Write a minimum of 400 words on topics we have discussed in class so far.
Please note that blog posts will be checked for plagiarism.
If you publish your blog post online for extra credit, ALSO include the URL (in addition to uploading the file to Canvas).
Write at least 400 words of your personal thoughts on what we have discussed in class so far: Afrofuturism in general or specific works. These assignments should have a personal, not scholarly, tone. (Citations are not required and are actually discouraged because they will not be personal.
Suggested topics: (These are just suggestions, so you are not required to use all or any of these prompts)
What did you like/not like about any of the works?
Did anything you learned last week surprise you about Afrofuturism?
Is this course different than what you were expecting? Why/why not?
Have you had a personal event in your life that reminded you of any of these works? If so…how?
Please note that these essays will be checked for plagiarism.
A SAMPLE BLOG SUBMISSION:
Blog Assignment #__________
Your name ________________
URL: [only if published] EXAMPLE: 400 words:
As a lifelong horror lover who has co-written and co-produced a short zombie film, I’ve often pondered why zombies have so taken hold of the public imagination. An uncomfortable revelation dawned on me in 2014 as I watched the police army amass in reaction to protesters in Ferguson:
We–people of color, and Black people in particular–are this country’s zombies. We are the horrifying shadow suburbia is afraid will slip through the window at night. We are the reason for the U.S. history of stockpiling guns, dating back to fears of slave rebellions. Terror over the nation’s “browning” make us the shambling masses who drive people to lock their doors and fantasize about barricades and sudden flight. It’s not true for all of us who love zombies, obviously, and it’s usually not conscious–but it’s the simmering social subtext.
Recently, science fiction author Greg Bear echoed my observation during a lunch with me and my husband, author Steven Barnes, at the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon): American horror, he said, has its origins in fear of The Other.
Which brings me to the new AMC series “Fear the Walking Dead,” which had so much blatant anti-Black imagery in its first two episodes that even white reviewers took notice. The word The Hollywood Reporter used was “polarizing,” but I’m comfortable with “racist.” This week, Vanity Fair published the rhetorical headline “Has Fear The Walking Dead Inherited The Walking Dead’s Race Problem?” Another blogger wrote yesterday on how the show is angering fans. And this post from a Black writer: “Why I’m Quitting Fear the Walking Dead: It’s Kind of Racist.”
If you’ve been paying attention to the show’s predecessor, “The Walking Dead,” these charges of racial bias against Black men in particular are far from new. My husband stopped watching it with me after the strong Alpha from the graphic novels, Tyreese, was killed off after being rendered utterly ineffectual on the TV version. (This after the insulting creation and sacrificial death of “T-Dog,” who was even more ineffectual.) We’ve heard the dismissive “Who, us?” responses from showrunners, basically, “Hey, it’s the zombie apocalypse–everybody dies!”
But “Fear of the Walking Dead” shows its hand in ways that even its predecessor did not.
During a moment in Episode 2, I said to my husband, “Oh, God–do you think they would…?” And his response, even as someone who had disavowed “The Walking Dead” was: “They wouldn’t. It would be too obvious.”
Resources to use for this weeks blog post:
- “The Only Lasting Truth” – Tananarive Due: (for 4/22)
- Ellen Peel. (for 4/22)
- Finish Parable of the Sower – for April 22 discussion
- Watch Children of Men (streaming) – for April 22 discussion
Music
Google Slides
- On The Space Traders, Rockit and Octavia E. Butler –
- Sonic Futures-
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