Also, might be controversial of me to say this but I don't care, the movie is so great I have to fight for it ಠ_ʖಠ
Saying the movie is racist is a reach and I'll die on this hill. We CAN make a social analysis of the movie, but it's not really a focal point and I'll talk about it later. I'll add that I'm black and have seen the movie twice so shush with the "it's clear that you're white-SHUSH.
First thing that striked me is WE HAVE A COMPLEX BLACK MAIN CHARACTER YALL !!!! And I'm not forced to like him, he's despicable, an asshole and I LOVE THAT. LET. HIM. BE. BAD. If we have horrendous complex white characters (looking heavy at most of other horror movies out there), having a complex POC mc was something I've been yearning for in so long, even more in a horror movie, a genre where the well known stereotype is "if there's a black dude he'll die first".
Important enough for me so I put that there, but Clark going to the psychologist healed something in me in a way I can't describe.
"Yes but he's the only black character in the movie, etc etc..." You know, and I'll say it once, the fact that Mary or his ex was a white woman has no importance. They are women, that's the issue, they could've been black or any other minority, the point of the film is that they are women.
First of his ex being white says nothing, interracial couples exist (shoutout to my parents) and there's no tension about that. The thing is, like Mary they're women and THE TENSION IS THERE because Clark's mysoginy comes from how he processed his ex's rejection as her being a selfish stay-at-home girl. + Clark isn't the only POC in the movie, but that implies looking at the cast. You can tell me that saying that and having Kat and Naren as the only other POC is a reach, but between you and me beside Mary and Clark there's no really fleshed out characters anyway...
Social Analysis Moment: Had a discussion avout the social implications of the film with a friend. If you really want to see a social commentary regarding race, Clark's character "makes sense". He's a black man with CPTSD that affected his life to the point of falling inti alcoholism, even if he had an architecture degree he had to give up on that to do a miserable job (you know, glass ceiling effect and all that). He had "big dreams but little support", and that's just the reality of being black in a western country, so sorry not sorry but Clark is actually a pretty good representation of what it is to be a black man in capitalist society.
That's all for me, I hope I didn't missed anything there but I can always post it later skskssk. The Backrooms movie is pretty great for me, as I never felt like there was quotas to respect, everyone is just a little dude trying to go on with their lives and that's pretty cool imo :]
