Shadow and Substance: The Role of the Magical Negro in Horror Narratives


Iyanla Laing
Shadow and Substance:The Role of the Magical Negro in Horror Narratives, 2024
Video with sound
2 minutes 31 seconds

Shadow and Substance: The Role of the Magical Negro in Horror Narratives compiles short excerpts from Iyanla Laing’s mental archive of black characters in horror films. A horror aficionado since childhood, Laing has always felt an attachment to the typically lone black character in horror films like Scream, Final Destination, or I Know What You Did Last Summer. Her work selects and edits key moments of each character’s story, some with obvious racist and exploitative tones, and others without. Through quick cuts, repetition, and moments of reprise, Laing’s work asks whether the film industry has forced us to take a redundant view of black people in media, or if there is any freedom to interpret these characters differently.

---Olivia Pan---