Halloween Month is flying by! Here’s another seasonal post.
A BLACK MASS (1966) – This short horror/ mythological play was written by LeRoi Jones aka Amiri Baraka and has nothing to do with Satanism. The writer played on words, meaning “black” as in his skin color, not as in the Satanic masses enacted by larping geeks trying to be edgy. (Longtime readers may remember my contempt for the fools who call themselves Satanists.)
Whenever I review works by film director Jean Rollin I always point out that his creations run the gamut from brilliant to So Bad They’re Good. In the same spirit, I’m pointing out that Jones/ Baraka’s writings have been called racist, antisemitic, misogynistic ravings as well as artistic expositions on black thinking and culture.
In A Black Mass Baraka fused elements of the Frankenstein story and zombie lore with the Nation of Islam’s myth about the black mad scientist/ evil magician Yakub. Continue reading
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