Author Type

Graduate Student

Date of Award

Spring 4-14-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

April 2026

Department

Communication and Multimedia Studies

College Granting Degree

Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters

Department Granting Degree

School of Communication and Multimedia Studies

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Marquese L. McFerguson

Abstract

Ryan Coogler’s 2025 horror film Sinners is set in a predominantly Black Mississippi community during the Jim Crow era and explores the vulnerability and hypervisibility of Black people. Vampires and Klansmen fixate on Black bodies, treating them as consumable and dispensable sources. Prior to its Amazon Prime debut and extended theatrical run, Sinners grossed over $300 million, signaling its cultural impact and contribution to reshaping representations of Black identity in cinema. As part of Coogler’s broader array of Black storytelling, the film disrupts entrenched stereotypes by emphasizing character depth rather than caricature.

This paper analyzes the characters Annie and the Smoke Stack Twins, examining how they align with and resist Donald Bogle’s typology. Annie complicates Mammy and Sapphire figures, while the Twins challenge Brute and Buck tropes. Using bell hooks’ oppositional gaze, Wallace’s notion of the crooked room, and textual analysis, the study situates Sinners within a contemporary Black cinematic lineage that challenges and expands representational possibilities.

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