The Big Picture

  • Nia DaCosta brings a unique approach to horror with 2021's Candyman, using shadow puppets to illustrate the evolving legend and coping with trauma.
  • The film explores the struggles faced by Black artists, with the protagonist's work being dismissed until the Candyman's killing spree sparks interest.
  • Candyman delves into the power of storytelling and the lasting impact of myths, emphasizing that the Candyman's legend will endure in various forms.

The MCU's latest installment, The Marvels, is finally out. While there have been some divisive reviews, it serves as a reminder that Marvel movies, every now and then, can have a little fun with their plot. To celebrate its release, it's worth looking back on the limited but wildly successful career of director Nia DaCosta. While she has only directed three feature films, not one is like the other. In 2018, she directed fellow MCU face Tessa Thompson in the indie drama, Little Woods. Then, DaCosta turned her talents to horror; specifically, a horror legacy sequel. 2021's Candyman not only serves as a sequel to the classic 1992 horror movie; it also brings the legend of the hook-handed killer into the modern era. In doing so, DaCosta and producers/co-writers Jordan Peele and Win Rosenfield took a clever approach to how myths evolve over time. They also don't shy away from how Black people have had to deal with numerous forms of trauma over the years. As it turns out, stories are a form of processing trauma.

What Is Nia DaCosta's 'Candyman' About?

The film begins with artist Anthony McCoy (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) and his girlfriend Brianna Cartwright (Teyonah Parris who also stars as Monica Rambeau in the MCU) living in Chicago and pursuing their respective passions. Brianna serves as a curator for an art gallery, while Anthony is struggling to find his next project. His search brings him to the Cabrini-Green housing projects, where he learns about the legend of the Candyman from resident William Burke (Colman Domingo). According to Burke, the Candyman was a man named Sherman Fields (Michael Hargrove), who would often hand out candy from the factory where he worked to the neighborhood children. When a white girl found a razor blade in a piece of candy, the police tracked down Fields and brutally beat him to death.

Later, Burke tells Anthony about the original Candyman, Daniel Robitaille (Tony Todd). Robitaille was a Black artist hired to paint for wealthy white clients and eventually entered into a relationship with the daughter of one of his clients. When her father found out, he sent a lynch mob after Robitaille; the artist was brutally beaten, had his hand sawed off and a meat hook jammed into the stump, and was covered in honey while bees fed on him. Robitaille would later terrorize the residents of Cabrini-Green in the original 1992 film. That film followed grad student Helen Lyle (Virginia Madsen) as she investigated the Candyman legend — and even became part of it. Brianna's brother Troy (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) tells a version of the Candyman legend that paints Helen as the killer.

2021's 'Candyman' Portrays Its Legend in a Unique Way

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The film also takes a unique approach to how it presents these legends. Each retelling of the Candyman legends is presented via a series of shadow puppets, which depict their subjects' stories and eventual deaths. DaCosta said the concept of shadow puppets came up in discussions with Peele, as they both wanted to avoid using footage from the 1992 film. Eventually, the puppets became shorthand for how the Candyman legend changed over the years, and how it is used to cope with the trauma that has been inflicted on Black people over the decades. Burke even says to Anthony: "Candyman is a way to deal with the fact that these things happened to us, are still happening!"

This isn't the first time a Peele-produced project has used the horror genre as a vehicle for social commentary. Get Out featured a horrifyingly modern version of slavery, where Black people were abducted and had their minds replaced by the wealthy few. Us dealt with themes of privilege and xenophobia, as the Tethered sought justice for their imprisonment. Lovecraft Country dealt with a Black family battling a society of white sorcerers — and the collective trauma that can be passed on to generations in the process.

'Candyman' Explores What Black Artists Go Through

Candyman (2021) (1)

Not only does Candyman explore how myths shift and evolve, but it also takes the time to explore how Black artists often have their work pigeonholed into a single genre. When Anthony finally makes a new series of paintings based on the Candyman legend, he's approached by an art critic who shrugs off his work as cliché. However, when the Candyman starts a killing spree, she changes her tune and wants to write a longer piece about "the hood" and "gentrification," which Anthony doesn't take too well. "Who do you think makes the hood?" he asks. "The city cuts off a community and waits for it to die. Then they invite developers in and say, 'Hey, you artists, you young people, you white, preferably or only… please come to the hood, it’s cheap. And if you stick it out for a couple of years, we’ll bring you a Whole Foods.'"

In time, Anthony learns that he is part of the legend, as the Candyman originally intended to use him as a sacrifice before Helen Lyle saved him. Burke, intending to transform the Candyman into a spirit of vengeance, arranges for Anthony to be gunned down by the police — and when the police also attempt to coerce Brianna into implicating Anthony, she summons Candyman and lets him wreak unholy vengeance on them. In the end, the Candyman — now taking Robitaille's form — urges Brianna to "tell everyone" about the events of the night and continue his legend. As Burke says toward the end of the film, Candyman will live forever through his myth, no matter what form it takes.

2021's Candyman is available to stream in the U.S. on Amazon Prime Video.

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