blogassignmentnumber4

[blogassignmentnumber4]

Blog Post #4

The lectures and discussions from Tuesday and Thursday, I feel, helped give more examples and a deeper understanding of many of the themes that we have gone over so far throughout the quarter. I feel as though with each week, my understanding and knowledge of the underlying messages and themes in black horror films are strengthened because of the many excellent films and stories we go over, which exposes me to these themes firsthand. In this week’s discussions, Thursday’s lecture in particular, I was very intrigued to learn more about the theme of how magic and spirits are used in many black horror films where in this case, it was seen throughout “Eve’s Bayou”. Many aspects revolving around magic, rituals, and even curses were brought up in the film and discussed during the lecture, which caught my attention. This theme in particular stood out to me because I recall first discussing this at the beginning of the course a few weeks ago. Back then, I remember being very curious about this due to the fact that I had not previously been made aware of its significance. However, on Thursday when we went over “Eve’s Bayou”, we were given a very good example of these magical themes taking place. Typically, I find that being provided with visual examples always helps me learn better and grasp concepts more, as well as develop a better visual idea too – which is what I feel has been accomplished after discussing this film. I have since been able to think back to a number of other movies where this theme is seen as well, making connections to this class. Another topic that was brought up this week which I actually do not recall ever being exposed to was the theme of Black Complicity in Racism, which was seen in “Tales from the Hood”. This theme touches on the concept in which when black communities experience racism, the racism that is experienced will actually be internalized and even participated in by the community being oppressed. For example, as a result of societal pressures and internalized racism, racist beliefs and stereotypes may actually be perpetuated by the community being affected. In terms of this theme, I had not been aware of this phenomenon being something that takes place, however, it now makes a lot of sense as to why this theme may actually occur in real life – even almost as a sort of survival strategy for whoever is impacted by the horrors of racism.