Recent Watches in Black Speculative Fiction

We are all pudddles of mush at this point, why not watch TV?

My mind has been hopping from topic to topic and doing a lot of research. About what, you ask? Abolition, Unreliable narrators, Black Speculative Fiction, the connection between music, art, film, and stories in Afrofuturism. Basically everything and nothing all at once. So I have found myself absorbing information this last week. I will talk about these connections soon but right now, I’m just resigning myself to the role of sponge. 😅 Until then, why not talk about my current and recent watches? I talk about current reads on every other platform, so I don’t want to repeat that stuff. Let me know if you’ve watched any of them, and let’s talk!!

1. The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster (2023)– I’m going to save my full thoughts for this one because it’s connected to my 2024 Frankenstein Project (This year, I’m reading Frankenstein and then watching and reading as many Black, Indigenous, and Authors of Color adaptations as I can find.) After experiencing the violent deaths of her mother, older brother, and the impending death of her father, Vicaria (Laya DeLeon Hayes) believes that death is a disease and can be cured. She goes on a journey to bring her older brother back to life. It starts out crazy, but one scene reminds me of the poem “Dinosaurs in the Hood” by Danez Smith (Black Movie). The line:

Don’t let Tarantino direct this. In his version, the boy plays

with a gun, the metaphor: black boys toy with their own lives

the foreshadow to his end, the spitting image of his father

It’s currently on Hulu and Disney+ if you get a chance!

2. Avant- Guardians (2017)– A six episode web series on Youtube is about a guardian angel, Razz (Alesia Etinoff), in therapy with archangel, Dr. Hanniel (Zainab Johnson). With humor, simplicity, and the occasional breaking of the 4th wall, they speak about the trials and tribulations of Black people. Also, Razz is the guardian angel of the future third Black President of America, whom she calls Creepy Charlie because he is, in fact, creepy.

3. The Brother From Another Planet (1984)- I see why this movie is a cult classic. We follow an escaped enslaved alien, labeled “the brother” (Joe Morton), who has crash-landed in New York City and is on the run. Why is he an enslaved person on his home planet? I’ll let you figure that out and then come back so we can yell WTF together. The plot was held together by a shoestring and solid Morton’s yet silent performance. I loved the score and cinematography, though. This movie is on Tubi!

4.Orfeo Negro (Black Orpheus) (1959)– This is a movie I’ll be watching soon because I do a rewatch every year. This Brazilian retelling of Eurydice (Marpessa Dawn) and Orpheus’ (Breno Mello) love story is a classic everyone should watch. It introduces Bossa Nova to the world and sets the story during Carnival. I watched it for the first time in high school, and it is an excellent reminder that we are all connected in the Diaspora. This one can be found on Youtube!

5. Black Speculative Fiction’s Impact on Popular Culture at NBWC2023– In real life, at work, I listen to audiobooks and panels. This panel is currently on YouTube. So far, the conversation with Tim Fielder, Ytosha Womack, Christine Taylor-Butler, Jessie J. Holland, and Jarvis Sheffield has been insightful!