Recommended Citation
Published in PsyArt: A Hyperlink Journal for the Psychological Study of the Arts, April 4, 2011.
Abstract
On first viewing, Alan Parker’s 1987 film Angel Heart may seem like just another in a long line of films that equate voodoo with Satanism, blacks with the black arts. However, the film also struggles toward an acknowledgment of white guilt, an admission that evil resides within the self. Evil’s repression and projection onto the “black other” must be understood as a defensive strategy for denying one’s own guilt. The difference between good whites and bad blacks must be redefined as a difference within, the capacity for good and evil inherent in each of us, regardless of skin color or religious faith. Angel Heart gains psychological depth and social relevance if we view it as the lead character’s internal struggle with his desires and fears regarding blacks.
Disciplines
English Language and Literature
Copyright
2011 Douglas Keesey.
Number of Pages
4
Publisher statement
Published in PsyArt.
Included in
URL: https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/engl_fac/68