Candyman | A Comparative Look Between the 1992 and 2021 Iterations
A thematic question of who and what creates monsters.
New posts weekly!
Candyman is a 1992 American supernatural horror and based on Clive Barker's short story "The Forbidden”. The film follows a Chicago graduate student completing a thesis on urban legends which leads her to "Candyman", the hook-handed ghost of a murdered African-American artist and son of a slave who was in a relationship with the daughter of a wealthy white man. - Written and Directed by Bernard Rose
Candyman is a 2021 supernatural horror that is a direct sequel to the 1992 film that follows Anthony, a multi-media artist who returns to Cabrini Green to study the legend of Candyman. - Directed by Nia DaCosta & Co-Written by Jordan Peele and Win Rosenfeld.
I must admit, I watched the 1992 version of Candyman during the 2020 quarantine of COVID for the first time. Tony Todd and Vanessa Estelle Williams (who co-stars in my dramatic romcom short film, She Loves Me Not) were two forces on screen. Admittedly, I didn’t care for the white fragile damsel who needed the scary Black man to kidnap her in his relentless desire for her affection, but I love a good folklore that draws observation on Black social warfare.
Nia DaCosta’s 2021 follow up was hardly well received by the masses, including myself. As Black folk, we were utterly exhausted from the pandemic and slew of Black women slain by white supremacist cops, ushering the hashtag, #SayHerName. So, by the film’s ending to turn Candyman from a horror over the city of Cabrini Green into a savior against white gentrification, I honestly think it just landed at the wrong time. So, I revisited the film in 2022 while I lived in Brooklyn — and I had an entirely different perspective on it! A new love, which I hope to share with you all today!
Nia DaCosta’s version pays so much homage to the original, and I thought her stylistic choices were fresh, innovative, and cool! It also put the power and heroism back into the Black city of Cabrini Green and its monster — using the victims of the ’92 tale. So today is an examination of the two films against each other, as part of the Black horror cultural zeitgeist!
I love to begin by observing the opening images. With Candyman, it all begins in the title cards:
The ’92 film begins with the color yellow, and the ’21 film begins with blue. In TV & Film, yellow is representative of the one who’s in control (usually the protagonist / hero). Blue represents the new adventure that removes the hero’s control as they must solve the conflict of their journey. To the opening cards reveal something imperative:
’92: with the God’s Eye aerial shot, we are observing the ground of the city through the control of Candyman (honeybee colored), who lures Helen Lyle, an anthropology grad student to his legend: a spirit who kills anyone that speaks his name five times before a mirror.
In ’21, we begin on the ground, looking up to the cloudy sky. This implies we are not sitting in the hero’s seat — that something else is in control of the hero’s journey. It’s also the hero’s goal to rise to liberation. The inverted view is also the “inversion” of the original tale. Very smart. We follow Anthony McCoy, who explores the Cabrini Green projects for his artistry after hearing the tale of Helen Lyle, who is believed to be responsible for a killing spree and briefly kidnapping a baby in Cabrini-Green.
The ’92 film opens with Candyman killing a white couple through a mirror; he’s been murdered by police after being falsely accused of impregnating a white woman post slavery. ‘21 opens with a black boy discovering the ghost of a hooked-hand wielding Black man who’s beaten by police after being falsely accused of giving a white child a piece of razor-bland injected candy.
The films are an inversion of a monster versus a victim, which is the entire theme. In ’92, Cabrini Green is haunted by the monster, Candyman, who is the “new world” for Helen (blue). In ’21, a baby boy rises from the ashes to regain control as hero (yellow). Let’s dive into the rest of the films!
To continue to dive into the article, please become a subscriber. All articles are released to the public three weeks after the posting date.
This is a story about the death and rebirth of an urban city: Cabrini Green — monikered as a haunted town.
Helen discovers a city full of gangs, murder, death and destruction. They fall to the legend of a murderous monster to cope with racial inequality. After all, Cabrini Green was built on the land Candyman was hunted, set ablaze, and buried — as much of our country. However, Anthony discovers a cleansed city; the city’s dirty truth lies just beneath a new coat of paint. Cabrini Green has a new monster: gentrification.
Cabrini Green in the 90s was a city of death; Cabrini Green’s residents in the ‘20s were left for dead.
Both then meet a point of difference: a Candyman fan.
Helen meets a dangerous gang leader in her exploration of Cabrini Green, who proceeds to hammer her with a hook akin to Candyman. He’s then falsely accused of the real Candyman’s murders throughout the city. This is an interesting point of debate: yes, the man is violent, but to him, Helen — a white woman — is an aggressor to his city and people. Thesis: the city creates monsters because to outsiders / white people, it is a monster.
Following a bee sting, Anthony meets a laundromat owner who was the little boy that witnessed the innocent candy man’s death from the opening. He’s a firm believer in Candyman and is the link between Anthony and the legend of Candyman.
Notice how the shots between the films are literally mirrored.
Then, the two meet Candyman at the film’s midpoint.
For Helen, Candyman’s an elusive figure she first sees in a parking garage, standing in front of windows. This mirrors us looking at Anthony through windows as his painting begins to enmesh with the legend’s influence over his spirit. We once again get the yellow God’s Eye aerial view as Helen awakes to meeting Candyman through a mirror, discovering he her murdered her friend — Candyman’s in control. Conversely for Anthony, the blue aerial view is him facing his own painting as Candyman’s influence seeps through him. He’s in control of the Candyman legend.
Anthony’s bee sting begins to merge him into Candyman’s likeness. So, he doesn’t face a mirror, he faces his self expression. He is his own mirror, as he’s the baby Candyman kidnapped in the 90s! Anthony’s discovering his own history, having already been infected by the monster! His own legend!
More visual parallels —
In opposition to Candyman, Helen’s falsely accused of murdering her friend, and the world swarms like bees in their false observation of her. Candyman controls her legend. The widespread news report makes Candyman stronger as thousands begin to say his name — Helen loses control.
For Anthony, his artwork tells Candyman’s story, observed by non-Black outsiders who judge and critique his work with authority. He controls Candyman’s legend.
Trouble ensues as both now must head on confront the man, the myth, and the legend.
In ’92, Candyman haunts Cabrini Green in his lust for Helen, following his love for a white woman while alive. Helen gives her soul to him to set the city free, thus also freeing baby Anthony! The blue hue notes that Candyman has relinquished his control over the city. Helen is both victim and hero as she becomes his bride, freeing Cabrini Green from its monster.
Like Cabrini Green, this is Anthony’s death and rebirth; he succumbs to Candyman’s power, with his soul-tie to the monster, and becomes him with the laundromat owner’s force. The honeybee yellow hue notes the transfer of power. Anthony’s transition into a monster makes him haunt his girlfriend… turning her into a victim.
But not for long. Let’s look at the final images.
Helen, Cabrini Green’s outsider (and racial aggressor), becomes the new monster as she haunts new couples. For Anthony, the original Candyman’s soul is set free as Anthony releases the truth about his story through his artistic work, and takes his place as a monster that protects the Black residents from white racial aggressions.
Unlike the original Candyman, Anthony doesn’t trap his girlfriend, he liberates her. And becomes Cabrini Green’s hero.
x
Latasha