Janelle Monae’s New Film ‘Antebellum’ Voices Black Horror Stories for a Modern Audience
“The disenfranchisement of black people in America is by design written into the actual DNA of this country,” states Veronica Henley (Janelle Monae), the lead character of Antebellum.
Horror and thriller films are created from the real fears that their creators hope to never face. Just like its predecessors, Get Out and Us, Antebellum will bring a new storyline to the growing library of black films that pray upon the racial tensions so prevalent in our country.
Sometimes what looks like anger is really just FƎAR. Watch the trailer of Antebellum!
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— Cinepax Cinemas (@cinepax_cinema) September 14, 2020
The film asks the question: what the world would look like if society returned to the class structure of the Antebellum South? Janelle Monae is ‘the chosen one’ to tell this story as Veronica Henley, a successful author who is very vocal about the plight of black people in modern-day America. Monae says her character strives to “move black people forward and to help us not assimilate but to be revolutionaries of our own life.”
I just finished watching the screening of #Antebellum . YALL, give .@JanelleMonae her flowers. She killed the role 😭.
— Protect the USPS (@eyebeokay) September 17, 2020
The story cuts back and forth between Veronica’s normal life and another where she is a slave on a Southern plantation. It is important to note that the film has multiple scenes of sexual assault and graphic violence under its R-rating, as these topics are important to the narrative being told.
“I think this film will make a lot of people uncomfortable and I think that it should,” Monae comments about the themes prevalent in Antebellum, “My hope is that after folks watch this film, that it prompts them to do something about it.”
This FRIDAY, the plan proceeds. #Antebellum – Premiering Everywhere At Home On Demand: https://t.co/S3IW4t82DC pic.twitter.com/sjyqHGyWkM
— ANTƎBELLUM (@antebellumfilm) September 16, 2020
The film will be released in theaters this Friday, September 18.
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