Released in April, Sinners quickly became a pop culture staple. The vampire movie was very hyped up, as it has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 97%, 4.1 out of 5 on Letterboxd, and 85% on Google reviews, and after initially watching it, I agreed with the hype. Recently, though, I had the opportunity to rewatch the film from an academic perspective. The movie, Sinners, does an amazing job of showcasing the harsh reality for some in the Mississippi Delta through supernatural horror. The film follows twins, Smoke and Stack, along with their cousin, Sammie, who open a juke joint for local black people in the Delta, and their journey to the location.Â
Throughout their journey back to the joint after picking up Sammie, Smoke and Stack recruit a blues singer, a plantation field worker, local Chinese shop owners, and Smoke’s wife to come help them run their club. During the era of Sinners, the Mississippi Delta had a strong racial hierarchy reinforced by Jim Crow laws and white supremacy. There was often violence and extreme discrimination towards people of color, specifically African Americans. It is also important to note that Chinese Americans also made up a large population in the Delta, and were severely discriminated against, but still served the Black population. Chinese Americans were a part of a complex group in the racial hierarchy. The Chow couple provides a clear example of a typical Chinese American life in that area. In one of the beginning scenes, we are introduced to the original vampire, Remmick, a white man, who seeks refuge in the house of members of the Ku Klux Klan, by saying that he is one with them. Through this scene, we can see the prevalence of oppressive groups in the South, and this initiates the idea of segregation as racial terror and sociological horror.Â
After Club Juke opens and the drinks begin pouring, Sammie, or Preacherboy, begins to make his debut. Sammie has played music for a long time, but as the son of a pastor, he was taught to fear the sins of blues music. Just before he takes the floor, blues singer, Delta Slim, gives Sammie a piece of advice, encouraging him to sing. Slim says, “[The] blues wasn’t forced upon us, like that religion. So, we brought this with us home. It’s magic what we do. It’s sacred and big.” Slim was previously a field worker and has a deep and harsh history with the discrimination and violence he faced in the Delta Mississippi. He was sharing with Sammie that the music they can create, especially through the blues, is connected to their culture as Black men living in the deep south.Â
Following this scene with Delta Slim is the infamous scene with the song, “I Lied to You”. The song is about Sammie’s experience growing up working and living on a plantation with a pastor as a father. During this song, we can see many new characters that represent many different eras of Black culture. We can see rappers, rockstars, members of tribes, women twerking, and many other cultures being represented as Sammie’s singing is meant to cause a supernatural event, allowing people of different times into the juke. This is again meant to emphasize the rich history and culture that black people have and how music is a very important part. At the very end of the song, we can see the Club Juke building catch fire and burn to the ground as people are still dancing inside. This is meant to symbolize the freedom that Smoke and Stack were wanting to provide for local black people because of the segregation in the South. Sinners is overall a hit movie and deserves its praise. There is no question why it earned over $360 million in box office sales. I would be surprised to not see this film win many awards, not just for its impressive acting and production, but because of how it highlights the struggle, cultural resilience, survival, and spiritual traditions of the Black community. I think that it would be important for people to go back and watch Sinners on streaming services and appreciate the more cultural and academic features this film has to offer.