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Blog Assignment #6

Paralysis is a short film based around the protagonist, a recently divorced African American women who seems to be in her mid thirties. She struggles with her dreams and can’t tell when it’s a dream or reality. Her father sees that she isn’t doing well and suggests she takes her medication so she can sleep better. However, she doesn’t think it’s a big deal and shrugs it off. Yet, it does look like it’s a problem when you see the big scar on her arm. She begins to notice unusual events occurring in her house. At this point of the film, in my opinion, she is rather possessed or dealing with a demon in her apartment. We can frequently hear bursts of photo shots being taken throughout the film, which is interesting considering her career as a photographer. Then one day, a strange neighbor comes by to say “hi” and questions how the protagonists stay at her new apartment is. The neighbor said the last girl that was living in the apartment didn’t make it and was dealing with something, similar to what the protagonist is facing now. The protagonist realized that it was getting out of control when she woke up with a knife in her hand and a scarred forearm. She decided to visit a parapsychologist that morning to discuss the problems she is facing. She said to the parapsychologist that she deals with sleep paralysis and is terrified of going to sleep. She is afraid that she might end up killing her self. The parapsychologist suggested she go visit a psychiatrist instead, assuming she may have gone crazy. On the other hand, she suggests “an ancient folklore and still prevalent in some cultures, sleep paralysis was characterized as a demon or monster sitting on ones chest or hovering over one’s body. Perhaps the monster is not in your dreams anymore” (Paralysis). The monster can be anything, real or imaginary, taking up any form according to parapsychologist. The parapsychologist proposes the protagonist sets up video cameras around the house to catch anything the eyes can not. This way they can come with a conclusion regarding the problem.

The short film ends with a cliffhanger. R. Shanea Williams wants the audience to imagine what the conclusion may be at the end and answer the question of whether she was really dealing with monsters or was the monster herself and her psychiatric problems? In my opinion, what the author is trying portray is the obstacles and horror one faces with sleep paralysis. Therefor, I would argue that the monster in this film is sleep paralysis itself. 

[kevinfarahnik]

Blog Assignment #5

The Beloved is a film based around Sethe, who was a former slave who now lives in a house numbered 124 that is haunted by a child ghost. Her two sons, Howard and Buglar ran away from the haunted house just before Sethe’s mother-in-law Baby Suggs death. She currently lives with her daughter Denver. Paul D, a former slave who worked at sweet home, the same plantation Sethe was in, began to form a relationship and became like family to Sethe and Denver. A strange lady named Beloved appears at the house just as Denver and Paul D seem to be getting along. Beloved seems like a baby trapped in a women’s body. This is a brief plot description of the movie through my perspective. However, I would like to discuss the significance of the film and important themes I took away from watching Beloved. The first theme that resonated throughout the film was slavery. Both Paul D and Sethe were former slaves who escaped sweet home to live an independent life. They were dehumanized but escaped to gain back their freedom and livelihood. Unfortunately, even after their freedom the events of slavery and what they endured still haunts them. After Sethe fled Sweet Home with her family, so did the effects of slavery in the form of scars, harrowing memories, and the slave owners. Even Sethe goes to the extent of killing her own daughter to save her from becoming a slave and going to the hands of white slave owners. Sethe attempted to kill all of her children but ended up only killing her baby to prevent them from becoming slaves. This shows how terrible Sethe’s experience at Sweet Home was and that she would go to the point of death than returning back to that plantation. The film shows acts of heinous and cruel force inflicted out on slaves. It is as of they were treated like a herd of animals. For instance, Paul D was shackled with an “iron bit” that most closely resembles how they would treat animals. Sethe experiences a horrible whipping for complaining against the Schoolteacher’s nephews. Another example of dehumanization would be when the Schoolteacher’s nephews forcefully steal her breast milk as if she was a cow. Nonetheless, the effects of slavery is everlasting and the dehumanization of self is evident throughout the film Beloved and are important themes in understanding the film. 

