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The Courier and Parable of the Sower: Predictions of the Future 

The Courier is a short film about a society facing worldwide pandemic which was caused by a virus outbreak known as the Hunter Virus. The main character Lee, played by Reno Wilson, works as a courier. A courier is this world’s version of a delivery man, only with much more advanced technology. This short film, directed by Courtney Jones, came out in 2014, yet much of the world it depicts is eerily similar to life in our current timeline. The Courier is set in the year 2027, only three off from where we are now in 2024. Lee wears high advanced tech glasses that are almost identical to google glasses. While they differ in style, the way they function is very similar. Lee uses his glasses as a GPS to locate different buildings and places he needs to get to. The Courier opens up with two doctors arguing about releasing the anti-virus. Samanatha “Sam” Bell is the doctor who created the anti-virus and she wants the public to have access to it. Unfortunately her boss disagrees and this causes her to run away with the stolen anti-virus. While trying to escape she crashes into Lee and tells him he has to deliver the syringe to the federal building. Lee, who was ready to go on vacation, is now put in an extremely dangerous hunt with the faith of humanity resting on him.

One thing about The Courier that makes it so similar to our world is this idea that doctors were the ones who create virus outbreaks. Lee puts this together after Sam tells him that her lab is responsible for all the death and destruction of the hunter virus. His immediate thought process is that he was correct to believe that medical labs also created things like cancer. This is so interesting to me because there was a big conspiracy theory going around during COVID-19 that the coronavirus was purposefully leaked to kill certain people. Whether this is true or not has not been confirmed but it’s also important to point out that many people affected by COVID were people of color who lived in poor neighborhoods. While this theory may seem a bit far fetched on the surface it makes more sense when you dig a bit deeper. Lee is a black man and this makes his suspicion of pharmaceutical companies more justifiable,especially given the history of how doctors have historically treated Black people. He’s not just a crazy conspiracy theories as his friends have labeled him, but someone who understands that the government does not always care about minority groups or marginalized people.

Another way The Courier is very similar to our current world is the existence of a virus itself. There have been many films and pieces of media that predict what the future looks like, but none come as close as this film has. At least to me, afrofuturistic media seems to be super accurate at depicting possible issues in the future before they even surface. Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower is a perfect example of this. Like in The Courier, society has also collapsed due to similar issues we face everyday. For Parable of the Sower it’s partially due to environmental problems, but the biggest issue is how the government seems to not care. Both Parable of the Sower and The Courier create an atmosphere where it’s clear their governments can not be trusted, nor do they care about the well being of their citizens. Even though Lee is told by Sam to bring the vaccine to the federal building, he soon learns that none of the people working for the government are to be trusted. Sam tries to buy him some time by sacrificing herself in the alleyway where she is shot dead. Lee runs to a hiding spot and calls special Agent Cameron from the federal building. Agent Cameron starts out helpful but once Lee makes it to his car he figures out that Cameron has double crossed him. He also wants to stop the release of the vaccine. Lee has to fight Agent Cameron and his partner in order to protect the anti-virus.

Placing Lee, a Black man, in charge of saving humanity is one key element of afrofuturism. Lee proves himself to be very capable and smart too. His character is not there to fill diversity requirements, like many Black casts are, rather he is the driving force of the film. Without him humanity would have been doomed. One thing he does that is very smart is he replaces the syringe antivirus solution with Gatorade while in the elevator. This was something I missed when watching it the first time but after a few rewatching, I understood his plan. When the syringe does get taken from him by Agent Cameron it seems that all hope is lost. However, because the anti-virus has been replaced with a fake, Lee actually has the real virus. The final scene shows him walking out into the distance symbolizing a new wave of hope for the future. This signals to the viewer that Lee was successful and that his world will be in better hands now. This is one of the pivotal aspects of Afrofuturism. As expressed in both Parable of the Sower and The Courier, Afrofuturistic artists use their art, their voices, and their stories to point us to a future they want to avoid while also providing solutions to create an empathetic world where these issues won’t be at the forefront. Afrofuturism is about the here and now.

