Hmmm...where to begin with this review. After first watching this film, I was undecided on how I felt about it. I mean I enjoyed the overall feel and mood of the piece, but couldn't really get wrapped around the plot. Honestly, I am not a horror fan at all, (except for The Shining), because it is so rare for a movie to truly scare me. But I felt that this movie gave an overall creepy vibe and I did enjoy that aspect.
After doing the reading that was assigned along with this piece, I actually became much more interested in the film. Once understanding the historical events that occurred in Haiti, and how much of that inspired or influenced "White Zombie," I had the urge to watch it again. So I did, not the whole thing, but most of the major scenes, to kind of see how everything did play out as it was said in the reading.
One of the main parts of the reading that really struck me was how Neil was the hero but still represented something else as well. Upon discovering that Madeline may have been kidnapped by natives, he responds "Surely, you don't mean she's alive? In the hands of natives? God, no! She's better dead than that!" It's just interesting how the underlying message really is conveying the racism factor that truly existed between US occupants and the Haitans during America's ruling. It is also interesting because the reading points out how Neil (the hero) represented the US occupants who led to "the disastrous effects on Haitian economic and social life." I feel that this film is not really enjoyable or interesting for the plot, but rather for what the plot is masking over- the historical events and relations between the different races on Haiti during the 1930's.
The film speaks alot about American Imperialism, and as in the reading states how people are not sure how much was deliberately put in. But that is why I found this film much more fascinating- a film that secretly reveals one of the low points in American history.
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I didn't really look into depth that much about the part you discussed in your entry with Neil saying how he would rather see Madeline dead then with the natives. This made me think back to how in StageCoach when the pregnant character was going to be killed by one of the other men in the coach then by letting the Indians have her. American Politics are really embedded within these films and a correlating theme seems to exist throughout each of them that we are watching in this class.
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