A estética do horror negro: vampirismo e apropriação cultural no filme Pecadores

Abstract

This study analyzes the film Pecadores, directed by Ryan Coogler, focusing on the relationship between horror cinema, Black cultural identity, and cultural appropriation. The research is based on the understanding that cinema, beyond entertainment, functions as an important space for the construction of social meanings and cultural representations. In this context, the study investigates how the film articulates elements of vampire cinema to build metaphors related to structural racism and the historical exploitation of Black culture. Methodologically, this research is qualitative in nature, based on bibliographic review and film analysis, drawing on cultural studies, film theory, and racial studies. Initially, the paper discusses the historical trajectory of Black Hollywood cinema, highlighting transformations in the representation of Black characters throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. It then examines the tradition of vampire cinema, understanding the vampire as a symbolic figure often associated with exploitation, contamination, and alterity. The analysis indicates that the film uses vampirism as a metaphor to represent processes of cultural appropriation and the consumption of Black artistic production by dominant social structures. The study concludes that the film belongs to the contemporary tradition of racial horror, in which the genre operates as a critical tool to expose historical inequalities and challenge representations of the Black experience in cinema.