Month: November 2016

The movie the White zombie utilizes zombies in order to represent the view of slaves by white people. Slaves were not treated as though they had souls and this was made evident through the scene where Murder Legender shows Charles Beaumont around his sugar mill and is extremely disturbed by what he is observing. Yet this is exactly the same reality that is occurring in his own factories where slaves are essentially treated as if they have no soul. This is very clearly demonstrated when one of the zombies falls into the sugar cane grinder and no one bats an eye. This is largely due to the fact that these zombies are property just as slaves are therefore they can simply be replaced. It reflects on how slaves were treated in the past and the memory of slaves. In modern times we think of the act of slavery as barbaric and yet in the time of slavery slaves were viewed as inhuman and animalistic.

This scene directly relates to the reading of “The magic island” because of the way it portray’s zombies. Within the reading the zombies are described as “…dead men and women walking singe file in the twilight, with no soul leading them or daring to follow…” This scene within the reading shows many similarities with how the native zombies are portrayed within the movie. They are portrayed as soulless creatures who are simply on the earth to do work and nothing more working tirelessly until they cannot work any longer. Just as many slaves were treated in times of slavery, where many were subject to being treated like animals and being placed into a derelict state. Therefore the movie “The white Zombie” and the novel “The Magic Island” both seek to bring forth the memory of how slaves were truly treated and what terrible states they were placed into as if they were not even human.

Both W. Seabrook’s The Magic Island and the movie White Zombie explore the idea of magic and voodoo in Haiti. While White Zombie focused primarily on zombies, Magic Island also emphasized other superstitions that were feared in Haitian culture. Immediately, I noticed that the zombies shown in White Zombie and The Magic Island are very different from the zombies we are familiar with today. In most TV shows, video games and other forms of media, zombies are portrayed as completely brainless and unaware, only seeking human flesh. However, in Haiti based on the movie and the reading, it seems as if zombies were usually under some sort of spell, or under somebody else’s control and prepared to do their bidding. It is important to note that the zombie masters/creators were usually white. By having these white masters, controlling zombies who had absolutely no say in what they were forced to do, it definitely draws a parallel with how slavery was in Haiti at the time. The zombie masters could very easily be compared to the slave masters, as can the zombies to the slaves.

One specific example of this can be seen in the White Zombie Von Gelder decides he is going to kill Charles Beaumont. While Charles had already been poisoned, his only hope had been Dr. Bruner, however, Von Gelder summoned his squad of zombies, which easily overpowered him and carried him away. The zombies were pretty much forced to do whatever their master pleased, as they didn’t have the brain to object. Similar to how slaves in Haiti were often forced to do their owner’s work and were so oppressed that it was very difficult for them to do otherwise.

White zombie was made in 1932 and was the first film to introduce zombies to the Americans. The setting is in Haiti where people believed in voodoo and zombies. The Magic Island also takes place in Haiti, both White Zombie and The Magic Island highlight the beliefs of the natives during that time. They believed in magic and bring the dead back to life. In the movie, White Zombies, we see a white man named Murder Legendre in Haiti who possesses the power to create zombies. There is a rich white man who asks for Legendre’s help to reanimate a girl who he couldn’t get with alive. After the girl was killed and zombified, the man finally has her to himself, but little does he know that the girl was brought back to life yet had no life in her. When he realizes that she was just a soulless body, he regrets his decision. In both the book and the movie, zombies are a symbol reflecting on how the whites viewed the slaves. When these zombies are brought back to life, they are manipulated by their “master” and do as he says. This is just like the reality of slavery at that time. This is proved by the scene in the movie where the white men uses the zombies to work in the factory and were basically enslaved. This is a mirror of slavery, where slaves are used to do the hard work in Haiti. This is also described in the novel when they described the majority of the zombies. “just as naturally the zombies were nothing but poor, ordinary demented human beings, idiots, forced to toil in the fields.” This quote from the book explains how most zombies were mostly just poor people who worked the fields, a.k.a. the slaves.

The movie White Zombie took place in 1932 Haiti. Within a few minutes of the movie, we see a funeral and zombies. The zombies are surprisingly both white and black. These zombies work for a white man, Murder Legendre, who is just as scary as the zombies.  Zombies are one of the mythical creatures Haiti culture believes in. In the book, The Magical Land, by W.B Seabrook, it talks about Haiti’s superstitious believes. It explains that zombies were made to be a “servant or a slave, occasionally for the commission of some crime… (page 93).”  Murder Legendre uses his zombies for these exact purposes. He commands them to work in his mills and to help him turn a young lady into a zombie.

