In almost all horror flicks, it seems as if the black guy dies first. For some reason, there is only 1 black guy, and the other characters are all white, and the black character dies first. There are plenty of examples of this trend, but I would like to point it out in the Scary Movie series. They make fun of scary movies and mix them together to make a parody. In the second Scary Movie, they point it out and blatantly say to the camera that the black character doesn't die first this time. It just shows me that it's such an obvious trend that they would mock it in the movie. I don't know who started this trend, or why it caught on, but for some reason, the other races survive longer in most films.
The fact of the matter is that it is present in modern day films, even though people have pointed it out and mocked it. I was just looking for movies to back up my argument on Google, and when I typed in the Google search "Scary movies where", the first suggestion was "Scary movies where the black guy lives". For example, in the movie Friday the 13th, the first character to die is a black character, and in the whole series 15 out of the 18 black characters die. Maybe it's a coincidence, or maybe it's the fact that there is still racism here today, even after the civil rights movements. I think it's very sad that there is still racism present today. "Ooh, I'm done! Brothers never make it out of situations like this!" -Sherman "Preacher" Dudley (LL Cool J), Deep Blue Sea. In the movie of Deep Blue Sea about the killer shark, LL Cool J knows about the stereotype that "brothers" die first and again mocks it blatantly in the film. I think it's obvious that racism is still present today and we need to look at our society and stop with all of the racist stereotypes that we have currently.
Heres a website committed to the black stereotype: http://blackhorrormovies.com/blackdeath.htm
I agree. In movies it seems lIke the African American always dies first. Many times when I watch movies icons myself wondering why that is.
Posted by: Ricardo C. | 12/08/2011 at 10:21 PM
nice post jack, i totally see where you are coming from with this post and do agree it becomes suspicious when the black guy seems to die first in scary movies....(kind of similar to how the mom most always dies in disney movies) <-- see a trend maybe? perhaps it is the specific creator of the movie who sets a common trend to have one role dye off first every time. It is interesting to me to see where these common scenarios root from. Lastly, I have one example where the black guy does not die first in a scary movie, in fact, he is the only one besides the main character who stays alive: Prom Night.
Posted by: Erin M. | 12/08/2011 at 10:43 PM