| The genre of horror has always been helpful in revealing social anxieties, both within the
broader populace as well as the smaller communities within it. Robin R. Means-Coleman makes
a distinction in film between “Black horror” (horror noire) and “Blacks in horror.” I selected the
medium of horror films to better understand a visual representation of double-consciousness.
W.E.B. Du Bois describes the experience as viewing oneself through a veil, but this thesis takes a
more literal approach by viewing the eyes as a reflective surface that are capable of generating a
socially constructed image. Combining aspects of Lacan and Freud, mirrors can create an
uncanny image that is unique to the perspective of the viewer, but are not an indifferent reflector.
This can lead to a second mirror stage experienced by individuals that have been othered, which
I refer to as the social-mirror stage. This lack of control over an image creates an abject situation,
where the space between subject and object can deteriorate. This results in a phenomenon that I
refer to as the reflective reflexive, whether through a mirror’s ability to hold a gaze, or creating
an unrecognizable image that causes the subject to flinch from their own reflection. This thesis
focuses on three distinctive eras by focusing on the film adaptation of Amiri Baraka’s Dutchman,
the Blaxploitation era film Sugar Hill, concluding with the modern era by comparing Bernard
Roses’ original Candyman and its legacy sequel directed by Nia DaCosta.
Keywords - double-consciousness, mirror stage, uncanny, Black horror, film analysis |