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Horror-Comedy poking fun at the 'black person dies first' trope.

posted 2 years ago by [deleted]
18 replies | jump to latest

The film interrogates the trope that the African-American character is often the first to die in horror movies by placing an all-Black group of friends at a cabin in the woods, where they are confronted with a masked killer who demands that they rank their degrees of blackness so that he can determine the correct order in which to kill them, and must rely on a combination of street smarts and their own knowledge of horror film tropes to survive.

[–] [deleted] 2 years ago

For IndieWire, Rafael Motamayor graded the film a B, calling it "the first great horror parody of the post-Get Out era" and writing that "every slasher movie needs a good villain and here the killer wears a blackface leather mask. It’s on the nose, but this parody has about as much subtext as Scary Movie and that’s part of the fun. There is no toning down Blackness or explaining things to white audiences. If you don’t know how to play Spades or what the Black anthem is, ask a friend."

Oh wow, this film is very 'black' and doesn't explain things to white audiences?

[–] nufsaid16 (689) 2 years ago

That's right. As a black filmgoer who's always liked horror films, it was nice to see a horror film with a black cast, directed by a black director, and written by 2 black screenwriters, that was clearly aimed at an African-American audience who would understand the cultural references and jokes, which I did. Meaning there was no watering things down, or feeling that certain things and issues the characters commented on that were culturally specific to black people had to be explained to any white folks watching----you either get it, or you don't--no big deal. Whatever you didn't get, you can always ask your black friend--if you have one, or look it up online, lol.

[–] Tongue (496) a year ago

That’s fine but the main problem I had with this movie is the jokes didn’t land most of the time. There were 2-3 I kinda laughed at but the rest were meh. I can’t believe they are still bringing up the “black folks die first!” Trope. That was getting
Old in the late 90s

[–] nufsaid16 (689) a year ago

The jokes didn't land for you because it's mainly black American humor aimed at black people, and obviously, you're not black, or you would have understood them. Meaning some of those jokes are culturally specific to us, and not to you because you're not black, and/or haven't had enough exposure to black American culture to understand where they're coming from with the jokes, or what the jokes are about. Just because they weren't funny to you, that dosen't mean they weren't funny at all----you just didn't get them. I did, and that's why I liked the film.

The film is simply making fun of all the horror tropes in the genre about black people in general, mainly because there have been very few black directors in the genre to even challenge those tropes. Mainly because until the '70s, black people were usually either the butt of the joke in horror films, or the evil "Other" from a strange mysterious non-white culture that was a threat to the lily-white main characters in the films. So this time, a black director, writers and a producer finally get to make a film featuring black people where they control the narrative, as well as comment on how the genre has usually treated and depicted black people historically---which was usually with racist stereotypes most of the time before the 1970s.

[–] StoneKeeper (28287) 10 months ago

Hi nufsaid16!

Do you ever go on the General discussion board?

Would you be interested in assisting in one of our movie viewing with the MovieChat MovieClub?

[–] Tongue (496) a year ago

I still have no idea what “blackness” means. Or what “whiteness” means. They are both concepts that really cannot be defined in any rational way

[–] nufsaid16 (689) a year ago

The term "blackness" mean black American culture, and whiteness means "white American culture", period. Look them up.

[–] bistritapcv (1969) 2 years ago

Interrogates?

[–] Otter (24464) 2 years ago

I thought the cliche was that the black person is the second-to-last to die, leaving nobody alive but the most attractive light-skinned man and woman in the cast!

[–] HarveyManFredSin (4877) 2 years ago

That's not the *official* cliche, but I definitely think you have a point (Alien springs to mind), and that many films usually have the Black guy as the last character to die, often in the process of sacrificing themself so that the Final Girl lead may escape.

[–] nufsaid16 (689) a year ago

Nope, there is no such cliche----it used to be that the black person was the first to die, period, while the white folks survived to the end, period. Thanks goodness that's changed. g

[–] Oskar (315) 2 years ago

Dead trope. I don't think the black character has been the first to die since like, the late nineties?

[–] nufsaid16 (689) 2 years ago

No, it isn't. If it was such a "dead trope", the film wouldn't feel the need to comment on it. There's a brand new book called The Black Guy Dies First, by Robin Means Coleman and Mark Harris, which deals with the history of how black characters have always been treated in horror films, and the black character dying first was literally the norm before the 1970s in films simply because they were seen as disposable,and always in the background, or only there for comic relief, mainly due to Hollywood racism at the time. The book is hilarious, and it also deals with black folks in horror films post-Get Out, as well as horror films made by black directors. It's definitely worth a read.

[–] Satan2016 (26177) 2 years ago

Black guy dies last in Night of the Living Dead (1968).

[–] Oskar (315) a year ago

If it's not a dead trope, surely you can name some recent examples?

[–] TheArgentinian (7251) a year ago

X-men First Class

[–] Tongue (496) a year ago

It’s a trope that is so beyond tired that I couldn’t believe they talked about it numerous times in this movie . The trope was pretty tired in the late 90s

[–] nufsaid16 (689) a year ago

Pretty much the entire slasher genre has tired old tropes that are still being done in horror movies in general today, but I don't see you complaining about that.