Superhero Media: Luke Cage - Season 1

Sweet Christmas! This programme was amazing. The cast, production, writing and photography was all spot-on and it has more layers than an onion. Warner Brothers and DC keep trying to make their audio-visual media more "adult", but Luke Cage blows them all out of the water with what it does. If you haven't seen it yet, get on it before you go too much further; I won't be doing many plot spoilers, but I will be talking in-depth about theme, character and the role of music and race in Luke Cage. The series is set in racially-ghettoized Harlem and musically the audience are transported into that world, from John Lee Hooker to Wu-Tang Clan, this is more than a soundtrack, it's an outburst. In the first few episodes, the classic soul and R&B of Pop's Barber Shop is juxtaposed by Cottonmouth's preference for the gangster rhythms and flow of Biggie Smalls, much in the way "Black Music" is categorised by a mainstream [white] audience. It is not until Luke is about to bust in a drug smuggling hideout, when he puts in his headphones and we hear "do you think your Wu-Tang style can defeat me?" and "Bring Da Ruckus" starts up that the full breadth of the sound of black rage at systematic and cultural oppression is brought to bear. 

It must be time for some major film nerding, because I'm about to discuss the overt use of semiotics inn Luke Cage. That a bullet-riddled hoodie becomes emblematic not only of Cage himself, but of events like Trayvon Martin and the #blacklivesmatter movement, is not only clever writing, but is a use of the superhero medium of storytelling in a manner more subversive than any other since V for Vendetta. The idea that Luke is the hero that Black America needs more than any other, not because of his inherent humanity, but because he is simply a black man that the police cannot shoot dead, is a powerful message that rightly has made many conservative and white audiences and commentators uncomfortable. The Luke Cage presented here is not the Blacksploitation pastiche that first graced the comics, he is Martin Luther King, Chuck D, Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, Trayvon Martin, Rodney King, Obama, Grandmaster Flash and Danny Glover wrapped in unbreakable skin and giving the strength he needs to tear down the establishment. Sweet Christmas.

I guess I should about the story, it's ok, not as good as past Marvel Netflix efforts, but as Captain America: Civil War demonstrated, Marvel's strength lies in character more so than narrative. I mean, what are you going to do, watch DC stuff for character? Arrow is built around hot people moping, at least with Luke Cage tells the story of fascinating people dealing with the circumstances into which they are thrust. I am super keen for Iron Fist and The Defenders now, but I really want to see Luke join the Avengers, like his comic counterpart.

Superhero Media: Sugar Hill

A while back, SBS (Aussie television station) ran a Blacksploitation night, showing several famous films of the genre, the last of which was Sugar Hill, which I figured was a precursor to films like Coffy, with an African-American heroine put-upon by "the man" until she couldn't take it anymore and sought bloody revenge. Imagine my surprise when I discover that, after her man is killed, "Sugar" goes after his killers with the aid of Baron Samedi (Zamedi in this version) and an army of zombie Haitian slaves! Holy shit is that a cool concept straight out of the gate! Add to that that Marki Bey is awesome in the lead as Sugar and Don Pedro Colley commits like all get out to the role of Zamedi. Once Sugar sells her soul to the baron, her path is set, revenge in return for an eternity as the Zamedi's bride, unless she can find another to offer in her place... 

Ok, before I wax lyrical even more about this awesome cult gem, perhaps some of the bad points? Like pretty much all 1970s cult cinema, Sugar Hill has dated like no one's business; the costumes, music and hairstyles are all pretty damn funny and kind of drag the narrative down. The Blacksploitation genre nesescity of all white people being corrupt and racist grates in its anachronism, but also is not comfortable in this contemporary #blacklivesmatter society; have we really advanced that little, or have we gone backwards? I'm surprised that this genre of cinema hasn't re-surged as Neoconservative racism gains strength. Many of the actors aren't great (Bey and Colley aside) and the zombie makeup is pretty terrible, though I do like the reflective eyes as they give an otherworldly appearance. 
 

So what can we take away from Sugar Hill? That this would make an awesome comic! Sugar's husband is killed by the mob, in her grief she turns to an aunt who practices dark magic, before she knows it, Sugar has sold her soul to Baron Samedi and can command the undead; can she get her revenge before the Baron comes to collect? As the comic continues, Sugar trades other women for herself, but finds that there is always one more injustice to right and can never quite break the deal. Hell, I'd read it. 

 

Superhero Media: Blacula

When I watched this, I assumed that it would be pretty awful. I mean, I have a good tolerance for poorly made cinema, what with my love of Wuxia, Kaiju and pulp Sci-Fi, but, c'mon, Blacula? All that was going through my head for the first few minutes was Jefferson Twilight saying "I hunt and kill black Draculas, I don't know the politically correct term for that". That said, once I settled in (and downed my first beer), I found that Blacula was actually surprisingly good, for the most part. The "origin" scene, in which Dracula is entertaining King Mamuwalde and his Queen, sometime in the Colonial era, has the King trying to forge an alliance with Dracula and other European monarchs to protect Africa from the ravages of Colonialism. That's some Black Panther level thinking right there. Of course, it doesn't work, he gets embraced and locked away by the father of all vampires. 

Time moves on and a couple of flamboyantly gay New York interior designers buy Dracula's castle, finding Blacula's coffin and reawakening him, there his search for his lost bride begins. Given the premise, period and obvious lack of budget, Blacula actually manages to be pretty good in parts. The "blood-drinking" scenes and vampire makeup are poor, but Blacula's motives, the police investigation into him and the final confrontation in the pump station are all quite well done. There's a strong social conscience and some great humour; "That is the rudest ni**er I have ever seen in my life." Frankly, I was shocked with how good Blacula managed to be, given the forty-odd years of pop culture that has come after, making fun of this kind of thing. It's a shame, it's independent film, from a tumultuous era and deserves a little more respect than it tends to get; even if it is shonky in places. 

Blacula is better than you think it is. Yes, it's something of a pastiche, but one with a racial conscience and a view to a world of Black Equality. Blacula himself is actually an interesting and well-rounded character, his motivations are complex and driven by his experiences of racism and colonialism; he wants his beloved back, and then it's back to his throne to make Africa strong. I can see shades of Black Panther in here, as well as the way in which Dracula exists in the Marvel Universe, I may have to go looking for some Blacksploitation miniatures.