For my poetry reading I chose a slam poem entitled "Open Letter to Black People in Horror Movies". What initially drew me to this poem was the performance given by Omar Holmon and Anthony Ragler. The way they perform the beginning of the poem is hilarious (and I think the audience thought so too). As the poem continues, they keep the same strong tone, but the stanzas quickly go from being funny to being very serious, and I found myself being surprised at the transition. When I first watched their performance, I had to occasionally pause the video to let the words sink in.
In class, we discussed most of the points I wanted to get to. But I'm still thinking about one thing that came up in discussion: black actors in Hollywood and how they are represented. Before class, I searched up the poem on Youtube so I could transcribe it, I came across a comedian talking about why black people aren't portrayed in horror movies. I've honestly always thought that black people either aren't in horror movies because they're more logical or die first, and that's it. However, after I found this poem, it gave that idea more reasoning. For one thing, the poem talks mostly about the horrors of everyday life. So maybe the reason people say black people are more logical than white people in horror movies is because the everyday struggle of surviving forces them to be cautious or else there are consequences. This is shown in the lines "Son, the fuck I look like being scared of some goddamn movie monsters? I'm from Brooklyn..." We wouldn't usually compare just living in a city as scary or threatening, but there's so much more to the situation. Another poem we looked at this semester said that the ghetto is scarier than every monster, so I thought of that as well (let's be honest, Freddy Kreuger probably wouldn't be able to make it).
In some horror movies (or so I've been told) the black characters always die first. Something Tim mentioned in class interested me as well, and it related to the line "Don't go check on the white guy, he'll be fine, his privilege will protect him." White people are likely the ones writing these horror movies, so white privilege does in a way come into play in these situations. It's the white writers that are killing of these characters, so they're not safe anywhere. Hollywood's representations of black characters shows more than I expected. (I think this also relates to the line "so we aren't even safe in fantasies.")
You should definitely watch their performance and think about the content, I think there's a lot to be said about black people in horror movies.
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Well, I have spent most of my life trying to avoid horror movies, because I get scared by things really easily, so I didn't even know there was this stereotype of black people dying first. I also never thought about how they might be more logical in these types of situations. You always hear about those crazy people who drive towards the tornado to see what it's like, and others are hiding in their bathroom with a mattress over them. Maybe that's pushing the interpretation, but that was what I thought when I heard about this. I also thought it was interesting how they go from funny to really deep by the end. I think they use to humor to engage the listener--it definitely caught my attention-- and then can use that focus that the listener has to bring up some bigger issues. I loved your reading and thought you did a great job :)
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, great poem selection, this was by far one of my favorites this year. I wanted to highlight one of the comments I heard today when someone said "black people are living everyday horror movies." I think that statement while jarring, is really valid and is worth talking about. The very fact that 450 black people have died in horror movies and yet the number keeps on ticking in the real world provides evidence for that assertion. Why should black people be afraid of Freddie Krueger and Jason, when they also worry about surviving day in and day out.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that you like the poem! I get an unsettling feeling with many lines in the poem because of how accurate they are, including "Over 450 black people have died in horror movies. But in the real world, we're still counting." For me, this poem makes horror movies seem almost ridiculous. Like you said, why can a 2 hour long movie about a guy wearing a hockey mask be seen as scarier than having to live in fear everyday with no happy ending? It's more of a reality than I thought.
DeleteSo I googled "why do black people always die first in horror movies" and got this brilliant reddit thread which you should definitely check out: http://www.reddit.com/r/ExplainLikeImCalvin/comments/1analy/elic_why_do_black_people_always_die_first_in/ .
ReplyDeleteSo you mentioned that black actors often aren't even cast in horror movies because they're more "logical" which I assume means that movie producers see black characters as too experienced or too tactful with difficult situations to be believably portrayed as victims (?) I have a separate theory more on the DL that maybe black characters die first because people see them as too crude or stupid to survive -- that they'd fuck something up first (and ruin some white characters' chances of living) or that they'd freak out in some characteristically "black" way to provide comedic relief but beyond that wouldn't be able to contribute anything to the cinematic horror. Despite all these results that boast things like "13 movies where the black guy doesn't die first" (just desperate examples of the strawman fallacy method) it's usually pretty clear that no one expects the black guy to be the one to think things through and plan out the survival of the other characters. Thank God for black people, otherwise who would die first in horror movies? Asians?
Marie, awesome reading! One of the best things about this poem is how it has complete control of its tone, and I think you did that just as well at the two readers in the video. I too am terrified of horror movies, but this was a great selection, and it almost makes me want watch a few to check if the black guy really does always die first. Almost.
ReplyDeleteThis poem is both comical and serious at the ame time and I found that really intersting. The way you read it made it really fun and great to listen to, but despite the fun comical tone of the poem (or most of the poem at least) it is still very powerful. We talked in class about a few lines that seem like jokes at first but when you think about them they are deeper thatn they seem. I think that applies to the entire thing, it seems like a comical poem about what not to do in horror movies, when there is really a much deeper meaning.
ReplyDeleteThis poem really reminds me of White Boy Shuffle. At first I found myself wanting to laugh, and then I realized that there's a lot of truth behind it, and that maybe it's not actually something to be laughed at. I liked your reading of this poem a lot -- your tone really emphasized some of the most powerful parts of the poem (I can't remember them right now but there were a couple moments where you paused to let certain lines sink in and that worked really well).
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