Domestic Disturbance
Growing up, Remi Weekes was afraid – very afraid – of The Wiz. “Michael Jackson was the Scarecrow and Diana Ross was Dorothy,” he recalls with a shudder. “I was in love with that film, and I can still sing along to all of the music, but I was also terrified by some of the pieces. There’s a moment when they go into the New York City underground, and the columns break free, and the bins break free, and try to attack Dorothy and her gang. It always left me shaken as a child.”
Later, Weekes saw and wondered, “Why are these white people acting like they’re in ?” A funny anecdote, but also, he says, an example of “how, growing up, the stuff I watched was more based in African- American stuff.” Which probably wasn’t easy given Weekes gravitated towards horror movies (first the series, and then the slashers it riffed on – , , – and finally heritage titles, and ), a genre that’s hardly known for representation and diversity.