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Greedy Choke Puppy: Nalo Hopkins on Humanity and Greed 

Greedy Choke Puppy is a short story by Nalo Hopkins about a mythological creature called a Soucouyant who steals the life spirit from babies. The story centers around Jacky and her Grandma and starts with Grandma discussing myths while braiding Jacky’s hair. Nalo Hopkins tends to write most of her stories on mythology and folklore but this Greedy Choke Puppy is different. It has such a twist ending that had my jaw on the floor when I finally finished it. One way Nalo does this is by having misdirection from unreliable narrator, Jacky. The story is told in an almost clinical academic way with much emphasis on Jacky being a graduate student. The way Nalo introduces the Soucouyant’s official meaning is through a dictionary definition. A soucouyant is described to be “an old, evil-tempered woman who removes her skin at night, hides it, and then changes into a ball of fire (106).” While this definition Nalo appears to be hinting towards the Grandma being the soucouyant since the Grandma is an elder lady and Jacky is a young woman. At the end it’s revealed that it is Jacky who is the soucouyant. Grandma has to kill both Jacky and her daughter to ensure that this creature doesn’t cause anymore disruption.

I think this twist ending came as such a surprise to me for a number of reasons. One being that I expected the book to be more predictable since it was already introducing a new creature rooted in Caribbean Myth, I did not think it was also going to pull the wool over my eyes. Another reason is because Jacky never alluded to being “evil” like the definition of a soucouyant. So there was also misdirection with the way a soucouyant was described. A lot of Jacky’s description mentions how she’s a single graduate student, and while focused on her studies, she is also interested in finding a partner. This hopeless love aspect to her makes it seem unlikely that she would be secretly draining the life force from babies at night. I also didn’t expect Granda to kill her so suddenly. Nalo Hopkins actually mentioned that she had toyed with the idea of Grandma and Jacky talking it out but that seemed to lack emphasis. Without the conflict, there is no real story. 

Nalo Hopkins has explained her thoughts on conflict and human nature and how she deals with that in her stories. She believes that fiction is all about problems and overcoming them. A Utopia takes away from this drive and plot. This is why Nalo does not typically write Utopia’s. Listening to her speak about this made me realize she's correct, without conflict and disagreement there is nothing to tell. She argues that human beings will always disagree with and have issues to resolve and if that cannot be part of a Utopian story, writers should come up with another story. The problem with Uptopia’s is they need to be dynamic, something that is constantly in the creation of itself. Nalo sees them as not toothy enough. This is true because human nature is conflict, we can create societies that are better but this doesn’t eliminate problems. Humans are not nice to each other and Upotia’s are very seemingly like a mask hiding away all the darkest parts of humankind. This ideology is reflected in Nalo’s Greedy Puppy which used magical realism. Everything but the addition of the soucouyant points to evidence that this story is mostly our world. The two main characters live in a modern world except for this mythology creature. 

Greedy Choke Puppy is an old saying that means if you eat too fast you will choke. It’s a Jamaican proverb that refers to a dog choking due to greed. This fits very well with the unfolding of Jacky’s character. Greed can happen to anyone, it’s a curse. A curse that is shown in the Soucouyant, who must hunt and hurt younger prey to feel satisfaction. It’s interesting because while it’s never alluded that Jacky is evil, her grandma does scold her for being greedy like her mother. This is Jacky’s downfall and her ultimate undoing. She succumbs to greed which gets her killed. This killing is not unjustified, readers are still able to sympathize with both Jacky and her Grandma. The Grandma because she had to kill both her own daughter and now her granddaughter. Jacky because it entirely wasn’t her fault, this was a generation curse passed down to her unwillingly. It mirrors how generation trauma can ruin both a singular member’s own identity and an entire family’s makeup.

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Before Black Panther: Afrofuturism as short films 

Before big feature films like Black Panther hit the big screen, writers who dealt with afrofuturism were limited to short films. Until Black Panther took the world by storm, Black artists who wanted to dabble in afrofuturism style films had to resort to short films. In general it’s very difficult for Black artists to get the same recognition as white artists do, especially in the world of sci fi and fantasy. Book covers featuring Black main characters have to be edited to show white people. This is shown in Samuel R. Delany’s book Nova where the main character is half Black. So this features a boy who wasn’t even fully Black nor was his Blackness a main part of the story yet the front cover of the book conceals him. He is shown with a helmet over his head floating in space. And this centers around the idea that publishers were so afraid of Black people driving sales down that they wouldn’t even draw these Black characters. This fear does hold some truth white people are very concerned with seeing themselves be represented and it’s hard for many of them to connect to the experience of being othered. They are overrepresented and black people are unrepresented especially when it comes to futuristic style works. 