Zombies were made was for the sole purpose of serving a master, which links to the memory of slavery. Slaves were forced to do harsh labor and meaningless tasks for their masters. Lengendre disturbs the dead  for his own selfish needs. Back then, slaveowners would take dead slaves and display them in front of other slaves in order to show dominance and authority. Slaveowners believed that by using the dead, current slaves would fear them, therefore making slaveowners have more power and making current slaves more afraid to rebel. The concept of zombies working for a master reflects on the mistreatment of dead slaves. In The Magic Land, it uses the phrase “poor unhappy zombies” (Seabrook, 96) , more than once to describe the living dead.  This phrase humanizes the zombies to show that even after death, they are still being mistreated and forced to work against their wills. This is similar to how slaves were treated in general.

Zombies were creatures used as a  metaphor to show the mistreatment of slaves. It shows how slavery was unavoidable in the past. Slaves were forced to work under a master whether they were alive or dead.

The Film “White Zombie” and the reading of “The Magic Island” both share commonalities in terms of what a slave was back then referred as and how it was remembered to be a slave.  A specific scene that refers to this topic is when the man had followed the ‘zombie’ into the factory and saw other ‘zombies’ enslaved and working hard.  This scene portrays how the ‘zombies’ were in sort helped captive as they worked tiredly just as a slave would back in time.

The scene where the man sees all the ‘zombies’ for the first time is very much more understood after doing a close reading of “The Magic Island” as there are quotes in the reading that show how a slave was remembered.  It is said that ‘zombies’ were made a “servant” or “slave” after the body was dug up and used magic upon to revive it so it can move and do as it is told (page 93).  This shows that the zombies in both works were following the same main idea of being enslaved, evident as dead bodies were dug up as well just to eventually do work for their master.

I feel like this truly conveys the topic of “the memory of slavery” because there is a comparison between the ‘zombies’ and the Africans that were enslaved back in the day.  They have a code name of ‘zombie’ in the movie and in the reading to convey a deeper meaning to what and how slaves were treated and are remembered.  From these two works, it is safe to say that since a zombie has no human qualities, slaves were treated as not human as well.  Possibly by the way they were overworked and treated as well. The slaves were dehumanized as much as possible and this is to why they are referred as ‘zombies’ in both works to show how un-human they were.

Seabrook’s Magic Island and the film White Zombie share similar ideas of the use of magic, which caused skepticism, and at the same time, fear. Our current idea of brain-eating zombies in the movies were portrayed differently in the 1930’s as the zombies were subservient to their master’s every command under some spell. The island of Haiti was full of ideas, stories, and myths including wolves, vampires, ghosts, voodoo, and of course zombies. As the story goes, a man confronts a witch doctors in hopes of being with his love who is about to get married. Using magic was his last resort. In the end, it really didn’t work out, as the woman died and turned into a zombie slave.

A man just learning about the magic island of Haiti has asked Polynice, an “experienced” person who’s familiar with the superstitions taking place on the island. As the man was hearing about these folk-tales, he realizes that these creatures or the magic used was also seen in white Europe. He’s heard of demons and vampires, sure, but zombie caught his ear. Polynice was genuinely frightened when he asked “Why so often do you see a tomb or grave set close beside a busy road or footpath where people are always passing?” (94).

The only technical difference between White Zombie and The Magic Island was that in the film, white corpses were only summoned. In Haiti, slaves and white slave masters dealt with zombies and sorcery. Whether believing in the magic or not, slaves could have been zombies metaphorically. The opening sentence of Chapter 2 is “…Dead men working in the fields”(92). These “dead” men are referred to as the zombies or they could just be seen as regular slaves working in the field. Many slaves killed themselves and constantly suffered self-conflicts between living and death. Maybe, these slaves are just lifeless when working because they lost all hope for their lives. Magic and voodoo offered an escape for belief and organization of other slaves. It brought others together. Maybe the Haitian slaves were zombies from the beginning.

The film White Zombie set in Haiti during its occupation has much in common with the reading The Magic Island by W.B. Seabrook. Both the film and the readings illustrate various superstitions and beliefs of Haiti people during this time. White Zombie shows dead people of Haiti being resurrected by a wicked white man. This man goes on to turn a women into a zombie so that another white land owner ca have her has his wife. W.B. Seabrook’s The Magic Island discusses many  superstitions of the people of Haiti. These superstitions include Fire-hags, Vampires, Werewolves, and Zombies. The narrator goes on to say “It seems to me that these Werewolves and Vampires are first cousins to those we have at home, but I have never, except in Haiti, heard anything like zombies.

The Magic Island reading goes on to tell us that the poorest peasants are the ones targeted to become these zombies. It also tells us that these zombies become the person who makes them slaves/servants who are forced to work on farms doing “dull heavy tasks”. This can be seen a call back to slavery in Haiti. These white necromancers ( the people who create the zombies) can be seen as white slave and land owners who and the zombies can be seen as the Haitian slaves that worked the fields.

