Speculative Film and Moving Images by or about Black Women and Girls

This book examines twentieth and twenty-first century speculative fiction films that represent women and girls of African descent Jeffrey offers insights about positive developments while calling attention to questionable trends in recent movie-making.

Speculative Film and Moving Images by or about Black Women and Girls: Watch It! examines depictions of African-descended women and girls in twentieth and twenty-first century filmmaking. Topics include a discursive analysis of stereotypes; roles garnered by Halle Berry, the only Black woman to receive an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role; the promise of characters, relationships, and scripts found in works ranging from Altered Carbon, Lovecraft Country, and HBO’s Watchmen series; and a closing chapter that considers the legacy of Black women in horror. Jeffrey-Legette illustrates the ways in which recent texts explore the trauma endured by people of African descent in the United States of America in evocative ways. In doing so, she provides a compelling interpretation of prevalent, well-received, and recurring images of Black women and girls in American popular culture.

Chapter One: Mothers of a New World in Select 20th/21st Century Apocalyptic SF Films Who, Despite Their Promise, Still Appear to be a Mammy, Hagar, or Jezebels

Chapter Two: ‘Ode to Halle’ (But Should This be the Case?): The Face of Black Women in SF Films

Chapter Three: Black Love in the World of Speculative Fiction - An Argument for ‘Transhumanism' and ‘Gynocentric Androgyny' in Altered Carbon, HBO’s Watchmen and Lovecraft Country

Chapter Four: Black Girl Magic’ in A Wrinkle in Time, The Darkest Minds, and Fast Color - Fascinating Telekinetic/Telepathic Beings

Chapter Five: What Are We Doing to Our Girls?!?!?-An Examination of Three, Twentieth/Twenty-First Century Black Girl Vampires Who Will Not Only Survive but Possibly Precipitate the Destruction of Humanity

Chapter Six: Black Women/Girls in Horror Films-H[er]story is an American Gothic Story of Resiliency, Trauma, Abuse, and Fear