Monique B. AFAM Black HORRO

[blackhorrormonique]

The weight of human life.

Human life is one of the things many people try to preserve. People have realized how important life really is. Even capital punishment comes with many steps and guidelines in order for it to actually happen. But what I think is important in our discussion about racial violence, is the question of who’s human life are we as a nation trying to preserve. I think that the importance of a person’s life can change based on what you look like. One Black person dying holds less weight than one White person.Why is it when one white person gets whipped people or one white person gets raped it is brought to the forefront of our attention? Black people must take the extra steps to preserve their lives on their own because society simply does not find their lives as important as their white counterparts.

When you think about the number of Black people killed or falsely imprisoned, it is hard to find the reason why. Many people just go to the stereotypes that assume Black people act like animals and therefore are more likely to commit crimes. Black people have been considered animals before so when thinking about the life of those Black people, they are not thinking about human life. Even into the present day, there are many acts of violence that aren’t specifically lynchings, but they still are racially motivated violence. I think of things such as police brutality, the many Black and poor children that are missing that still haven’t been found, and the continuance of racial profiling. These examples today show how the importance of human life can be ranked differently based on what you look like, but also on the many identities that you grow to relate with over time.

[blackhorrormonique]

SAY HIS NAME

The new Candyman(2021) was amazingly different from what was depicted in the original. The legend of Candyman was very similar but this time we see his anger come out mostly toward white people. Candyman(2021) was a reclamation where throughout most of the movie, we saw the death of many white people. The black people in the film were actually a major figure compared to the original. We also see Candyman letting a Black woman live to tell his story. We see this story of generationalized trauma through a black lens. Where we actually feel what we see of Cabrini-Green and racialized violence of black men. Candyman represents the legacy of so many stories that we have actually heard or experienced.

Candyman(2021) succeeds in addressing the aspects of the original. It is interesting because we see the real threat in the New Candyman is not Candyman himself, but it is white supremacy and racial violence. He has been through so much that his attitudes are in a way validated through Black trauma. Candyman represents the trauma response of fighting back against white supremacy and violence. This movie, unlike the original, is for Black people.

I went to watch Candyman with my friends a couple of weeks ago. It was so fun to do as a group. Also interesting to realize that I was the only one able to answer the questions they asked. As the only Black person there, I felt power being able to recognize the deeper meaning of a movie. Throughout the movie, I realized that it wasn’t scary. In the sense where there were not a lot of scenes that I jumped or screamed too. It was only scary if you got what it was like to be the only Black person in the room. Or to have pressure put on you by a white person about what you put into the world. Specifically, this movie dealt with art. School is my form of art. I totally got the feeling of having my work judged and looked over by a white person. Even sitting back and realizing how much pressure it is to have a few people decide your future through tests, exams, and consistent homework. Having to look a certain way to fit in. The whole theme of respectability politics is where people literally step all the way out of their comfort zones in order to please the white man.

[blackhorrormonique]

Tales from the hood. Rusty Cundeiff

I looked up Tales from the Hood to find out who the Director was. It is interesting because I had seen that this movie was described as a “Horror Comedy”. There are many critiques that could be made about this movie. Of course, it was Horror, I mean I was scared. But was it Comedy? Or were these comedic pieces a way of offering the audience a release? I see it only as Black Horror based on the fact that Racism was the central theme in many of these stories. Within this movie, there were 4 stories being told, and one man telling them. My favorite story was most definitely Boys Do Get Bruised. The horror in this story was most definitely centered on the Domestic and Child Abuse that happens throughout it. The little boy going through all of this only has one advocate, his teacher. It is very difficult to see the mother go through so much and yet do so little to protect her son. The little boy in the end realizes he is the only one who can protect himself. It is so relieving to see that his “magic” of the drawing and the pain people feel in real life protects him. He uses these drawings of people and once he folds a piece or crumbles it up, the same thing happens to that specific person he drew.

It makes me really upset because that is how the definition of tough love works between a man and their son. Most of the time, child abuse is excused by the fact that these people are family and meant to love each other no matter what. This is what is toxic about abuse in general. This is why the abuse is so horrifying to us, and yet some of us can’t understand why the mom doesn’t just leave to protect her son. There are many aspects that we don’t realize come into play when talking about abuse, especially once you add the factor of a child into the equation. Most women find it hard to leave because of the feeling of love. I understand how that feeling can be so overwhelming. What is real and what is fake? Women need the things that some abusive men provide for them. Women find it so difficult to think of raising a child by themselves or even providing for themselves. Especially at the time this movie was based on, What is really prominent to me is that we can always say what we would do if things like police brutality, abuse, corruption, or racism happened in front of us, but we never know what we actually would do at the moment.

[blackhorrormonique]

ON JORDAN PEELE’S US

I have watched Jordan Peele’s US twice this week. The first time not knowing the end explained the beginning. Once I watched it again and realized that Adelaide was actually the tethered person the whole time. Peele brings us to this terrifying theme again of “The Sunken Place”. To my understanding, that underground world was Adelaide’s sunken place. Since she was human and did experience life as a child before she was swapped, she realizes that life down there will never be the same. Why I say “Sunken Place,” is because the whole time she is watching her life happen with no control over it. Just like Chris in GET OUT. Now he doesn’t have an evil tether, but he does have to go through the pain of isolation in so many ways.

