The folks at Saga Press are generally pretty good about sending in ARCs (advanced review copies) to Locus Magazine for potential review. When I saw The Black Guy Dies First come in at Locus, I decided to give it a look. Locus doesn’t normally cover books about film, but I thought this one was so cool and so important that they actually let me review it – albeit, tacked onto the Jung E film review as part of my ongoing film review column with Josh Pearce.
Christie and I both love horror. A fair number of the poems and fiction pieces we’ve published could easily be considered horror. Moreover, I love this book. It’s a bit off topic for Fantasy Magazine, in a sense; but at the same time there is a lot of overlap between horror and fantasy. In any case, even though it’s a bit different from our usual focus, I thought people should know about this book, so I decided to interview the authors.
Unfortunately, Robin R. Means Coleman, one of the two authors of The Black Guy Dies First, was unavailable for the interview, but Mark H. Harris gave us some great responses. Settle in, have a read!
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What got you hooked on horror—what are some of your earliest memories with horror, and how or when did you become fascinated with it?
The one incident that sticks in my mind the most is borrowing a VHS copy of Night of the Living Dead from the library when I was 12 or so and watching it for the first time. It just struck me how this black-and-white movie, which seemed so ancient to me, was so edgy and ahead of its time—from the gory content to the portrayal of a Black protagonist leading an otherwise white cast to its downer ending that showed how horror wasn’t beholden to Hollywood endings. I’m naturally drawn to dark storylines, so this really pulled me into the genre.
What is wonderful or crucial about horror as a genre—what does horror do that other modalities can’t or don’t do, for you as individuals, for audiences and culture, or both?
Horror by its nature reflects the fears and anxieties of society. Even if a movie isn’t meant to have a deeper meaning, meaning can be culled from the tone of the film, the edginess of the content, the nature of the threat, and so forth. The graphic nature of Night of the Living Dead, for instance, reflected the turbulence of the late ’60s, with the Vietnam War, race riots, protests, and political assassinations. Horror tends to be more metaphorical in nature than most other genres, and a lot of horror movies intentionally place underlying meaning in the stories. It’s hard not to read commentary on McCarthyism in Invasion of the Body Snatchers, for instance, or women’s rights in The Stepford Wives and consumerism in The Stuff.
One of the things I really enjoyed about The Black Guy Dies First is the humor. Sometimes dry, sometimes sarcastic, often biting—humor and cleverness make this read exceptional. What was the process behind going humorous, instead of simply scathing, or strictly historical? And how did the delivery of humor work—was it mutually developed, or does it derive more from one person’s voice or style?
We wanted to make this book as accessible as possible, because its message of inclusiveness and cultural understanding will only go so far if we’re just preaching to the choir. Humor seemed like the best way to pull in people who might not otherwise be drawn to the subject matter of race. There are a million straightforward, serious books about race, and while they have their place, there is a certain percentage of the population who will never be tempted to crack them open. So we tried to make this book a fun, entertaining read first and foremost and then slip the educational aspects in there “incognegro.” Plus, the humor is also a reflection of our love for the horror genre and how, even if it has serious undertones and themes, it’s a fun genre that we’ve enjoyed for decades. As for the tone, I’ll (Mark) take the blame; if you visit my site, BlackHorrorMovies.com, you’ll see it’s pretty reminiscent of that style.
What was the initial inspiration for putting this book together, and how did it develop; how did it change from inspiration to final product?
Robin and I had been in touch for years due to our shared interest in Black horror and had always expressed the desire to work together, but we had no real concrete plans until Joe Monti at Saga Press approached Robin about doing a follow-up to her book Horror Noire. He had seen the documentary based on the book and had loved it (justifiably so) and wanted to do something on the topic that was a bit less academic in nature than Horror Noire. And when Robin considered who would be able to dumb down the material, she immediately thought of me! No, but seriously, it was a dream project for us both to be able to write about a subject we love and to be able to combine both education and entertainment in one package, and everyone at Saga Press and Simon & Schuster has provided great support to produce a beautiful final product and to get the word out about it. It’s still very surreal to me that it all actually happened. It was all a very smooth process; I can’t say much changed from the original concept to the final package.
Why focus on horror specifically, versus cinema in general?
First, we love horror, and it’s what we’d watch by choice, even if we weren’t writing about it. Second, as previously mentioned, horror is particularly revealing about the nation’s fears and anxieties, and America has plenty of that when it comes to race. Third, while Black people have historically experienced marginalization in other genres, horror stands out because marginalization typically equates to death, a fate that is so blunt and dismissive that it draws attention and generates discussion—thus the well-known trope that gave us the name of the book. It’s a catchy, fun, and useful way to introduce the topic of the treatment that Black characters have received over the years, their placement in particular non-starring roles that put them in imminent danger of receiving an ax to the chest.
The word “Horror,” for many, immediately turns some people off. I think a number of people assume “Horror” means a slasher flick. Who is the audience for this book, and who do you think will get enjoyment from reading it?
