A braindead nation: Black Summer and Trump's America

Gaynor, S

Abstract

America is teetering on a knife-edge of fascism, fueled by insidious social conservatism and questionable morality that has been festering for decades in the politics and culture of the United States. This article explores the deep concern expressed by Black Summer (Netflix, 2019) regarding several alarming facets of the Donald Trump era. With Trump’s rise to power ushering in a new age of right-wing radicalism, I present Black Summer as a socio-political commentary on the on-going issues regarding attitudes to immigration, race, and violence in America. I begin by discussing how Black Summer confronts the so-called ‘Family Separation’ policy, whereby the children of ‘illegal’ immigrants are separated from their parents at the US-Mexico border, and then explores the show’s multifaceted indictment of Trump’s America. It argues, then, that while Black Summer might seem to be little more than a graphically violent, guns ‘n’ guts zombie series concerned with wanton action and a high body count, it in fact makes its plentiful and pointed social and political comments as quickly as its zombies are able to reanimate.

Citation

Gaynor, S. (2021). A braindead nation: Black Summer and Trump's America. Revenant (Falmouth), 7, 246-271

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Dec 1, 2021
• Publication Date: Dec 1, 2021
• Deposit Date: Jul 22, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 22, 2022
• Journal: Revenant: Critical and Creative Studies of the Supernatural
• Electronic ISSN: 2397-8791
• Volume: 7
• Pages: 246-271
• Publisher URL: http://www.revenantjournal.com/contents/a-braindead-nation-black-summer-and-trumps-america/
• Related Public URLs: http://www.revenantjournal.com/