[kevinfarahnik]

Blog Assignment #4

I would like to discuss, analyze and compare the role African Americans play with zombies in black horror films. “The Night of the Living Dead” directed by George Romero is one of the first films to include an African American hero protagonist fighting off white flesh-eating zombies. Long story short, Ben and Barbra(white women) are in a farmhouse, surrounded by a zombie hoard. Ben is the one character in charge throughout the whole film up until the last scene. He has to deal with Barbra’s antics and the other couple in the house all while trying to fight off these zombies. In the end, Ben, the sole survivor, is killed by a group of white men thinking he was one of the “ghouls”. The white men don’t think twice about the horrible mistake they have just made. Instead, they congratulate each other and remark him as “another one for the fire.” On the other hand, in the film “The Girl with All the Gifts” the zombies called “hungries” are innocent looking children, unlike the “ghouls”. Melanie is an incredibly smart, young minded African American girl. Unfortunately, she’s been mistreated and been called many horrible names because she is considered one of the hungries. Melanie is the only child that contain her hunger when she smells fresh meat. Like Ben, Melanie recognizes her role of survival and helping others. Melanie is an intermediate between the hungries and real life. Unfortunately for Ben, whiteness prevailed and he was killed. In “Danger Word” written by Steven Barnes and Tananarive Due, a thirteen year-old girl named Kendra and her grandpa Joe struggle to survive in a zombie apocalyptic era. Like Melanie and Ben, Kendra and Joe are African American and the main characters in the film. Kendra and grandpa Joe share this distinct bond between each other and care for each other deeply. However, they take a turn for the worst and Kendra has to end up killing her own grandpa who was bitten and infected by a white zombie. This short film is much more than just a girl and her grandfathers quest for survival in a zombie apocalyptic era. It takes us on an emotional journey by connecting us to Joe and Kendra’s strong and unique relationship. Joe seemed to be Kendra’s father figure and one who taught Kendra to be strong. Unfortunately, her birthday trip didn’t end up the way he wanted it to but she carried on her grandpa’s teachings and legacy he left behind. Nonetheless, “The Night of the Living Dead” “The Girl with All the Gifts”, and “Danger Word” are three different zombie horror films that introduce a heroic and role leading African American protagonist. 

[kevinfarahnik]

Blog Assignment 3

Tales from the Hood’s first story “Rogue Cop Revelation” and third story "KKK Comeuppance” are two powerful stories in the film that resonated with me because it closely ties within our society today. “Rogue Cop Revelation” and "KKK Comeuppance” are horror stories told by a mystical mortician. The first story closely parallels the corrupt and racist police force we witness in the streets today. 

The first thing that came to my mind when I saw the three white police officers beating Martin Moorehouse, a black politician to death, was the Rodney King beating. It’s unfortunate and shocking to see a horror story that should be fiction come to life as we have seen in the Rodney King video where the police officers beat him while he is empowered and completely harmless to the white police mob. An important theme that arises from this story that I thought was essential in understanding these films is retribution. We see Moorehouse call Anthony Griffith, a rookie African American cop who witnessed his beating to bring the three white police officers to his grave. Eventually, Moorehouse’s hostile corpse gets revenge on the white police officers, killing them one by one. Even Anthony gets punished for being at the scene of Moorehouse’s beating and doing nothing about it. Unfortunately, there are many white racist and corrupt police officers that have gotten away with unlawful and unjust acts on African Americans today. Retribution is an act that can’t be taken out in the real world against cops without having consequences. Thankfully, Rusty Cundieff allowed Moorehouse do what should be done to these horrible cops and that is to kill them. As audience, watching Moorehouse avenge his own death by killing the racist white cops was rewarding and felt good to watch. Similar to “Rogue Cop Revelation”, ”KKK Comeuppance” is a film about retribution. Senator Duke is a racist politician with a racist campaign who is running for governor. His campaign parallels, in my opinion, racist campaigns of today that work around dominant white policies and disempower minorities. Duke’s campaign is interrupted as his mansion, once a former plantation with a bloody past come to haunt him. A bunch of haunted voodoo dolls, which are powered by the souls of murdered slaves come to avenge their death by killing the racist politician. Nonetheless, retribution is a key theme throughout black horror films. Films such as Get Out, Us, and Tales from the Hood use retribution to bring justice, reform and a sense of satisfaction to the audience.