This relates to a scene in the film White Zombie when the white man who creates the zombies, Von Gelder and Charles Beaumont go to the grave of Madeline to turn her into a zombie. In this scene Von Gelder forces his zombie slaves to do his bidding by carry her coffin. This relates to The Magic Island because it shows that these zombies were meant to represent slaves of Haiti, doing the “dull heavy tasks” such as carrying the coffin. Von Gelder perfectly represents the white slave owner because he is in full control over these zombies/ slaves and they do whatever he wishes.

On Monday we saw part of the film “White Zombie.” The film takes place in Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti. The film is a little strange as we see that Zombies exist. Zombies were generally used as servants or slaves to people of power, or people who had the power to create them. Similar to our readings, the majority of the population of Haiti are blacks, and the slaveowners are whites. In “The Magic Island,” by W.B. Seabrook which also takes place in Haiti, we see that Blacks are not slaves and are now considered equal to whites. Owners very much disliked the fact that blacks were now equal to them and that they now have to pay them. We see many similarities within the movie and passage. In the movie there was a couple who was looking to get married. They came to this mans house to do so, however the man had different intentions. He was in love with the lady and wanted to marry her himself. He didn’t know what to do and in the end he decided to Poison her and eventually turn her into a zombie. He of course did not do this on his own, he got help from a zombie specialist and one who has many zombie slaves. This specialist decided the he wanted the lady to himself adding another slave. In both the reading and the passage we see that although the blacks may not be slaves anymore, the zombies now are. People desired having slaves which led to them turning zombies into slaves.

“They were assigned to distant fields beyond the crossroads , and camped there, keeping to themselves like any proper family or village group” (pg 96 of Black Sorcery )

Last time we met in class we watched the film “White Zombie” which was set upon Haiti.  Within the first few scenes we see slaves working on the fields but most likely zombies. The a majority of the people in Haiti are black and this isn’t any different from what we have learned in history. Of course we know that the whites are typically the plantation owners or slave owners. To reflect back on Haiti’s history, the French had once taken over the land and made it into a profitable land with slaves being imported and exported.

Eventually the slaves revolted and gained freedom. In the introduction of The Magic Island by W.B. Seabrook , the author mentions how the symbolic emblem of black freedom was the red-blue flag made from France’s flag by ripping the white off. The memory of slavery remained in both sides, the blacks and whites, because many of the plantation owners hated the new feeling of having to pay for labor. Owners felt disturbed with the amount of money they were now making because everything before was just done for them as a “gift”. To relate back to the movie, it was shown how once the couple got married , the plantation owner had a plan before and met with a man similar to Ti Joseph of Colombier in “The Magic Island” reading.

The man had a big factory filled with working zombies so they had both used the zombies as slaves and to their own benefit. Within Polynice’s story he never mentions how they become zombies but then the girl visits her doctor and is told that it is done by a substance. This goes back to “White Zombie”, how the wife was turned into a zombie, as she inhaled the substance, which doesn’t cause death,  but the employment of the person as said Dr. Antoine Villiers in the reading. This shows how slavery was never forgotten by the owners and did anything to get any people, whether conscious or not, to work for them.

 

“As the central governemnt in Port-au-Prince lurched toward an agreement with the Americans, the regional officers and soldiers of the Haitian army observed the proceedings in wariness and dismay. The country’so culture, after all, had long emphasized the danger that whites might one day come back and try to gain control…”

Yesterday in class we watched the film White Zombie. The movie is set in the nation of Haiti and specifically within its capital of Port-au-Prince. From the very first scenes , we learn about the racial makeup of the country as blacks are suggested as being in the population majority and whites such as the visiting couple and the plantation owner compose the minority. Based on our previous study in class, it is obvious that this ratio isn’t a coincidental one. In the New World time period, the nation was once a French colonial territory named St. Domingue.

St. Domingue, as with most colonial territitories of the time, featured an economy heavily reliant on the products and goods achieved from slavery labor. The succesful Haitian revolution  managed to oust any and all significant traces of French enslavement and established a black republic in the Caribbean region. Nearly all forms of white influence were intentionally removed both metaphorically in the stripping of the white from the flag and physically in the massacre of the remaining white population.

The memories of slavery were still fresh in the minds of black Haitians and their described actions were performed in the hopes of decreasing the likelihood of a return of the abusive system. The result of the hasty and somewhat shady decision making was long-lasting paranoia that black Haitians held towards foreign nations of white majority. The document Haiti: The Aftershocks of History opens with the revelation that the nation in the early 20th century was comsiderably broke. They had recieved aid from some nations but had also been simultaneously taking out loans from other nations just to remain afloat. It had gotten so severe that some nations even began to doubt the likelihood of being payed back. Though having some unrelated interests of their own, the United States did look to assist but some of the Haitian government were reluctant to accept.