As a long-time horror fan, it is difficult not to be fascinated by the creative kills found in many films, one of the most glorified aspects of the genre. As a teacher passionate about the black perspective, it is equally impossible for me to not overanalyze the themes and tropes of horror. It is easy to see then, how I fell down the rabbit hole of one of the most commonly joked-about tropes in the genre, the black character dies first.
One thing I love about the horror genre is its willingness to embrace taboo subjects. This includes race, and, more commonly death, producing headlines, protests, and think pieces for decades. The final girl, a familiar trope for most horror fans, has been the face of misogyny and the face of feminism. The final girl is usually the most innocent character; she, along with her purity, defeats the great evil.
A less common discussion is the one that can be found around the first victim. Outside of a few jokes about black people dying first, it is an under-analyzed aspect of the genre. It does not take a large catalog of horror knowledge to see that the black character does not always die first, but this idea is so prevalent that it must exist for a reason.
Are there common characteristics found within the first victim that make this idea more prevalent in the minds of fans? It is necessary to take a closer look at the history of the first victim and black characters to gain a better understanding of this popular trope and why it exists.
The Golden Era of Horror
Many people view the 1920s as the true start of horror on film, and although tame by today’s standards, death was still a major theme the genre explored. To understand the first victim trope, we must understand the first victims of the genre.
One of the earliest horror films, Nosferatu, was released in 1922. Although it would have more traditional victims later in the movie, the first death is a fly eaten by a Venus flytrap. The plant is compared to the vampire, implying the danger without escalating to the point of killing relatable, human characters at the start.
Later, in Frankenstein, the monster’s most famous death may be the accidental drowning of an innocent girl, but the first relevant victim is Fritz. Fritz is the hunchbacked, deformed assistant of Doctor Frankenstein. Many people only vaguely aware of the film will probably recognize the character as the Igor archetype. Although he antagonizes the monster, it is important to note how the character is again not relatable to most audiences at the time, especially when compared to the more handsome doctor, and, like the fly, Fritz provides an early example of the monster’s power without escalating the danger to more relatable characters until the tension has more time to build
The next few decades of horror split down a few branches. The Hammer films reintroduced old monsters to a new audience. New fears took shape in the form of technology and radiation. However, for the first victim trope, the most significant evolution is the introduction of black characters.
Minstrel shows are woven into the history of American entertainment. Black characters, sometimes white people wearing blackface, were portrayed as dumb and lazy. Many of the negative black stereotypes were developed through minstrel shows. These were the first black archetypes to break into the horror genre.
Mantan Moreland was one of the most prolific black actors to make his way into the genre. Due to the tone that his characters brought to the films, the movies are best described as horror comedies. He was rarely in any real danger of death. For those unfamiliar, he was much more like a cartoon character of the time. This changed when Mantan’s character was finally killed off in 1968’s Spider Baby within the first few minutes. He was a character that people loved decades earlier, but also a character that white audiences didn’t quite view as human. He was a cartoon. He was a joke. He was black.
In 1968, another black character died in a film. This time, however, he was the last one to die. In Night of the Living Dead, Ben, the first black protagonist in a horror film, survives a night of death only to be mistaken for a zombie and killed at the end of the movie. This may have been the first time black audiences accepted that black characters always die in horror movies. Ben is another character, a fully developed character, that is reduced to less than human before his death. It is relevant to note that George Romero, the director of the film, chose Ben’s actor for his ability, not because he saw the character as a black man. Nevertheless, Ben may not have been the first victim in the film, but his role is significant when viewing the evolution of death and black characters in horror.
Related: The 10 Greatest Black Horror Films, Ranked
Murder is Money
The success of Blaxploitation movies made black people in films less taboo. This was just in time for the slasher genre to take shape. In most cases, this one pretty, suburban white girl would survive while everyone around her died. In the 70s and 80s, as Hollywood attempted to appear more diverse, one token black character would be amongst the friend group, a guaranteed death even if the audience was not initially sure of the protagonist.
