num_pages: 296
description: From King Kong to Candyman  the boundary-pushing genre of the horror film has always been a site for provocative explorations of race in American popular culture. In Horror Blacks in American Horror Films from 1890's to Present  Robin R. Means Coleman traces the history of notable characterizations of blackness in horror cinema and examines key levels of black participation on screen and behind the camera. She argues that horror offers a representational space for black people to challenge the more negative or racist images seen in other media outlets and to portray greater diversity within the concept of blackness itself. Horror Noire presents a unique social history of blacks in America through changing images in horror films. Throughout the text the reader is encouraged to unpack the genres racialized imagery as well as the narratives that make up popular cultures commentary on race. Offering a comprehensive chronological survey of the genre this book addresses a full range of black horror films including mainstream Hollywood fare as well as art-house films Blaxploitation films direct-to-DVD films and the emerging U.S./hip-hop culture-inspired Nigerian Nollywood Black horror films. Horror Noire is thus essential reading for anyone seeking to understand how fears and anxieties about race and race relations are made manifest and often challenged on the silver screen.
language: English
title: Horror Noire: Blacks in American Horror Films from the 1890s to Present
publisher: Routledge