UCLA

In a post-Black Panther, Get Out, and Lovecraft Country era of globalized film, television, and digital consumption, there are new opportunities to expand the boundaries of genres that encompass elements not based in reality, better known as speculative fiction. Two emerging subcategories, Afrofuturism and Africanfuturism, now serve under the umbrella of speculative fiction and incorporate aesthetics of blackness in time and spaces that have scarcely depicted blackness. In addition to these two categories, another lesser-known subcategory exists—Africanjujuism, a classification that centers on mysticism and the supernatural.

Employing an explanatory sequential mixed-method design that allowed for a quantitative data analysis and qualitative questioning, this study sought to first examine the landscape of Afrofuturism, Africanfuturism, and Africanjujuism in Hollywood. Secondly, this study sought to determine if historically pervasive tropes about Africa and Africans are as present in Africanfuturistic and Africanjujuistic projects as they are in other projects about Africa and/or Africans. Quantitative results from April 2021 to June 2021 found 45 Afrofuturism projects, four Africanfuturism projects, and 15 Africanjujuism projects in development. In the pool of Africanfuturism projects, there was a 25% rate of trope saturation and in the pool of Africanjujuism projects there was 20% rate of trope saturation. However, in projects about Africa or Africans (outside of Africanfuturism and Africanjujuism), there was a staggering 87% rate of trope saturation. A series of 20 qualitative interviews with high-profile industry stakeholders including, Nate Moore (Black Panther)1, Ahmadou Seck (Gente-fied & Raising Dion)2,3, and Kay Oyegun (This Is Us)4 suggest industry awareness and education about the categories is varied, but has grown exponentially with Black Panther and the culminating impacts of social-justice movements and globalization. However, unique hurdles including a lack of advocacy are potentially inhibiting other projects in the pipeline.