Another book cover that was changed was Octavia E. Butler’s Dawn which has a Black main character named Lilith. Lilith is at even more of a disadvantage because she is a woman and just like in Nova, her cover was replaced using a white woman. It’s very disappointing to learn about this because while Delany's Nova came out in the 1960s and Butler’s in the 1980s, things have only changed a bit. Black Panther helped afrofuturism gain the respect it deserves but today I want to talk about what came before that when there was no big feature film. One of these short films that doesn’t get nearly enough recognition is Jonah directed by Kibwe Tavares. This film came out in 2013 which predates the 2018 Black Panther masterpiece. Jonah stars a boy named Mbwana and his best friend Juma who live in a small town set in Tanzania that mostly makes revenue from tourists. While out adventuring the boys accidentally catch a picture of a giant fish leaping out of the water. They soon realize they can charge people to look at this picture and this slowly turns the town into a tourist hotspot destination. 

At first the new revenue and tourists are great and Mbwana becomes very famous enjoying a lavish life of partying and having sex and basically doing whatever he wants. However, through amazing CGI, we see the town become overrun with propaganda supporting this giant magically fish. It seems that the town starts to lose its original charm and becomes extremely commercialized. The video shows cool transformation shots of how normally looking sideways and alleyways are covered by postered and merchandise. Tourism is one of the prominent themes of this short film, specifically how tourism can be a very negative thing and can cause towns to become engulfed. In this specific example it seems to be more than just the town losing itself but also an indication of outsiders attempting to destroy what they rudely call “third world countries.” Tanzania is not highly regarded by these tourists (outsiders) until it becomes special with the introduction of the fish. Jonah sets out to make the point that tourists in this world only care about being entertained and not the potential consequences that commercializing a town could have.   Jonah ends with Mbwana, now old, remembering his younger self who lived such a good life. He seems worn out and distraught as he walks through his now trashed town. He then gets the idea to finally kill the fish once and for all. It’s clear that he blames the fish for the destruction of his home, if he hadn’t taken that picture the town probably would have remained the way it is. While trying to kill the fish it shows the fish eating him but this scene is kind of up to interpretation. It can be imagined as more of a metaphor: the fish engulfs him just like tourism engulfed his town. The reason I think Jonah is something important to acknowledge in the art of afrofuturism is because it's severely underrated. It’s also not what I would typically think to be afrofuturism but when you look closer it does have those elements of past, present, and future connections. It also tells an important message and connection to real world issues. I see it as almost a cautionary tale of what not to do, a way for us to change the future by showing this very extreme ending. Jonah is very important to acknowledge because this is what afrofuturism was before Black Panther, just short films. I think it’s interesting to look back and to see just how far the Black speculative arts have come and what they may be able to do in the near future.

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The Impact of Slavery on Afrofuturism: Past, Present, and Future Connections 

When the word Afrofuturism comes to mind it is easy to automatically think of a futuristic world filled with new age technology on some faraway planet millions of light years from our earth. While this can certainly be one aspect to Afrofuturism it encompasses so much more than just the future itself. Afrofuturism also focuses on the loop between past, present, and future. The black speculative arts acknowledge that in order to enter the future we can’t forget about our past. This is very evident in the film Daughters of Dust. In this movie memories hold a very high importance as seen with Nana Peazant’s memory bottle tree. Daughters of Dust supports the idea that if we walk into the future and try to forget our past, we will inevitably become lost in the present. We need the past to act as a map, a guiding point telling us how we got here and where to continue on. Acknowledging the past is only one part, another aspect involves trying to heal from the past. For Black people the past is very sensitive because it is something they are unable to escape from. While extreme systems like slavery are no longer part of our current world, Black people still face many injustices that only differ slightly on the dystopian level. And within a world where your skin color determines how likely you are to remain unharmed by others, the fear of slavery style institutions returning to reality is still a very valid one.  