I agree that to many non-horror fans, the term “horror” immediately conjures images of the cheapest, cheesiest slasher imaginable, which is why they’re so surprised when they discover any of the many well-made, intelligent, incisive horror movies out there. We tried to make the book accessible enough for these people to help spark an interest in horror, but at the same time, since those who are already horror fans will probably be more inclined to check out the book, we wanted to dig deep enough into the genre to uncover subject matter that might surprise and enlighten hardcore genre fans. Likewise, we tried to balance out the racial appeal. While we include some Black cultural references and “in jokes” in the book that Black readers will enjoy, we keep the humor general enough to appeal to a wider readership. It’s a tricky balance, trying to draw in both a niche crowd (genre-wise or racially speaking) and a mainstream audience, but I think we succeeded in covering as many bases as we could.
What is special or important about this book for you, beyond blurbs and reviews?
For me, it’s a gratifying cherry on the top of the rise of Black horror over the past decade, as well as the culmination of my experience as a Black horror movie fan and operator of BlackHorrorMovies.com. When I started the site in 2005, there was so little discussion dedicated to the Black presence in horror that I basically felt obliged to create my own site. At the time, the concept of a critically acclaimed, widely distributed, financially successful Black horror movie was hard to fathom. Most Black horror films were direct-to-video cheapies, often playing upon tired “urban” stereotypes. Now, movies like Get Out are winning Oscars and topping the box office. It’s an incredible turnaround, and I hope the book is able to convey how far things have come for Black representation in horror.
What were your favorite cool factoids or bits of research that didn’t make it into the final version?
Well, I don’t want to give away content we could use for the next book! No, but really, there’s not a whole lot of specifics that I can think of, but there was one tidbit that stuck with me: a news story that I came across when researching the part of the book dedicated to the Purge movies. There was a Trump supporter somewhere who caused a stir with his neighbors one Halloween because he decorated his house with a homemade banner that said something like “Make America Great Again: Purge and Purify.” This was after the first three Purge movies had come out, and it should’ve been obvious that those films were preaching messages that were the antithesis of Trump’s pro-gun, racist, classist, xenophobic rhetoric. We didn’t cite this specific example in the book, but we state generally that this kind of obliviousness to racial implications and messaging is one of the most prevalent and impactful examples of white privilege there is. The guy in the news story even pulled out the “I have a Black friend” line with no sense of irony. That said, overall, I think the main thing that we didn’t have room for in the book was going more in-depth on movies cited. We just briefly mention a lot of films that deserve deeper dives. And there are plenty of others we didn’t even get to mention at all.
Do you have books or other kinds of resources that people should check out if they liked this one?
Robin’s Horror Noire is an essential read if you’re interested in Black horror. Coincidentally, she released a second edition just a few months before The Black Guy Dies First, so it’s updated with tons of new material up to the present day, and because it was written around the same time as our book, we were able to balance out the topics to ensure we didn’t duplicate anything. So we view it as a companion piece to our book. It’s more serious and scholarly, of course, with not as many dick jokes, but it’s still accessible enough for a wide range of readers to enjoy. There are also a couple of recent books on the Black presence in Hollywood in all genres that are well worth checking out. Colorization: One Hundred Years of Black Films in a White World by Wil Haygood is so rich and informative, it should be a required textbook in any film school. Meanwhile, Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898-1971, a companion to an exhibition at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, is a gorgeous coffee table book that is as entertaining to look at as it is to read.
Is there anything else you’d like Fantasy Magazine readers to know about The Black Guy Dies First, you, or your work?
Just please give the book a chance, even if you’re not a fan of horror movies or of Black people. We just might change your mind on both counts.
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Dr. Robin R. Means Coleman is Northwestern’s vice president and associate provost for diversity and inclusion. An internationally prominent and award-winning scholar, Dr. Coleman’s work focuses on media studies and the cultural politics of Blackness. Dr. Coleman is the author of Horror Noire: Blacks in American Horror Films from the 1890s to Present and African American Viewers and the Black Situation Comedy: Situating Racial Humor. She is coauthor of Intercultural Communication for Everyday Life. She is the editor of Say It Loud: African American Audiences, Media, and Identity and coeditor of Fight the Power: The Spike Lee Reader. She is also the author of a number of other academic and popular publications. Dr. Coleman is featured in, and executive produced, the critically acclaimed documentary film Horror Noire which is based on her book Horror Noire: Blacks in American Horror Films from the 1890s to Present.
Mark H. Harris is an entertainment journalist who has written about cinema and pop culture for over twenty years for New York magazine, Vulture, Rotten Tomatoes, About.com, PopMatters, Salem Horror Fest, Napster, MadAtoms, Pretty Scary, Ugly Planet, and THEiNDI. A lifelong horror fan, he created the website BlackHorrorMovies.com in 2005 as the premier online source chronicling the history of Black representation and achievement in horror cinema. He was a featured commentator in the acclaimed documentary Horror Noire and the Shudder series Behind the Monsters.