'The Blaxploitation Horror Film: Adaptation, Appropriation and the Gothic' is Set for September 27
Published: September 8, 2023.
"The Blaxploitation Horror Film: Adaptation, Appropriation and the Gothic" will be presented by Dr. Jamil Mustafa, professor of English Studies, at noon on September 27 in Convocation Hall on the Lewis Romeoville Campus.
The lecture is being presented as a part of Lewis University’s Arts & Ideas Program providing cultural and educational programming for students and the community. A portion of the Arts & Ideas events is sponsored by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council. Contact artsandideas@lewisu.edu for further information.
Dr. Mustafa has written the book, The Blaxploitation Horror Film: Adaptation, Appropriation and the Gothic. This pioneering study demonstrates how conventional horror films adapt the archetypes of Gothic fiction, while Blaxploitation horror films appropriate them – not to exploit Black audiences, but to meet their needs. Considering the vampire, Frankenstein’s Creature, Jekyll/Hyde and the werewolf, the zombie and the evil spirit, Dr. Mustafa traces the sociocultural significance of these figures from classic Gothic texts to mainstream and Blaxploitation horror movies. In so doing, he employs and aligns theories of both adaptation and the Gothic.
"The Blaxploitation Horror Film" is the first book-length analysis of Blaxploitation horror films, and the first to explore how they engage not only Gothic fiction and film, but also issues of vital importance to American society and culture in the 1970s. These include race relations, the movements for civil and gay rights, the Vietnam War, illicit medical experimentation, and tensions between minorities and the police.
"The Blaxploitation Horror Film" is published in the United Kingdom by the University of Wales Press as part of their Horror Studies series, and distributed in the United States by the University of Chicago Press.
Lewis University is an innovative Catholic university offering market-relevant undergraduate and graduate programs to 6,500 students. Sponsored by the De La Salle Christian Brothers, Lewis University is nationally recognized for preparing intellectually engaged, ethically grounded, and globally-connected graduates who impact the world for the better. Visit www.lewisu.edu for further information.