The impact of slavery can be seen in many afrofuturistic works. This acknowledgement and understanding of a past horror reimagined in another world in a different way. One great example of this is in Boots Riley’s Sorry to Bother You. This film stars a Black man named Cassius “Cash” Green who gets a job working at a corporation called Regal View. The movie shows how Cash uses his white voice through voice switching to get promoted to a power caller. Once he has been promoted, Cash receives all kinds of perks including getting into a very exclusive club on the top floor of the building. In this club he begins to make personal connections with corporate leader Steve Lift. Later Cash accidentally discovers these half human half horse hybrids, called Equisapiens,  and is immediately horrified. He tries to express his concern to Steve Lift who reveals that he is aware of this and that it is his master plan. He wants to expand this breed of Equisapians to work for the company as they will work more efficiently than a regular human and he wants Cash to pretend to be one of them. He acknowledges that the Equisapiens may eventually rise up and he tells Cash he wants him to pretend to be their leader while actually still working for and siding with Regal View. Naturally Cash says no to this and tries to escape but it is too late and he has already been infused with the drug that turns people into these monstrous hybrids. One of the final scenes of the movie shows Cash growing horse nostrils from his human nose as he begins to transform. 

Sorry to Bother You takes a more surrealistic approach to what slavery could look like in another world. There is a lot of magical realism displayed throughout the film. Horse hybrids do not actually exist but the idea that they could doesn’t seem so far off when you consider what they represent. At their core Equisapiens are clearly slaves. They are being modified against their will and stored away in confinement. They express being in constant pain yet nothing is done to fix this. While Cassius tries to get people to realize the horror in this situation he's not taken seriously. He goes on talk shows and tries to publicly announce the importance of what Regal View is attempting to do. Even his own friend Squeeze lends limited support. When Cash exclaims “They’re turning human beings into monstrosities and no one gives a fuck.” Squeeze responds with  “If you get shown a problem and have no idea how to control it, you just decide to get used to the problem.”  To me this interaction mimics the way people treated horrific events like slavery. Cash can’t do anything to stop the Equisapien take over so in the end he becomes one. This mindset that squeeze has is very reflective of the mindset many non slaves had towards slavery. They couldn’t do anything, or they didn’t try enough to do something, and in turn they just adjusted to the horrible circumstances. It became a norm, just like the Equisapiens will become a norm in Cassius’s world. 

While Sorry to Bother You takes on a more afrosurrealism approach towards slavery being reimagined “Space Traders” has a more direct approach. The 1992 short film, directed by Derrick Bell, centers around an alien invasion only this time the aliens only want one thing; Black people. The aliens show up and declare that they will give humanity enough gold to retire national debt, a magical chemical that will cleanse polluted skies and waters, and a limitless source of safe nuclear power as long as humanity gives them its black citizens in return. The aliens specify that they want people who have a certain level of melanin in their skin, meaning that many light skinned Black people will not be able to enter the ship. While it is not explicitly mentioned what the aliens were planning to do with the Black citizens they requested it’s obvious that it’s nothing great to say the least. I connected this to slavery, to me it aliens were going to use the people they captured for slave labor of some kind. The genius of Space Traders is it is directly connected to Interest convergence theory; the idea that white people will only support minority rights if it’s in their best interest too. This is shown when the main character Professor Golightly tries to get corporate investors to vote against the trade because many of their supporters are Black. He also tries to gain support through Jazz and other Black inventions that are appreciated by white people. But like Cash, despite his best efforts, Professor Golightly ultimately fails.  “Space Traders” and "Sorry to Bother You" both take different approaches towards representing the past in a way that fits into afrofuturism. Afrofuturism acknowledges that the past has an equal influence on the present and future. The past directly affects what's to come and therefore the future can only be shaped by what has already happened. One major past horror many afrofuturistic artists try to represent and address is slavery. In Sorry to Bother You the message of slavery is shown in a more surrealist style as the whole movie falls under the category of afrosurrealism. The idea of Equisapiens is more trippy and forces the audience to suspend their belief more than the aliens in “Space Traders”. Aliens showing up to earth one day in the near future has been hypothesized more and therefore a less difficult thing to imagine. Despite their different styles, both films manage to convey the horrors of slavery in a way that parallels the real world we live in. Both “Space Traders” and "Sorry to Bother You" share a common fear that even when things as scary as half human half horse hybrids or aliens are terrorizing the world people are ultimately powerless. No matter how much the main characters try to campaign against these forms of slavery, nothing works. They also share this common fear of the clock turning back. The idea that we as a society are not safe from slavery returning. That just like in the world of “Space Traders” and Sorry to Bother You, we the viewers are also not safe from these oppressive systems.