[kevinfarahnik]

Blog Assignment #2

Us is a thrilling and an adrenaline rushing black horror film based around what seems like an upper-middle-class African American family. Jordan Peel’s Us is about the Wilson family’s beach vacation in Santa Cruz that turns into pandemonium when their shadows beneath them begin to exterminate them. However, I would like to argue that it raises a deeper message regarding classism and struggling minorities. 

The tethered are mentally and physically trapped underneath the living. They are being ignored by the position they are in underneath the lively world. The tethered very much parallel the working and lower class families and individuals who are economically trapped in their class and society. This can cause one to feel uncivilized and in-humane: experiencing the least, eating unpleasant food, and holding a grudge to the people who ignore the ones below. These same obstacles persist for struggling minorities who experience comparative disadvantages compared to dominant social groups. It also shows that we are born into classes and very few ever get the chance and opportunity to move up those social and economic classes. For example, the shadow of Adelaide that is now the Adelaide we know was the only one to our own extent that was able to move up from the shadows(class struggles) and live a better and more materialistic life until the tethering occurred. 

In my opinion, capitalism has an important role with classism in this film. Our desire and need to consume materialistic things often blind us from stuff much more important. For example, Gabe whines about getting a nice tugboat and grieves about the wealth of his friend Josh Tyler. Gabe even offers Red’s family money and material things in exchange for freedom. However, none of these materialistic things were enough to save them from their shadows. A revealing part of the film was when Adelaide asked who Red and her family were, and Red responded “We are Americans,” which is significant because she is implying that we are all the same regardless of class, placement of society and unjust circumstances. The only thing that separates Red’s family from Adelaide’s was the location and environment they lived in. Nonetheless, capitalism and materialistic things play a huge role in blinding the ones on top of the struggles people face below. 

An interesting part of this film that really caught my eye was the juxtaposition of scenes at the boardwalk, revealing the actions of the tethered with the ones who lived on top. We see that the tethered experienced the same feelings and actions to a certain extent to the ones who lived on top. Unfortunately, social classes restrict us to a certain extent from doing and experiencing things. 

[kevinfarahnik]

Blog Assignment #1

Horror films is my favorite genre of film because of its suspense, excitement, adrenaline rush and terror. Some of my favorite horror films are The Exorcist, The Conjuring, The Ring and Get Out. Jordan Peel’s Get Out was the first black horror film I watched when it was first released and has quickly made my list of top horror films. Get Out is not just a film about the theft of black bodies and hypnotization, but has many deep messages that examines the history of American slavery and draws relations to present day lives of African Americans. 

The first time I watched Get Out, the common theme that resonated to me was assimilation. Black people are becoming more and more immersed into white culture. African Americans are assimilating into a white dominant society. In a sense, African American culture and beauty is being ‘sunken’ into a darker place and is being masked by their physique and physical abilities. There were certain scenes that made me feel this sort of way. For example, the scene where Chris is being auctioned off to a rich white audience closely parallels the auctions of black slaves throughout American history for their physical abilities and labor. In another scene, Chris confronted Andrew, another young black male at the auction party who was already hypnotized and has become the lover to an old white lady. Although Andrew has become hypnotized and his brain transplanted in a fictional way, I think it brings about a deeper message about assimilating into a powerful white culture. Media, politics, and social organizations play a pivotal role in defaming and harming black culture. Georgina is another great example of a complicated character that is struggling internally between a black character and the white grandma. It shows the inner struggles of who she really is and trying to grasp ones identity.

Then, looking deeper into the movie and discussing Get Out in lecture, I learned of another interpretation of the film that even has a deeper connotation of race in society today. As professor Due explained, the sunken place in Get Out directly relates to the mass incarcerations of African Americans today. African Americans are sunken and positioned in this society in a way that there is no way of getting out of it. African Americans are controlled by white dominant policies and officials, similar to how the white family controls black bodies. Therefore, mass incarceration can be seen as a sunken place for African Americans today.