American history is dominated by stories of endless violence towards black people. It is by no means an understatement to say that the lives of countless black individuals are faced by horrors that should be unimaginable in this day and age. Their lives mimic the constant state of tension and anticipation of something bad. And it is for this exact reason that the horror genre has been such a great tool for social commentary, specifically of exposing the reality of racism in North America.
Jordon Peele’s 2017 horror film Get Out has been praised as one of the most popular horror/thriller film in the last decade, and arguable because of its social commentary. Even for non-horror movie goers, this film made their to-watch lists, having won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. Indeed, many lauded the film as being the first of its kind to demonstrate racial horror and inequality. However, in some ways, this is not entirely true. While films specifically detailing the racial horrors faced by non-caucasians in North America are rare, the topic of race in horror films has a relatively long and interesting history (though not a proud one!).
The genre of horror has largely remained in the hands of white writers and similarly white protagonists. However, that is not to say that race has been excluded from the genre. Rather, race has played a large role in many slasher and horror flicks…as the prototype villain. As traced excellently in the documentary Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror, horror films in the 30s featured black people as the criminals or monsters in their stories, intending to induce society with a sense of fear for the black man, encouraging them to be ostracised from communities. It was, put bluntly, racial propaganda touted under the name of entertainment.
As social sensitivities to race increased, the overt racists trends were creatively (and horrifyingly!) transformed into subtle caricatures of racial stereotypes, i.e. black facial features used as inspiration for the physicality of monsters, such as in The Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954). And if not the villain, black characters have often been included into horror casts to diversify the rather whitewashed roll-call, but only until the first death (or at the very least the first few deaths). The social tensions around race remained ever-present, but similarly ever-changing as the 80s and 90s saw a swift transformation of the black character into the sidekick to the white protagonist, one who is often quickly forgotten or disposed of once they are no longer useful or have readily sacrificed themselves for their white ensemble.
Coming from this history, Peele’s horror film, was intended to forcefully dismantle the assumption of a post-racial world. An oft quoted line from the film is at the beginning when, nervous about meeting his girlfriend’s parents for the first time, Chris Washington, the protagonist’s, girlfriend tries to reassure him by saying, ‘They’re not racists. I would have told you’. Speaking after a Vanity Fair screening of the film in October 2017, Peele said ‘the movie was written in the Obama era, which I’ve been calling the post-racial lie.’ He continues on to say: ‘We were in this era where the calling out of racism was almost viewed as a step back . . . Trump was saying that the first black president wasn’t a citizen . . . There was this feeling like, ‘You know what, there’s a black president. Maybe if we just step back, [Trump] can say his bullshit. No one cares. And racism will be gone.’ That’s the era I imagined this movie would come out in.’
In the documentary Horror Noire, Peele explains how Get Out, in many ways, was a response to the history of black horror and black representation in the genre. For Peele, Get Out was not intended to address the loud vulgarities of the white hood, the consumerism of black suffering or even the ignorance of heads of state. Rather, it was drawing attention and highlighting the horror of the white middle class in America, those that keep racism alive in their earnest to pretend race itself does not exist. And what better that horror, a genre that has historical talked about things not meant to be spoken about in polite company–death, sex, murder–to engage in the topic that has oft been considered so taboo. And most importantly, there is no white saviour to count on when the system that encompasses society pretends blackness doesn’t exist, unless for cultural or aesthetic reasons.
There is an argument to be made that the plight of black individuals to be seen as humans in their own right should not have to come via degradation and the commercialisation of their lived horrors and trauma. The lack of stories featuring black people outside of roles that use their racial suffering as the primary focus is a frequently heard criticism against Hollywood. The #OscarsSoWhite movement in 2015 was inspired by the fact that all 20 acting nominations were given to white artists., the well-meaning liberal argument for colour-blind recognition falling flat in the face of obvious evidence of black invisibility.
Many screenwriters in the past have turned to comedy to subvert the narrative and highlight underlying injustices and inequality. It too has a hall-pass to speak on topics usual left unspoken in public discourse. But horror and comedy have close links. Maybe it is no surprise then, that Get Out writer, Jordan Peele, prior to his film debut, was best known for being part of the comedic due, Key and Peele. Similarly, many will remember the 2000s parody slasher film series, Scary Movie.
However, producers of Horror Noire argue that the genre has a lot to offer black people. Films like Get Out explore and challenge the problematic images that decades of horror have made familiar. The success of films like Get Out ensure that a broader audience is exposed to a subculture that has so much to offer for a new critical perspective on cinema. A perspective that provides an avenue to understand that that the reality of radicalised individuals is embedded in the seemingly mundane and unassuming.
~S~