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Creating My Own Earthseed: Parable of the Sower's Impact

One of the scariest realizations I’ve come to is that our world is very similar to Octavia Butler’s book, Parable of the Sower. The book takes place in 2024, the exact year we are currently in. And one of the prevalent issues in Parable of the Sower is climate change, much like our world. Other issues include growing wealth inequality, corporate greed, drug problems, sexual violence, violence in general, and many other problems that are eerily similar to life today. However, I mainly wanted to focus on these two issues; hunger and homelessness. My earthseed community will focus on seeking shelter from the horrors of the outside world and starvation. We will focus on making sure everyone has a roof over their head and is able to be properly fed. Starvation and food access is a big source of fear for me as food prices are rapidly rising and it feels as though there is simply not enough of it to go around. Corruption leads to greed and many people have trouble accessing food while others are overfed. There is no equal distribution, which my earthseed community will focus on fixing. Homelessness is the other huge problem we will seek shelter from. Everytime I leave my house I encounter at least 1 homeless person who is in complete ruins. Having a stable shelter is very important to my earthseed community. I would like to literally build a community in an open space somewhat far away from all the polluted areas of a big city. Ideally, I would like to build my earthseed community on a flat plane of green grass on a hill. I would like for my earthseed community to be on an equestrian style plot of land. Like a big open farm with lots of soil to grow food and many lush green areas. Even better would be if the surrounding areas are further removed from city life.

There are very few people that are not allowed to join my earthseed community. Mostly everyone is allowed as long as they remain respectful and contribute to the community in some way. Greedy people are not allowed in my earthseed community. Anyone who has ever committed any crimes, especially sexual violence related crimes in not allowed in my community. People I definitely want in my earthseed community are my family, my Mom, my Dad, my Sister, and my Brother. All my friends are allowed to join. As for people I don’t already know, I would want people with experience in health care to join. Any doctor or teacher that wants to join is allowed. People that have worked with young children are allowed. Therapists and humanities resource workers are allowed. Farmers who are scientists are also allowed. I do not want corrupt politicians or super rich people to join my community. Anyone who has serious issues, like drug problems, is not allowed unless they are actively seeking help so their problems don’t affect the community. Basically, people who don’t make an effort to better themselves and keep the earthseed community I have made stable are not allowed. Like Lauren Olamina said “Civilization is to groups what intelligence is to individuals. It is a means of combining the intelligence of many to achieve ongoing group adaptation (pg 101).” This quote from Parable of the Sower emphasizes the importance of collective efforts. Everyone in my earthseed community must be focused on personal betterment and those collective efforts make us a civilization. “Combining intelligence” is like combining our best qualities to ensure that the community is a place of safety not chaos. Having people like doctors, teachers, and mentors allows for teaching and order. While the therapist can help people regulate emotions. Everyone’s best qualities should be used “to achieve ongoing group adaptation” as expressed by Lauren in her own earthseed community. Lauren emphasizes the importance of being together and how it leads to change. The idea is being alone in her world is dangerous, adaptation to the harsh environment has to happen through a common effort. There is strength in numbers which is what I believe to be true for my earth seed community as well.

My leadership model will be “community is best understood when everyone's voice is heard.” I want my earthseed to be a true democracy. I want people to feel safe and comfortable speaking up. And I want there to be compromise made so nobody ever feels like their needs aren’t being met. Part of my earthseed creation is due to the demanding challenges of the world and how many people feel neglected. They feel that they have to neglect their mental health to work three jobs to be able to afford housing. COVID lockdown showed me that a lot of personal needs were neglected. Young children were neglected and robbed of the ability to live a normal life forced to be locked in their house. I want my leadership model to better explain and focus on everyone being happy with each other.

