Candyman 2021 Has a Pretty Grim View of the Art Scene | CBR

WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Candyman, now playing in theaters.

Candyman delves beyond just the history of the titular horror movie icon, instead diving into the ways communities of color in big cities can find themselves corraled and trapped by the very same people who openly talk about change and making a difference. But it's notably not just the authority figures that the film seems to condemn in this way, with a relatively more liberal and artistic element of the city also being held up at fault.

Candyman features almost a dozen deaths, but many of the kills carried out by the Candyman himself are targeting people in the Chicago art scene. This paints a decidedly dark picture of that sub-section of the culture, which makes for interesting social commentary on its effect on the city as a whole.

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Candyman spends much of its runtime exploring the little ways gentrification have taken hold of Chicago and transformed communities, most overtly in the way authority figures like the police have enforced it in the city. As William Burke (Colman Domingo) tells Anthony McCoy (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) when he first comes to Cabrini-Green neighborhood looking for inspiration, the police presence is nominally about protecting the community, but in reality, is just as dedicated to keeping them locked in their little plot of land. But the police aren't the only force of gentrification, as another less violent but no more insidious arm of gentrification is often referenced: the "art scene."

Anthony himself is a visual artist, hailed in the opening of the film as a rising star. Meanwhile, his girlfriend Brianna (Teyonah Parris) is an art gallery director, one with a keen eye for the meaning behind paintings and with connections across the city. Their interactions with the art scene aren't exactly positive, however. Clive (Brian King) runs an art gallery and is dismissive of Anthony's recent work, taking credit for his earlier exposure while complaining about his new pieces. Finely Stephens (Rebecca Spence) is a notable art critic who complains to Anthony about "you people" -- referring to artists who utilize gentrification to move into poorer neighborhoods for cheaper rents, playing a part in the eventual destruction and reconstruction of the neighborhood in question.

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Neither of them nor, in all honesty, the rest of Chicago's art scene are portrayed in a charitable light. All of them view Anthony's genuine passion and connection with the subject matter with casual scorn or indifference, and no one takes real interest in his latest project about the Candyman mythos ("Say My Name") until people start being murdered in the same manner of the legend. They have no interest in his perspective or work, outside of the connection to violence. Notably, Clive and Finely are both among the more grisly victims of the Candyman, with Finely, in particular, being dragged across her apartment and slowly being hacked down. Neither one of them is particularly sympathetic before their deaths, either, and instead serve to move the plot along.

Notably, the only major art scene figure in the film who isn't killed is also the only Black gallery owner introduced in the film. Speaking with Brianna about a possible position with her museum, she confesses she finds Brianna and Anthony interesting less because of their genuine ideas and artistic contributions, but because of the stories produced by their trauma. It's overall not a charitable view of the art scene, especially in Chicago, and an interesting element of gentrification that's often brushed aside but nevertheless plays a part in the way that communities in cities like Chicago can find themselves increasingly marginalized. But it also makes the point that the casual indifference to genuine suffering by the higher-ups in the art scene isn't exactly helping either.

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