Candyman (1992) & Beloved (1998) -- Ghosts of Slavery: The Ghetto & Plantation in the Horror Genre
For a full trailer of Beloved, click here.
Candyman (full movie)
Directed by Bernard Rose
Beloved (selected scenes)
Directed by
Jonathan Demme
These movies address how individuals and society cope with issues of race after slavery. Though one is a semi-traditional horror movie and the other a period drama, both engage ideas of the supernatural -- embodied in dangerous haunting spirits -- to suggest some of the residual social trauma caused by slavery. Candyman focuses on murders in the late twentieth-century Chicago"ghetto," while Beloved tells the story of a formerly enslaved family shortly after slavery in Ohio. We will consider: What are the connections between slavery and twentieth-century racial inequality? What do horror and the supernatural allow Rose and Demme to say about slavery that is different to other movies? How do "the ghetto" and plantation work as sites of horror? How do these movies subvert or reinforce particular stereotypes of blackness? How is Candyman different from the black rapist of Birth of a Nation? How is the audience meant to feel about the protagonists of each movie?
