim that racism does not exist in 2018 without ensuring that everyone is equal in every sense, whether that by through media, job opportunities, school etc. instances such as the use of “the sacrificial negro trope” in our movies are just one example of how we still have a lot more work to do towards ending racism once and for all in our society.

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Blog Post- 5

I used to think that all horror films consisted of scary monsters and bunch of people running away from someone with a scary mask on, however over the past several weeks I realized that I was wrong. Horror doesn’t necessarily mean gore, guts and pop ups every 4 minutes, rather I have come to realize a defining factor in what consist of a horror film, is the anxiety and fear that it fills you with while you're watching it (the music also makes a big difference). In week 8, we watched a short film called “Paralysis” by R. Shanea Williams in the in class viewing. Im not gonna lie the first time I watched it I didn't really understand what the point of the film was, but after discussing it in class and with my friends I began to understand it little more. The film follows a woman named Jessica, who suffers from sleep paralysis, over the course of the film we see how Jessica begins to mix up reality and her dreams, which leads her towards a downward spiral. Throughout the film we see excerpts of Jessica talking through her feelings with a parapsychologist, which gives us more insight into what is going on in her head. What to me was so interesting about this short film in particular was, that I initially would not have labeled it as a horror film, maybe more suspense, but not really horror. This film did something very interesting that I don’t think many “horror” films do, rather than having a monster or a villain, they made her sleep paralysis the villain. At one point in the film while Jessica is meeting with her therapist, the therapist said something very interesting to her, she begins to describe sleep paralysis with characteristics that are commonly used to describe monsters. She says “in the past...sleep paralysis was characterized as a demon or a monster sitting on ones chest, or hovering over ones body, perhaps the monsters aren’t just in your dreams anymore.” I found this conversation to be very interesting because I feel as though usually horror films use a secondary figure like a person or a monster as the villain in the film, however in this film Jessicas lack of sleep is her own monster. As child we think that monsters are these (now we know) fictional characters that lurks out of the dark and try to eat us or whatever... but as we get older we realize that there no actually monsters. I think that the equivalent of monsters for adults would be schizophrenia or any diagnoses that fills people with irrational fears of voices. Monsters are no longer an external figure rather now, some may argue, that monsters would be the fears that fill some peoples minds. I think that this film did a great job relating something like monsters to something that effects people everyday, and shows how something like a psychological condition effects a person to the point that they feel as though they are living in a horror film. This film not only entertained the horror aspect that viewers like, but it also showed viewers how serious and extreme some psychological conditions can be towards a person. As the weeks went on this quarter, I'm beginning to learn all the different forms in which horror films can be presented. 

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Blog Post- 6

As the quarter is coming to an end I think it is important to look back at all of the things we have learned and reflect on how much I’ve grown from all that I have learned. I initially took this course because I thought it sounded interesting, and I wanted to take classes that actually interested me during my last year in UCLA. All I can say now is that I am so glad I ended up taking this class, the course readings and materials were genuinely interesting to watch or read, it didn't even feel like I was doing it for a class. The first movie I want to reflect back on is “Get Out” as I’ve mentioned in may past blog posts, I did in fact watch get out before I took this class, when it was in theaters, however watching it again for class and discussing themes in it really changed the way I watched it. My first time watching it I didn't really appreciate what an amazing movie it was and how many hidden meanings and symbolisms were out throughout the film, however after watching it in class and discussing it I now understand why people praised the film so much. Im not gonna go into detail describing what things I learned from this (because I already did that in my midterm and my first blog post) however there is one scene in the movie that I wanted to talk about because I was genuinely mind blown, which is the scene where Chris picks the cotton to stuff his ears and resist being sent back in a state of hypnosis. When I initially watched this film the meaning of this scene went completely over my head, however after learning about this small detail, in addition to other details in the film, I am utterly astonished of how well made and thought out this film was. Another concept that I wanted to discuss that I learned in this class is how my perception of horror films has changed completely. I’ve mentioned in the past how I used to have a basic idea of horror films (which was monsters and blood and gore and so on..) however over the course of this class I have been exposed to numerous different forms of how horror can be presented. For example the film Paralysis is an example of how there were no external supernatural being that would be considered the monster, rather the horror was represented as something that can happen in every day life. In Paralysis the monster is portrayed as the main characters own sleep deprivation which causes her to have episodes where she sees things that don't actually exist. Regardless, the horror in this story line is not an external fictional characters rather tangible things that people go through in their real lives.

