AF AM188A - The Sunken Place: Racism, Survival & the Black Horror Aesthetic - Tananarive Due
BLOG POST #1
It’s Fall and with that comes my daily dose of unwarranted flashbacks of nostalgia of my childhood. My most recent thoughts have been revolving around mirrors. When I think of mirrors I think of parallels. This statement can be taken figuratively and you can think of mirrors offering parallel perspectives. This statement can be taken literally in that a mirror will literally be the gateway to a parallel world. The trope can be expressed in a multitude of ways. From the multiverse that keeps the existence of multiple versions of Superman alive to the Bizarro Universe that is home to the caped-heroe’s evil version of himself. One of my favorite mirror tropes was “The Farnsworth Parabox” episode of Futurama where the ditzy crew had the once in a lifetime experience of meeting their seemingly more successful doppelgangers. Now I know that comparing Jordan Peele’s “Us” to an ancient episode of Futurama is an attempt to make a farfetched point, but I have a fun time finding similarities in spaces that, upon face value, don’t have much in common. In the Futurama episode we see that the more successful dopplegangers could have almost lived the same life as their counterparts but they lucked out based on the simple flip of a coin. Later it’s revealed that coin flip results in their universe are reversed compared to the original crew’s universe, but that got me thinking about the aspect of luck. In Us we see that mirrors serve the function as a literal gateway for the hoards of murderous tethered doppelgangers. Now I’m going to come out and say that I sympathize with the tethered. Imagine living such a twisted version of someone else’s life. With a lifetime of bitter emotions and resentment it’s no surprise that the tethered, under Red’s direction of course, led such an grand revolution. I would certainly lose my cool if I knew my above ground counterpart was taking her life for granted and complaining all the time! All though with how things are looking politically right now, I wouldn’t blame her either. Regardless I find myself always going back to the class divide of it all. All it took was chance, or maybe luck for one tether to get their switch of a lifetime. That was Adelaide’s big break. I’m not completely sure if it was pure chance that she was able to switch with her above ground counter part but what I’d like to believe it was incredibly lucky. Another parallel I noticed was that of the ending of Night of the Living Dead and Jordan Peele’s Get Out. In Night of the Living Dead we see Duane Jones, who plays the Black lead zombie-killer. He literally commands the film with his steady and assertive personality. He played a historical role in this film as a Black lead who wasn’t used for props or for the purpose of dehumanizing the Black body. That is until we reach the ending. The realistic ending where even when he did everything right in terms of survival, he was still slain just for existing as a Black man. That ending was so frustrating for me to watch. I feel as if Peele’s Get Out gave me a more cathartic and comedic release when Chris’ friend, Rod revealed himself to be the one behind the wheel of the cop car. Rod, played by Lil Rel Howery, was the best form of comedic relief in the film. I didn’t realize the baited breath I was holding in until I completely busted out laughing at the image of a bloody Rose with a crooked smile attempting to turn the situation in her favor. She knew that if a cop in her neck of the woods discovered the site of Chris towering over her, that he would most likely be gunned down without question. I know it’s a stretch to explain but that almost became a mirror of Night of the Living Dead for me. Almost. Instead the rightfully paranoid Rod was revealed to be the driver and knew exactly what was up! Re-watching the ending of Get Out was cathartic to say the least. That’s my disorganized spiel on mirrors tonight!