Well, folks, it is that time of year again where people glorify the fear factor of scaring other human beings that only "Columbus Day & Halloween" can bring. Christopher Columbus, who sailed the seven seas, would be the gateway bringer of first nation genocide through diseases and bloodshed that our first nation ancestors could have never imagined was coming their way. Plus, the pacesetter who would ultimately bring about the open door for other Western cultures to bring over prisoners of war from Africa as indentured servants that would eventually inherit a new form of chilling servitude called "chattel slavery."
(Pictured above vintage Halloween post card 1902 & pictured below a picture of character Jason Voorhees from Friday 13th Movie)
North American colonists' barbaric behavior on African prisoners of war (made up mostly of children) would make Jason Voorhees from the movie "Friday the 13th" fit right in with colonists of the 16th & 17th centuries. And although most people have no idea of how brutal chattel slavery was between the 16th -18th century. Horror movies provide us a palatable abstract in seeing how bad life can get while being in the presence of a serial killer or two or maybe an entire village. So you may be asking yourself, what does that have to do with Halloween and Columbus Day? And how can art imitate life? I am glad you asked.
(Pictured character Micheal Myers from the movie Halloween)
This somewhat controversial plus spooky chat will help us see how American horror movie films reveal a genuine part of American history through the prism of film-making. Boo! Horror movies do reflect on society's
Fears
Concerns and
Flaws
Art is how filmmakers translate said conscious or unconscious topics or history into an abstract formula that translates horror films into entertaining and safe locations per viewer. This empowers viewers to witness and figure out how they would escape said challenging fear factor presented in the story.
Hence, horror movies provide us with the unsavory truth regarding American cultures', all too real facts via the prism of storytelling. Because the truth is like water, eventually, it will manifest or leak through in one form or another. Honestly, think about it. Who would want the fact told that reveals an alternative but truthful perspective of what happened per historical accounts if the truth reveals some terrible aspects.
(Below a picture of President George & Mrs. Martha Washington with their grand children vintage)
For example, when I was a child, we were taught that George Washington "Never told a lie." He even admitted that he cut down a "cherry tree." The truth is that George Washington and Martha Washington (from Virginia hint) were brutal slave owners. Plus, when the Revolutionary War was over (1776), he told his troops that they would be compensated when if the truth be told, Washington had no plans on paying his soldiers at all. Later, Washington would raise taxes and use unethical or illegal methods to collect debts on impoverished colonists & soldiers. Washington's lousy behavior ignited an uprising in 1786 called "Shay's Rebellion" in Mount Vernon, NY. A story not too often shared in history books. The historical account reveals the basic horror movie scenario of how victims rise against a mighty adversary after a period of long-term suffering.
https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/shays-rebellion
Maybe this is why America and American media give homage plus gravitate to the many examples of horror plus violent behavior exhibited by characters who tend to be hell-bent on scaring everybody to death. Because it's a story Americans can relate with historically. Moreover, one of the American media's most dubious characters is a clown named "It." This article seeks to knit together the historic repeated actions or reactions to a person of evil intent. Plus, just like in a Grimm's Story Book Tale, how ordinary people fight back. You will notice three unique steps used in old folk tales, present-day horror movies, and historic accounts when addressing violent or just plain old evil people. Within the target population of victims running from aggressors, whether they be evil spirits, monsters, or accurate historical accounts, comes a portion of victims who get tired of running from the problem. These characters are the change-makers. And the first thing that they will do in both fiction and nonfiction stories is
Reason together
Confirm a valid but misplaced truth about the aggressor
Then they attack the aggressor with the truth, empowering other frightened victims to be enlightened and destroy the enemy and all his or, better yet, "It's" lies.
So let's take a closer look at the characteristic of "Pennywise," aka "It."
The character "It" is about a pedophile clown that runs around acting out his menacing and depraved behavior on children and adults. Furthermore, worse yet, he has an influence that traps and makes said vulnerable young population twice the devil he is in the movie if they succumb to his power. The screen portrayal of It. is just horrifying. Said movie can make people tremble in their seats. Plus, pull covers over their heads and cover their ears so that they do not see the said monster in the movie that has managed to endanger, attack, and kill fellow actors in the film.
