Required Reading; "Scary Sistas: A Brief History of Black Women in Horror Films"

[Disclaimer: Please call me out if you see any random ranting. I didn't write this post out first so it's possible that if could make no sense. I hope though that it will flow from topic to topic.]

I found this link randomly looking up black females in film criticism. I think it's very informative.

http://www.fangirltastic.com/content/scary-sistas-brief-history-black-women-horror-films

The first thing that you may not know before reading this is what a "Final Girl" is.
Final Girl. n. phrase coined by Carol Clover. The Final Girl is the girl at the end of the film who survives and kills the monster[s]. Quite often from my experience she doesn't just save herself she saves someone else and sometimes the person she saves is male.

"According to her its [a slasher films] other Generic Staple generic features are: the killer often a psychopath; the 'terrible place', usually a house or tunnel where the victims find themselves trapped; and the 'Final Girl' who survives and subdues or kills the killer after he has murdered her friends one by one. " [pages 100-101 of Feminist Film Theorists by Shohini Chaudhuri]

I would like to add that the I've yet to see a black Final Girl. No matter how strong the black female characters in Horror movies are they don't seem to live long. I rather be weak and alive than a strong [possibly brutally murdered corpse].

The 1990s and 2000s have been at least offering more chances for the likes of Pinkett, Berry, and Harris as leads, but there are still awful characters like Kelly Rowand's in Freddy vs. Jason that enforce the race and gender stereotypes that are too prevalent in society.  http://frommidnight.blogspot.com/2010/02/black-women-in-horror-history-month_28.html

I would like to add to this. Kelly Rowand's character was insulted a lot in the film. At the end of the movie when Freddy is about to kill her and he's goes "oh dark meat." What really pissed me off about the line wasn't the line but it was the humor projected in the line. I don't feel like that line was just meant to bother the black audience or to make the white or black audience hate him more I feel like that line was meant to make the white audience laugh a little bit. Also there is this link http://blackhorrormovies.com/freddyvsjason.htm try your hardest to get through the unnecessary jokes and focus on the insight.


[Side note : http://blackhorrormovies.com/ is a very good website to look at if you want to know more about the genre it goes through each film and gives you a lot of information about the films in fact I'd go so far as to suggest that you check IMDB and then go this website for any necessary information. http://blackhorrormovies.com/blackactors.htm Also here they have a list of the black actors/actresses in films and whether or not they die. I'm just going to say it this website is a GOD SEND. However I reiterate it has a lot of unnecessary jokes to prove it's point. ]

Now I looked a little bit about black men in horror films but I couldn't find much. If you know of any black men focused websites let me know.I have a strange feeling though that there won't be anything but that's my normal pessimism.