Frustrating white men: Masculinity and genre instability in Eat and Gregory Go Boom

Abstract

This article draws a connection between the genre instability of Janicza Bravo’s first two short films and her subject position as a Black woman directing films about vulnerable white masculinity. In fluctuating between the tonal and genre markers of comedy and horror, Eat (2011) and Gregory Go Boom (2013) reveal the contradictions between mainstream representations that uplift flawed white male characters and how they are perceived by those they oppress.