I just imagine how Red, who was the original Adelaide before she was swapped, went through the pain of watching someone else have her “good life”. She doesn’t get to experience love, or family, or life at all. Someone else is literally making her decisions and controlling her. She has now become a puppet. Having to go through the same experiences but opposite ways.

However, this also makes us feel weird about who to really call the villain in this movie. Because the one we believed to be Adelaide most of the time took the opportunity to swap. And it makes us think that if we were in that position, would we do the same thing? Of course it's fantasy, so it may not be something we ever expect to really happen. But if it was real, and you had a chance to live a normal life instead of eating rabbits underground, would you take it?

The element of race in this movie is actually very interesting. Being the only Black family in a white setting. I appreciated that this Black family was not the stereotypical poor Black family. They had a vacation house, comfortable living conditions, and survived through the whole movie. However it did seem like the Dad, Gabe did a lot of comparing to his white friend. Gabe got a boat because he saw his friend have one. Always trying to be  just the same as a typical white family which was interesting. There were so many scary moments but the great relief was the entire family surviving. The end of the movie made it clear that the wrong Adelaide survived and could be a foreshadow to another movie? US 2? Jordan please make it happen!!

[blackhorrormonique]

on Jordan Peele’s GET OUT

BLOG POST #2

Get Out by Jordan Peele had many aspects of the “Black Horror” Genre. I always talk about the things that scared me first before looking at the messages relayed through the movie. What really scared me was Chris being isolated during the whole movie. Even though there were other Black people around and because of the experimentation going on, Chris was the only conscious black person. He is alone. He is constantly the only person being asked all of these micro-aggressive questions that most black people hate!! He later found out that he can only rely on himself and Rod. Now he doesn’t really ever know that Rod is trying his hardest to find him. And Rod always made these little comments hinting that something would happen to Chris if he goes to see his girlfriend’s white family. Disclaimer, the girlfriend really isn’t shit. She purposely tries to not leave a paper trail and misleads Rod in order to make sure Chris would never be found again. But at the same time, she was born into these ideas of racism. All she knows is to be a part of the white supremacy loop we live in. Many people say that Rose’s mother is the real villain in this story. I can see how because we would look at it from the perspective of her adding herself into this twisted family. Not only did she add herself, but she also added new ways to help the stealing of black bodies and souls. However, I see how the whole family is not the main villain but they are the villain that was being influenced by white supremacy. We can imagine that these white people have grown up knowing nothing else but privilege. They don’t worry about anyone coming to their house to stop the hypnosis or slavery. And it is totally interesting because we grow up in a system where modifying behaviors and the slavery of black people is still possible/protected under the constitution. The main enemy that I feel Black people should gather around is White Supremacy. That is the common enemy. I hope white people also come to understand that as they are watching this film. Chris is walking through a suburban neighborhood, he is going to visit his girlfriend’s white family, the characters that are assimilated/hypnotized black people, and the white people auction off a black person who is unaware that this is happening to him throughout the movie. White Supremacy is what makes all of these little realistic elements to the movie that much scary. Under white supremacy, many of these moments are possible or have happened before.. 

[blackhorrormonique]

Blog Post 1

What makes Black horror so different is the fact that it isn’t just something scary, but something that could've been reality for most black people. Traumatizing at that.

Lynchings, Jim Crow, Slavery, and Racism are events that our parents and our parents’ parents have experienced. People actually lived through these “movie scenes” because it was real for them. That was their history. The fear of white people is real for most black people. When I am walking past a group of white people, I always get nervous that they will shout mean comments out to me or even worse confront me. Walking alone at night in a city like Los Angeles, most specifically on campus(UCLA) where there are predominately white populations makes me nervous, it is a sense of horror being felt. It is also a sense of horror I could relate to when seeing, hearing, or reading it in a story or movie. Being out too late, being with too many white people, walking in a neighborhood that you feel as if you don’t belong in, are real fears that many Black people face.  

Many movies that I have watched or stories that I have read actually are based off of a certain period of time, mostly historical. Events that put fear in our hearts or trigger trauma are daily things such as living in the south during Jim Crow, what could possibly happen in sundown towns, and even what could happen right in your home where you’re supposed to feel safe. Although we don’t directly live in the Jim Crow or Slavery Era, we have a common realization in both past and present that we are not equal to white people. White people have a number of horror films that are based on a number of fictional events. These are types of movies that people can watch and go “wow, i'm glad that’s not real!” In Black horror movies, there are of course also a number of fictional events, but there is a continuing occurrence of racist events or microaggressions that go along with these movies and stories. This new era of racism that shows police brutality, still sundown towns, and being the only black person in a room. These are daily fears just as the others in history that really put horror in our hearts.

It's not just the loud parts that can put fear into Black people’s eyes, it is also the daily signs of racism and not being sure if you would even make it through the day. #speakingfromtheheart