The first big blockbuster film in the United States that depicted the concept of Black people as the other — something to be feared — was Birth of a Nation. It was a 1915 propaganda film, rooted in the idea that Black men were unintelligent monsters whose insatiable lust for white women was a danger to society. The only way to deal with these so-called creatures — who in the film were played by white men in blackface — was to kill them. The film, which premiered at Woodrow Wilson’s White House, glorified the Ku Klux Klan and lynching and stoked racial tension and stereotypes.
Thankfully, society has progressed somewhat, but that concept of othering has followed Black people and people of color in film for decades. Even when there’s a slasher film that has no real plot beyond gore, it’s hard not to root for everybody Black — the others — primarily due to the belief that Black people always die first. It’s a faulty stereotype, but there’s truth in it: Black stories, characters, and storylines are more likely to be sidelined or forgotten because they are the other. From the perspective of a group that is always centered as the main narrative, that concept is hard to relate to.
