“Tell Everyone”: Abjection and Social Justice in Candyman (2021)

Abstract

This chapter explores abjection in its sociological sense in the movie Candyman (Nia Da Costa 2021). In the field of the social sciences, “abjection” describes a state of exclusion and marginalization (Bataille, Abjection and Miserable Forms. In More and Less, ed. Yvonne Shaffir, 9–13. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1934; McClintock, Imperial Leather: Race, Gender, and Sexuality in the Colonial Contest. New York: Routledge, 1995; Tyler, Revolting Subjects. London: Zed Books, 2013). In contrast, from the publication of Barbara Creed’s The Monstrous-Feminine (2009), in film studies, abjection has been interpreted from a psychoanalytical perspective as a primal rejection of the mother. Yet, social theories have never been used to explore abjection in horror movies.

The chapter begins by exploring the concept of abjection in both horror cinema studies and the social sciences. The analysis of the film is structured into three sections. The first one explores the gentrified ghetto as an abject space of systemic violence and discrimination. The second section explores abjection in relation to the demands of Black masculinity. The third interprets storytelling as a means of resistance against social abjection in the times of the #BlackLivesMatter movement.

In the movie, abjection is the result of spatial violence and racial stereotyping. Yet, Candyman as a monster haunts society and ensures that the stories of the marginalized are heard. As will be argued, in Candyman, the urban legend becomes a way of fighting back and ensuring social justice.