A Word: Screaming in Color

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Slate Podcasts

News, News Commentary, Politics

4.6 • 6K Ratings

🗓️ 12 March 2023

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The Scream franchise returns to theaters this weekend. Since it first debuted in 1996, the racial dynamics of horror films have evolved. And for the first time in generations of scary movies, African American characters are surviving, killing the monsters, or even slaying as horror villains themselves. On today’s episode of A Word, Jason Johnson is joined by Mark Harris, the co-author of The Black Guy Dies First: Black Horror Cinema from Fodder to Oscar, to talk about the evolution of Black horror. Guest: Mark Harris, writer and co-author of The Black Guy Dies First Podcast production by Kristie Taiwo-Makanjuola You can skip all the ads in A Word by joining Slate Plus. Sign up now at slate.com/awordplus for just $1 for your first month. Make an impact this Women’s History Month by helping Macy’s on their mission to fund girls in STEM. Go to macys.com/purpose to learn more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is a word, a podcast from Slate. I'm your host, Jason Johnson. It's a tale as old
0:09.6	as time for horror movies anyway. The Black Guy dies first. But with the latest editions
0:15.1	of horror classics like Scream and a new generation of horror movie makers, many Black fans
0:20.1	are hoping that cliche is dead and buried.
0:23.4	It's good that we have a lot more opportunities behind the camera so now we can get more diverse
0:29.2	stories out there regarding Blackness. The sky is a limit.
0:32.4	Rewriting the racial script in horror, coming up on a word. With me, Jason Johnson,
0:38.2	stay with us.
0:44.9	Welcome to a word, a podcast about race and politics and everything else. I'm your host,
0:49.1	Jason Johnson. No matter how scared the times are in this country, nothing brings people
0:54.0	out to the movie theaters like a good scare. For decades, African American characters and
0:58.4	horror films were fools, designated victims or both. But a whole class of Black Creatives
1:04.0	is rewriting the script for horror, building on the work of African American filmmakers
1:08.8	who worked in the shadows to bring forth stories, the brightness, and also honor our humanity.
1:15.5	Joining us to talk about this is writer Mark H. Harris. He's co-author of the new book,
1:20.3	The Black Guy dies first. Black horror cinema from Fatter to Oscar. He's also the creator
1:26.4	of BlackHorrorMovies.com. Mark Harris, welcome to a word.
1:30.7	Thanks for having me.
1:31.7	I have to say this up front. I get the title. It's a cool title. But to be fair, Black
1:38.3	people die first and all sorts of movies. I mean, the Black Guy dies first in the action
1:43.0	films. The Black Guy dies first in the pandemic films. One, why do you think this happens?
1:49.2	And two, do you think this is something that's exclusive to white creators or is it just
	...

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