The reaction that the movie seeks to send is one of fear, on the one hand. And then, just like in and "Olde Grimms Fairy Tale," provide a platform where said terrorized community fights back in the film and slays said clown for a season because everybody knows that the devil always comes back with the same old method he used before. But on the flip-side, empowered or enlightened people take "It" out quicker than before because they know the truth. Hence know how to destroy the monster.
So, where can we find an example of murderous clowns today?
(Pictured below a few police officers who are being investigated for police misconduct https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/investigations/2019/04/24/usa-today-revealing-misconduct-records-police-cops/3223984002/)
Today we can see the characteristics of "It" running around per a portion of people wearing police uniforms within local and state police stations. Whose actions reveal the uniquely different stance of honest police officers who came on the force to protect and serve the public. In comparison to violent police officers, & real police officers are as different as apples and onions.
And the only way said serial killer officers are getting away with unjustified behavior is because of a lie put out to the public. And as long as the lie perpetrates the truth, dishonest police officers, just like the character "It," will keep on doing evil to other human beings and critters alike. But suddenly, amid all the terrorism, a small portion within the portion of attacked people begin to get fed up. Build up their courage and begin to take actual footage of witnessing violent police officers acting out. And reason together.
Which is dangerous in itself. But people armed with the truth are a mighty force to reckon with! These are the change-makers per every story line. Change makers share the truth with the public. The public is informed of the truth, confronts the issue with the facts. And like a George Floyd protest come out per the masses, to address reckless behavior of officers who murder & terrorize their fellow citizens. Just like in times past, enlightened people armed with the truth stop dying and running and begin to talk back and put people acting like "It the clown" in its place.
In America's history, we see this scenario of good versus evil over and over again. Below are a few examples.
The Enlightenment Social Reform Movement, also known as part of "The First Great Awakening," was led by Thomas Clarkson and William Wilburforce. With the support one of England's Black Queen's Sophia Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Per this period, people began to reason together regarding the different attributes that people who professed to be Christian & supported the brutal behavior exhibited on Africans and children. Compared to real Christians who had both a moral and emotional rejection of the transatlantic slave trade and child abuse. Research during the 1700s found that the two sets of Christians were as different as apples and onions. The movement stopped the British Slave Trade in 1807. The act was followed by abolishing slavery in all of England provinces, including Canada, as of 1833. But many adults and children died before solving the issue. It was indeed a massacre. (Above a picture of Thomas Clarkson & Below William Wilburforce with whom a HBCU is named after.)
The Abolitionist Movement is also known as part of "The Second Great Awakening," influenced by an English Minister by the name of George Whitfield, a Calvinist who purposely came to America in hopes of trying to lead colonists back to their Christian faith that had all but disappeared in America per the mid and late 1700's. Would later give fodder to the abolitionist movement led by William Garrison in 1833 during the same period when England abolished the slave trade in her provinces. Garrison started the American Anti-Slavery Society from 1830 to 1865 utilizing his newspaper called "The Liberator." Leaders of the American Anti Slavery Movement were:
William Garrison
Frederick Douglas
Sojourner Truth
Harriet Beecher Stowe
John Brown
Angelina Grimke, and
Harriet Tubman, to name a few.
The American Civil War of 1861 was another period in America where the abuses of chattel slavery coupled with the false doctrine that people of color were part animals because of the color of their skin. This would bring together desperate men wanting to be free to rise to the occasion and confront the evil acted out by their slave owners. "During the Civil War, Douglass was a consultant to President Abraham Lincoln and helped convince him that men subjected to the abuses of chattel slavery should serve in the Union forces and that the abolition of slavery should be a goal of the war." Once President Lincoln and radical republicans took Frederick Douglas's advice, the Union Army immediately began to win the war against the confederates thanks to the support of freed and runaway men of color.