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Blog Post-3

I never really payed much attention to as to whether a film would be categorized as black horror or regular horror to me all horror films are just horror films (Im not a big fan of horror films so I don't watch so many anyway). Now I’m not just saying that because I claim to be “color blind” and so on, I just really never really pay attention to these things. In class this week we watched a few excerpts from the film “Get Out” by Jordan Peele. I actually watched this film when it was out in theaters, because everyone was raving about it so I wanted to see what it was about. When I watched it I obviously new that there were themes of racism that were outlined throughout the film, however after watching and and discussing it in class this week, I realized that there had been so many obvious things that I missed. They're scenes where the racism was so prevalent throughout the film, however being able to watch it during class pointed on the things that were not as obvious to me when I fist watched it. All in all I think this film did an amazing job showcasing how the issue of racism is still prevalent in modern day while using historical examples and themes to tie in the message all together. I think that people believe that racism is not as big as an issue as it used to be because things are not how they were in the past. As history shows racism used to be outwardly expressed with the separation of water fountains and separate seating in buses, separate school systems.. and so on, however I think that nowadays racism is still very prevalent just in more discrete manners. I think that this movie did a great job hinting to points of racism that are still seen within many daily occurrences in society. For example, in the initial scene where Chris meets his girlfriends parents for the first time, the parents try to over compensate for the fact that Chris is black, by making Obama jokes and stating that they have no issue with his skin color. In turn, doing this actually creates a more hostile environment (in my opinion), by over compensating, things become so much more awkward. This film was able to portray this message while still using humor to hint to how obviously stupid instances of racism can be. You would think by 2018 we wouldn’t even have to talk about racism yet in reality is still as prevalent and important as ever. All in al I think this movie did an amazing job hinting to the racism that is not so up front in your face, rather the small accounts that happen on a day to day occurrence. Another example of this is seen when the officer asks for Chris’s license even though he wasn’t even driving! In conclusion I think that this film was absolutely one of the most important films to come out in 2017 for our generation and it (I hope) helped raise awareness to the fact that racism is still prevalent and needs to change. After all just because our laws down reflect themes of racism like they used to, that does not mean that racism does not exist in our everyday society.

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Blog Post- 2

In Jordan Peele’s award winning film, Get Out, there is so much expression, foreshadows, metaphors, themes and symbols that were brought to my attention. This film was so much more than a horror film. It was so eye opening for me when I first watched it in 2017. Watching it this time around reminded me of how although the world is always changing, some things take a much longer time to change and evolve. I recently read the book, Caste, by Isabel Wilkerson. This book can be tied into this film in so many ways. Rather than looking at the superficial and external figures of who we are, we can also see how Caste systems reveal this hierarchy that many groups, ethnicities, races, cultures and genders experience over history and time.

Something that also really caught my attention in this film was the power that comes within a community. When Chris visits Rose’s family, he is introduced to her family, friends, and members of her community. This tight-knit group of people who we later see, are the oppressors in this larger scheme to overtake African American bodies and make them their own. When comparing this community to mine and so many others, I am forced to delve into the many ways that our communities have an affect on our ideologies and identities. Whether they are good or bad, they shape who we are and how we see the world. In Get Out, we see how this disgusting group of people, take advantage of those in a lower Caste system than them. This was clearly normalized for them, so much so, that they feel no shame and regret. It’s extremely scary to think about our world and how we can see the abuse of people in the upper-caste system against those in the lower. Every scene in this movie is another example of how corrupt many people are and can be. Each and every one of us should be aware of the brutality and corruption that goes on in our world, before our very eyes and towards our brothers and sisters.

There are so many questions that still linger in my head about this movie and how it relates to the world. Many of them are still unanswered because I cannot begin to understand how normalized it has become for oppressors to oppress and for bystanders to by-stand. However, the one thing I know for sure is that racism must be abolished and our Country still has so many things it needs to work on. This will always start with us, the people of the world, who have a responsibility to make sure that everyone should have the same freedoms and rights as the other.

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Us- Blog post 1

This excerpt is 418 words.

The movie Us, by Jordan Peele, was such an eye opening and expressive horror film. What I love about movies like this one is the foreshadow and plot twists. When a book or movie uses foreshadow to give the audience a clue or idea of what’s to come, my mind thinks of the way that foreshadow will be executed in the end. In the very beginning of the movie, Peele showed cages of rabbits. I later found out that he find these animals to be creepy and weird, I could not agree more. Bunnies are one thing. But rabbits- scary. Anyways, the way he tied rabbits into the story was very interesting to me. Red, the protagonist of the film starts out as a child at a carnival with her parents. She strays away and goes into this carnival game where is face to face with her reflection. This is where things get crazy- her shadow self is turned away from her as she looks into the mirror. As Red grows up, has a family of her own and revisits Santa Cruz with her family, she is so paranoid. She senses something dark and evil around her. When her and her family come face to face with their shadow selves, they are told that these shadow selves have been imprisoned and they say, “its our time now.” The idea of having a shadow self, a reflection of who we are, this is something I think we all have. The shadow selves in this film are evil, they have no moral compass, no love and understanding. The difference between human beings and animals is that while they both need certain things for their survival, humans have understanding. I feel like my shadow self is this part of me that could be selfish, jealous, and careless. I know while I may feel that way at times, it is the way I navigate through those feelings that makes me who I am. I am loving, empathetic, happy, grateful and so much more. This outweighs the bad and while sometimes it feels like the bad can consume you, it is a distraction from who you really are and the potential you have. In the end of the movie, we see that Red’s shadow self replaced her and went out into the world. This major plot twist left me with so many questions- Was the protagonist really the Red who was imprisoned? Did she assimilate into the world and learn good from evil?