Research

Official Abstract

This examination dissects the positions held by the Black community, the disability community, and people dealing with mental health struggles within the contemporary horror media space, namely film and television. This analysis focuses on the horror content of the Western world, with the bulk of emphasis placed upon examples specific to the US and Canada. In order toanalyze the relationship between Blackness and horror, a breakdown of the historical, socio-cultural circumstances of Black people in North America is coupled with an analysis of phenomena across the on-screen horror genre during the time periods in question. Furthermore, the term “madness” refers to the discipline of Mad Studies which seeks to position the experiences and perspectives of people socially classified as mentally ill, disabled, and the like at the center of socio-cultural analysis; this research draws connections between socio-cultural dynamics pertaining to those populations and assesses correlating translations in horror media.