The Niagara Movement of 1905 was "led by a group of prominent Black intellectuals led by W.E.B. Du Bois met in Erie, Ontario, near Niagara Falls, to form an organization calling for civil and political rights for Afro Americans." Here in America, it was another time when lynchings and terror attacks were made against Black people just because they were free. The Niagara Movement put a constitution and by-laws and drafted a "Declaration of Principles" that dedicated the group to fight for African Americans' political and social equality. And read as thus, "We refuse to allow the impression to remain that the Negro-American assents to inferiority, is submissive under oppression and apologetic before insults," the declaration read in part. "Persistent manly agitation is the way to liberty, and toward this goal, the Niagara Movement has started and asks the cooperation of all men of all races.", the Niagara Movement mission is the foundation principle for the National Association of Colored People because one other name that Negro Americans was referred as was a "Colored Person." (Below the original members of the Niagara Movement w/W.E.B. Dubious center)
N.A.A.C.P. / Civil Rights Movement
Hence the Niagara Movement changed its name to the National Association of Colored People. N.A.A.C.P. brought about massive changes from 1909 -1968. By a small group of concerned citizens by the name of W.E.B. Dubious, Ida B Wells, Mary White Ovington, and William Walling, to say a few. This small group of change-makers would make an impactful difference by telling the truth and getting laws enforced on behalf of disenfranchised Black citizens. During a period when lynching a person for being Black was the norm. Charles Hamilton Houston Esq was a man nicked named as "The Man Who Killed Jim Crow" would mentor Thurgood Marshall, who would sweep through reforms on behalf of Black citizens. Plus, argue their rights in a court of law. Thurgood Marshall Esq. was the N.A.A.C.P. Legal Fund Director till 1961. In 1967 Marshall was promoted to be the first Black Associate Justice of the Supreme Court and did many good works. A Mr. Jack Goldberg replaced Marshall as the director of the N.A.A.C.P. Legal Fund in 1961 and developed an N.A.A.C.P. Mexican American Legal Fund in 1968. The same year Rev Martin Luther King was assassinated. The mission statement was changed. And by the 70s & 80s, the N.A.A.C.P., a highly influential defender of Black citizens, dwindled in their ability to assist Black folks. But this example in American history still rings true when a small group of people within the population—reason amongst themselves. And with the truth in their grasp can defeat every weapon formed against them. No matter how horrifying or dangerous.(Pictured below Rev Dr. Martin Luther King, Charles Hamilton Houston Esq, and Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Thurgood Marshall Esq.)
Lastly,
The "Woke Movement" 2014 took flight, becoming a focal point gathering of The National Action Network, N.A.A.C.P., and the newly developed Black Lives Matter Movement. Triggered by a young man slain because Mr. Patel, the store owner, accused Brown of stealing something from the store. Upon trying to leave the store. Patel blocked Brown from leaving the store. Wherewith Brown picked up Patel and pushed him out of the way. Patel called the police, and the officer shot Brown and left his body in the streets for hours. Because the public witnessed the incident, plus Brown lying in the street. Regular community members began flooding social media. Wherewith providing N.A.N, N.A.A.C.P., and B.L.M. with the truth. Footage taken by ordinary citizens allowed Black organizations to reunite with concerned citizens to bring about an ongoing process in addressing the murdering of Black men for petty reasons.
(Below Rev Al Sharpton of National Action Network, Rev Jessie Jackson Founder of Operation PUSH/Rainbow Coalition, with Rev Martin Luther King III attending Micheal Brown's Service.)
So in closing, we can see many examples how the art of horror movies can imitate real-life stories and the dark history of America. Plus, see the same scenario of how ordinary people can defeat evil with truth, justice, and determination via the prism of film-making.
Thanks for reading, don't overeat candy, and please enjoy "You Get What You Give - Maybe Your Brainwashed?" by The New Radicalshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j91RZ01PZwA
Reference points!
William Wilberforce,
speech before the House of Commons, April 18, 1791
Source: Hansard, T.C. (printer) (1817), The Parliamentary History of England from the earliest period to the year 1803 XXIX, London: Printed by T.C. Hansard, p. 278 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Wilberforce#cite_ref-114
https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/shays-rebellion/
https://naacp.org/find-resources/history-explained/civil-rights-leaders/charles-hamilton-houston
https://www.naacpldf.org/about-us/history/thurgood-marshall/
https://www.naacpldf.org/about-us/history/jack-greenberg/
https://apnews.com/article/shootings-police-us-news-st-louis-michael-brown-9aa32033692547699a3b61da8fd1fc62