The Horror in Blackness in Modern Society

Throughout this semester I’ve also been studying the genre of horror through a BIPOC lens, in how horror is meant to identify societal fears and exaggerate them to explore them further. Thus when horror focuses on BIPOC specifically, it also identifies the fears that surround being nonwhite in society– both from BIPOC themselves, but also from white people about BIPOC. This came to my mind when I was thinking about this reading because Bloodchild can come across as a form of horror media, or at least that’s what I partially interpret it as. Notably, the concept of your body being taken over or used for a purpose is a common theme in a lot of horror (possession, etc.), and it does raise a lot of questions about bodily autonomy within society, and who has a right to that. And also the fear of just not having control over your existence– losing your personhood. And while the subject matter of being used as a “vessel” for “breeding” is in itself horrific, that coupled with the fact that… Black people have literally been forced to exist as just that for real, historically, further shows the fear that still is held within the Black community today somewhat. And I think horror is a tool that excels when it’s used by marginalized communities; there is a lot we have to be scared about, tragically. (Week 4)