One future technology I will create is the ability to 3D print edible food. 3D printing has been on the rise for a while now but it’s mostly just shapes, nothing that can actually be consumed. I will make it so that something like soil beans can be input into the printer and more food will come out as a result. This way nobody has to fear being hungry. Another future technology I will create is a small car that can be transformed into a house. Instead of it just being like a trailer it’s an actual home with far greater space than a house on wheels. The car is able to be a regular vehicle and a home. My earthseed community will survive on this future technology but will also survive through each other. Lauren states that “kindness eases change (pg 167)” when talking about earthseed. In order to change and survive, communities must be kind to each other. Kindness fosters growth and it makes changing easier. My earthseed community will be focused on changing a lot of issues in the world but we also want it to be an easy adjustment. In order to do that we must be nice to each other. Many things will be taught. We will be taught how to grow our own food. How to use the future technology machines. We will teach each other how to utilize the environment to our advantage. We will learn how to build and protect our land. Finally, my earthseed community uses kindness to build a better lifestyle. Education will be better as people will have more patience for each other’s learning styles. Things won’t be as rigorous as they are now. People will no longer be fighting to get jobs to afford housing. People will not need to be in such stark competition for education as it will be more excessive through free teachings. People will no longer feel the need to overcome and hoard food as it will all be right where they need it to be.

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Introduction to Afrofuturism: The Power of Music and Janelle Monae’s Impact 

Afrofuturism is something I was not previously familiar with. In fact, before taking this course I had barely even heard of the term. However, upon a deep dive into the creative and mystical world that is Afrofuturism I realized I am actually far more familiar with it than I originally thought. Another and more simple way to describe Afrofuturism is the Black speculative arts. It’s the music, storytelling, art, literature, and cinema of science fiction and fantasy of the African diaspora. It’s a world where our beliefs are suspended and magical realism transforms us to another world. Afrofuturism is what inspires a lot of activists because it focuses on real world issues and possible solutions. This is very present in Octavia E. Butler’s work, specifically in Parable of the Sower, a story set in almost the same year as today. However, what’s really fascinated me about Afrofuturism is its music and the history behind it.

Both Kendrick Lamar and Beyonce can be considered Afrofuturistic artists. For Lamar this is very evident in the music video for “Alright” in which he is shown to be flying in a magical realism type of world. Lamar describes real world experiences such as depression, faith, police brutality, the struggle of oppression, and a burning sense of optimism. On the other hand, Beyonce embodies Afrofuturism in a more mystical type of way. In her 2017 Grammy’s performance she embodies this nurturing love Goddess element. She displays her pregnancy almost like an accessory to display how she has embodied the magical realism of Afrofuturism. Beyonce is adorned in slow silk like clothes and is featured dancing with other women. Both Beyonce and Kendrick Lamar are very big artists with a huge following. And while they do Afrofuturism justice, somebody who really stands out as a modern day Afrofuturism pioneer is Janelle Monae.

Janella Monae is a severely underrated artist in general but especially when it comes to her recognition of Afrofuturistic world building. I see so many other artists praised for their storytelling through albums and songs but Monae is by far the most clever in my opinion. In her early works she played an android called Cindy Mayweather. Cindy Mayweather wore a black suit and placed a lot of emphasis on featuring herself as more androgynous, more covered and concealed. Monae goes by she and they pronouns and her music shows a clear connection to real world themes such as LGBTQ identity. Robots are an especially interesting choice since androgyny is sometimes compared to being an other worldly thing, like an android. It doesn’t fit the norm and neither does any of Monae’s work in Afrofuturism. There are also many parallels between the Black experience and robots such as hypersexualization and the theme of being bought and sold the way enslaved people were. Monae does a really fantastic job with the world building in her Metatropolis. Visual music videos like “Tightrope” are pleasing to look at and they serve as a mirror to our world and its problems.

In her later work, Monae made the switch from Cindy Mayweather to an android called Jane 57821. Jane feels more liberated, more sexually free as she wears less restrictive clothing. This is clearly a commentary on the male gaze and patriarchal beauty standards. Jane takes sexualization into her own hands turning it from an oppressive regime to one of rebellion. But there is also a darker side to Jane as she is cleansed of anything that makes her aberrant; her womanhood, her sexuality, her blackness, her rebellion. This is evident in “Dirty Computer” where it is made clear that Monae’s own intersections are seen as something that needs to be erased. It reflects the idea that in our world there are still people that want to harm those that stand out and are different despite the progress we may have made. Overall, Monae is a very underrated artist in my opinion. She deserve more phrase beyond just within a single community because she herself stands for some many different things; women, nonbinary people, queerness, etc. Her storytelling alone makes me wonder why it appears that people have stopped talking about her.