visions of modulating blackness
Dystopia
An imagined world or society in which people lead wretched, dehumanized, fearful lives.
Both the short stories in Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah and the movie Sorry to Bother You can be characterized as dystopian.
"In Friday Black, the dystopian future Adjei-Brenyah depicts - like all great dystopian fiction - is bleakly futuristic only on its surface. At its center, each story - sharp as a knife - points to right now". (New York Times)
Friday Black
Why There Is Nothing Scary About a Black Man in a Hoodie
"The Finkelstein 5"
"Next, he pulled out a long-ago abandoned black hoodie and dove into its tunnel. As a final act of solidarity Emmanuel put on a gray snapback cap, a hat similar to the ones two of the Finkelstein Five had been wearing the day they were murdered
-a fact George Wilson Dunn's defense had stressed throughout the proceedings" (3).
Rage and African Americans
Rage in "Finkelstein 5"
Rage is essential in the way people in the novel experience their blackness.
Climax in the novel --> the protagonist becomes
increasingly angry throughout the story.
“When the ruling was announced, Emmanuel felt a
clicking and grinding in his chest. It burned” (2).
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“He let the nothing he was feeling wash over him in one cold wave after another” (3).
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“Emmanuel ended the call and tried very hard to breathe” (13).
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“The grinding, clicking heat in his chest hadn’t stopped churning since he'd gotten off the bus” (15).
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“Emmanuel turned around and went back to his garage where the bat was waiting for him” (17).
"'All right, I want to put it in blood real quick," said Boogie as he pulled a small box cutter from the glove compartment" (20).
"He wondered if his rage would end; he imagined it leaking out of him" (24).
Code-Switching as a Young Black Man
Code-Switching in "Finkelstein 5"
The protagonist, Emmanuel, has the ability to dial his “blackness” up or down in different situations. He adjusts his Blackness to 1.5 for a phone call with a prospective employer, and raises it to a 10 when he joins a radical protest movement.
"He took a deep breath and set the Blackness in his voice down to a 1.5 on a 10-point scale" (1).
"In public, when people could actually see him, it was impossible to get his Blackness down to anywhere near a 1.5. If he wore a tie, wing-tipped shoes, smiled constantly, used his indoor voice, and kept his hands strapped and calm at his sides, he could get his Blackness as low as 4.0" (1).
"Then he felt it. The feeling of his Blackness rising to an almighty 10.0. He heard a boom that was like the child of thunder" (26).
Stereotype of Agression and Hypermasculine Blackness
Quote from "Zimmer land"
Hypermasculinity is a psychological term for the exaggeration of male stereotypical behavior, such as an emphasis on physical strength, aggression, and sexuality.
"The orgometal makes the pants that were baggy tight. Same for my shirt. I become a huge block of muscle. Something different, more dangerous than a man" (89).
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Concept of 'Monstrosity': We see in the quote how the black person is depicted as someone monstrous, even more dangerous than a man.
Sorry to Bother You (2018)
In Sorry to Bother You a young black telemarketer adopts a white accent to succeed at his job.
When Black Performers Use Their White Voice
Episode "Dead men don't flush" from a 90s sitcom Martin
A plumber dies suddenly while fixing Martin's bathroom. He is not taken seriously when calling 911. Martin thus tries calling 911 again, in a way which makes him pass as white (overenunciation; emphasis on a hard “r”). This time he is more successful.
“White Like Me”, Eddie Murphy’s 1984 sketch on Saturday Night Live
He adopts whiteface and an uptight speaking style for a day.
Keenen Ivory Wayans: White Chicks (2004)
Two black F.B.I. agents who are brothers go undercover as white sisters.
Spike Lee: BlacKkKlansman (2018)
Based on the true story of a black detective who infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan by pretending to be a white racist over the phone.
The material on this page was compiled, created, and arranged by Yasmin Naderi.
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