Faculty Candidate Talk: “Candyman 5x: Playing Wretched in the Candyman Films of Bernard Rose and Nia DaCosta” | Zayla Crocker, PhD Candidate, UNC-Chapel Hill

Situated in Black media studies and play studies, Zayla Crocker examines Bernard Rose’s 1992 film Candyman along with Nia DaCosta’s remake of the same name to demonstrate how both films encourage the spectator to “play” within the genre conventions of the slasher film through an act of ritualized play Crocker deems “playing wretched.” Both films overtly or covertly prompt the spectator to call on and summon the performance of Black memory, history, and trauma in the figure of a hook-handed slasher villain. As a whole, Crocker argues that the affective performance of horror and play acts as a memorial vehicle that situates the memory of Black trauma within the lived reality of the spectator. Outside of the film, spectators can join the game, and they too can call on Candyman and summon the memory of the other.

Zayla Crocker is a PhD Candidate and teaching fellow in the English Department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her academic research focuses on the liberatory potential of the horror genre with an emphasis on media theory and cultural trauma through novels, films, and video games. Currently, her research is centered on Black expressions of trauma in the horror genre with a cross-media exploration of memory and affect.

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Oshman Hall is located in the McMurtry Building on Stanford campus at 355 Roth Way. Visitor parking is free after 4pm on weekdays, except by the Oval. Alternatively, take the Caltrain to Palo Alto Transit Center and ride the free Stanford Marguerite Shuttle. If you need a disability-related accommodation or wheelchair access information, please contact Julianne White at jgwhite@stanford.edu. This event is open to Stanford affiliates and the general public. Admission is free.