RealTalkAJ

I’ll be answering why black guys die first in horror movies.

Why do black guys die first in horror movies

Dating back to the early 1960s, this idea has evolved since then. The argument could be that black men are looked at as Token Characters. Another is that there’s some sort of romantic element which gets in the way. We could look at the movie Spider Baby to see how true this claim is. There’s also a book titled The Black Guy Dies First that touches well on this topic.

Black Horror’s Evolution

According to Northwestern black horror’’s evolved since the ‘60s.

There’s still the same horror trope of black actors usually being the first victim in these type of movies.

If they weren’t that then they were still made to be the antagonist for some reason.

They’ll be made the vampires, zombies, ghosts and demons for some reason.

It’s transformed now to the point where horror for black people isn’t one of the things mentioned above, instead it’s being shot in the hood, being the victim of police brutality or losing their family.

The Token

A user on Reddit says that people of color are merely token characters.

I’d say there was a point in time where that was true, you’d get that one black person who was playing up to whatever stereotype black people had and look less smart than the main actor.

There’s plenty you can look up and find but I’ll say that changed up now to the point where some of the best horror movies in recent years are allowing men of color to be the leading role and even make intelligent decisions throughout the film.

A user on Quora says it’s because most horror films contain some sort of a romantic element

A user on Reddit shares a Spider Baby example

Rolling Stone suggests the book The Black Guy Dies First by Dr. Robin R. Means Coleman and Mark H. Harris might share the best answer