Blog Post #5

 In The Bride Before you, one of the six installments of the collected short films included in Horror Noire conceptualized problematic themes of colorism and gender favoritism that are embedded into the social landscape of the modern African American community. The short story follows a young prosperous Black couple, although they are wealthy they are desperate to conceive a child. Full of desperation and frustration, the young wife confides in her trusted housemaid to connect with a local voodoo practitioner. After following the instructions the young woman falls pregnant and births a light-skinned son. The son grows up and is a prosperous man; however, the house seemingly is haunted as it frequently shakes and growls. As a grown man, the son presents a beautiful and wealthy debutante he intends to marry named Clara. Clara pressures the housemaid into allowing her into the attic to inspect the source of the noises, and she is killed by a strange figure. Devastated by the loss, the son and his father move away as the mother falls apart into a pit of despair. Again, the son returns with his new wife and again she is killed by the house. The story reveals that when the mother birthed her son she actually birthed a baby girl first who had spider-like limbs and was cast away in the attic for no one to see. The mother ventures into the attic where she apologizes to her daughter for keeping her away and not loving her the way she loved her son. The mother rips apart the spider-like cast and a beautiful dark-skinned girl is revealed to be hidden under a monstrous guise. This short story in its entirety conceptualizes the harm colorism can cause and the preference and societal prioritization of light-skinned persons, like their proximity to Eurocentric beauty standards increase their worth of their personhood. Colorism in the African American community is like a disease that isolates the dark-skinned and barricades their beauty to be seen just due to the fact black person's physical characteristics such as wide nose, curly hair, curvy and or athletic physiques, etc---black attributes were perceived as undesirable. It’s a common experience within the black community to experience favoritism for conforming to white standards of being and isolation for vice versa. Familial black dynamics often implement favoritism dependent on skin complexion and it can create and maintain resentment and even hatred for the mistreatment. I think this short film does an excellent job in showcasing these complex themes that are unfortunately an unavoidable aspect of the African American experience.