Category Archives: race

Horror Noire: Blacks in American Horror Films

June 29th, 2011 | Posted in cultural studies, horror, race

There is a new book that explores an important facet of horror. The book is Horror Noire: Blacks in American Horror Films from 1890 to the Present (Routledge, 2011), by Robin R. Means Coleman. From King Kong to Candyman, the boundary-pushing genre of the horror film has always been a site for provocative explorations of […]

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Invisible Universe: A History of Blackness in Speculative Fiction

April 21st, 2011 | Posted in cultural studies, documentary, fantasy, horror, race, science fiction

How have African Americans been represented in, played a part in, and contributed to speculative fiction? How have we come from depictions of African Americans in speculative fiction (defined broadly to include horror) in black exploitation horror like Blacula to more positive representations in the action-horror film Blade? These interesting questions and others are explored […]

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Robert J. Sawyer, “A long time ago,” and science fiction’s social commentary

November 28th, 2010 | Posted in fantasy, race, science fiction, Star Wars

I recently came across a portion of a lecture given by science fiction writer Robert J. Sawyer divided into three installments on YouTube. The lecture is titled “‘A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away….’ my ass!”. Each of the installments can be viewed at the bottom of this post. In the lecture […]

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Sci-Fi Insight on Current Events: The Slave’s Right to Punish His Persecutors

July 24th, 2009 | Posted in Planet of the Apes, political commentary, race, science fiction

America seems doomed never to be able to move beyond its struggles with racism. Despite having elected an African-American president, and other great strides since the days of slavery and the Civil Rights era, charges of racism continue to haunt the country in pop culture. From Al Sharpton connecting race with Michael Jackson’s death, to Jessie […]

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Joshua Bellin: A Tale of Two Kongs

March 4th, 2009 | Posted in fantasy, Joshua Bellin, King Kong, race

Previously I interviewed Joshua Bellin, author of Framing Monsters: Fantasy Film and Social Alienation (Southern Illinois University Press, 2005), where he interacted critically with various fantasy films. While horror and science fiction films have received a lot of critical analysis, this has not been the case with fantasy films. Thankfully, Bellin moves beyond this in order […]

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Joshua Bellin: Fantasy Film and Social Alienation

November 6th, 2008 | Posted in fantasy, Joshua Bellin, race, social alienation

I have read many books and academic articles that probe deeply into horror and science fiction film, television, and literature, but rarely can such analysis be found related to fantasy. For those interested in such an exploration seek no more. Joshua Bellin has done us a great service, providing us with both an academic exploration […]

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Planet of the Apes: An American Myth

February 15th, 2007 | Posted in Planet of the Apes, race, science fiction

One of the films that I found most enjoyable growing up was Planet of the Apes (1968). So many things stand out in this film, from the great musical score by Jerry Goldsmith, to the cutting-edge makeup of the time by John Chambers, to the great screenplay and twist ending by Michael Wilson and with […]

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