Although black characters did not necessarily die first, they would always die. This still doesn’t justify the trope, but when combined with the knowledge that some of the most significant black deaths occurred first during this time period, it is possible to see where this misconception developed.
Related: 50 Years of Black Horror Characters Who Didn't See the End Credits
In Gremlins, Roy Hanson, a black teacher, is the first to die. This death can be shocking to unsuspecting audiences. The movie up to this point feels like a Christmas romp full of hijinks rather than murder. Additionally, the embarrassing way Roy dies, and his existence to only help the protagonist creates another dead, dehumanized black character.
One of the more successful black characters in the slasher era is Kincaid from the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. He survived the third installment of the film but quickly became a victim at the beginning of the fourth film. He went from being a defiant, strong, fighter to someone that was easily killed as part of a “dog peeing fire” gag. Ken Sagoes, Kincaid’s actor, joked about the writers forgetting to kill him off in the third film and making sure that it didn’t happen again in the fourth.
Although black characters may not always die, some of the most significant black deaths in the minds of many viewers are characters that died first. When enough of these happen in a genre with so little representation, a pattern can seemingly form even when one does not necessarily exist.
The idea of black people dying first doesn’t just come from a few stand-out early deaths. It also comes from other tropes that support the idea in the horror genre.
Two of the most common tropes related to black characters in film are the sacrificial negro and the magical negro. In short, the sacrificial negro is a black character whose sole purpose is to benefit and protect the white protagonist and the magical negro usually possesses some type of stereotypical mysticism seemingly for the sole purpose of assisting the white protagonist. Both character tropes often die.
Both of these tropes are probably most prevalent in 1980's The Shining. Dick Halloran, a black man possessing the mystical shining, dies when trying to protect a white mother and child. This death is even more impactful because it is one of the only deaths in the film, and it was a death that did not originally take place in Stephen King’s book. In the eyes of many fans, this is more proof that if black characters appear in a horror film, they will be killed before the end of the movie, even if the source material did not call for it.
Although black characters rarely die first, they almost always die. This is the case with most characters in horror films though. What often makes these black deaths stand out more is how the characters are dehumanized for the comfort of the white audience.
Traditionally, characters are killed early for their sins. The character may be a bully. The character may be promiscuous (another problematic issue) but the sin of many black characters is their blackness. The white audience, probably subconsciously, can say the character deserved to die because they were black.
Like the fly in Nosferatu, it shows us the threat of the monster without causing too much emotional harm to the audience.
Although this trend is less common with black characters today, we can still see films do this with family pets. For example, in many horror films, the family dog is the first, and many times, the only character to die. Yes, this is heartbreaking to white audiences. They were not happy to see Mantan die either. These losses may be difficult for some audiences, but it isn’t quite the same. They aren’t quite relatable. In the eyes of many viewers, they are relieved by the knowledge that the dog, and even Mantan, weren’t quite human.
The first victim is meant to show the danger without eliciting too much emotion. This may be a fly, a bully, or a black stereotype, but they all serve similar purposes. The real emotional distress must be saved for the characters to which the target audience can truly relate.
The horror genre is constantly evolving, becoming more aware of itself as time progresses. Scream 2 is famous for killing two black characters almost immediately, solidifying the black people die first trope. There is no doubt, however, that this was purposeful commentary and satire. Since then, more black characters have fallen as the first victim, but usually with an awareness that many creators did not always possess.
The content being created now is more diverse than ever, fully fleshing out many minority characters, creating minority protagonists, and purposefully creating themes around the horror. Every film isn’t a detailed masterpiece analyzing the state of black people in America, but there are now horror films that actually fill that role. For many films, it is no longer about the tropes, but the deconstruction of the trope. Even now, the claim that the black character will die first rings a bit hollow, and in the future, it will just be another old trope no longer utilized by filmmakers.
This post originally appeared on Medium and is edited and republished with author's permission. Read more of LG Ware's work on Medium.