Presentation: Told and Retold – Candyman and Films of Social Transition

A paper presentation delivered at the “Candyman and the Whole Damn Swarm” conference, hosted by the Centre for the History of the Gothic at the University of Sheffield, in collaboration with the University of California, Riverside in October, 2022. The abstract for the presentation follows:

Films that address social issues concerning communities in a political minority follow a pattern of social transition over time, as the community in question acquires more political power and voice. In the broadest strokes, “socially transitional” films mark a migration of community voice from the periphery to the center of the narrative. Within a Black American context, as Black creatives gained more power in the film-making industry, Black actors went from playing white-scripted supporting roles, to playing protagonists in films with Black writers, directors and producers. This process isn’t historically linear – Oscar Micheaux was directing Black films with Black casts starting in 1919, two decades before Hattie McDaniel won her Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Gone With the Wind.

This paper will look at the Candyman films in the context of “socially transitional” films. The initial film starred a white protagonist, and was written and directed by a white Englishman, who grafted African-American cultural elements onto an original story written by Clive Barker and set in Britain. These voices, originating outside the Black community, were complicated by the charisma and glamour of Tony Todd’s performance as Candyman – and were inflected as well by incursions of reality at the edges of neo-realist methods, such as using the Cabrini-Green housing projects as a “found” location, and casting residents as extras – as well as by the input of resident Henrietta Thompson, whose conversations with director Bernard Rose inspired the crucial character of Anne-Marie McCoy. Nia DaCosta’s “spiritual sequel” to Candyman, written, directed and produced by Black creatives, is centered around Black characters, with white characters moved to supporting or peripheral roles. The evolution of the Candyman films provides a fascinating perspective on how stories change, depending on whether they’re situated from the “inside” or the “outside.”