Hollywood's Haiti: Allegory, Crisis, and Intervention in The Serpent and the Rainbow and White Zombie
2015; Routledge; Volume: 19; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/17409292.2015.1028791
ISSN1740-9306
Autores Tópico(s)Literature, Magical Realism, García Márquez
ResumoThe first two republics in the Americas, the United States, and Haiti have a long, complicated history. Not surprisingly, the U.S./Haiti relationship has resulted in a large body of writing, both fiction and non-fiction. However, this cultural output has not extended to Hollywood, with very few films that have been set in Haiti. This essay explores how an allegorical reading of two of these films, Wes Craven's The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988) and Victor Halperin's White Zombie (1932), enables new ways to think about Haiti's past, present, and future. Moreover, the essay considers the function of the “zombie” figure: born in Haiti and transformed in diverse times and contexts abroad, the contemporary cinematic zombie has been largely divorced for much of its life from its Haitian origins.
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