# The black guy always dies first? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 12, 2008, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-black-guy-always-dies-first/467640 "2008-10-12T22:08:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2008, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-black-guy-always-dies-first/467640/1 "2008-10-12T22:08:48Z")
I don’t know if that has changed at all in horror pics. Has it? And if not, why not? And how true is it? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2008, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-black-guy-always-dies-first/467640/2 "2008-10-12T22:20:28Z")
In _Alien_, the black guy dies last or second-to-last, as I recall. In _Aliens_, a black guy dies first. Another black guy gets taken but doesn’t actually die (off camera) until the earth-shattering kaboom. In _Predator_, the two black characters (among the good guys) died fourth and fifth, I think. It’s a cliché that is famous for being famous, rather than for being true, I’d guess. ---
**Author:** ![RyJae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9d8465/32.png) [@RyJae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RyJae)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2008, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-black-guy-always-dies-first/467640/3 "2008-10-12T22:27:08Z")
I always thought if you had sex you got horribly mutilated. Never noticed the black guy dying first thing though. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2008, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-black-guy-always-dies-first/467640/4 "2008-10-12T23:37:02Z")
Unless a movie is riffing on the trope (LL Cool J’s character in **Deep Blue Sea** for example), then yes, the black guy is often still one of the first characters to die in a horror movie. ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2008, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-black-guy-always-dies-first/467640/5 "2008-10-12T23:41:19Z")
> [@RyJae](#): > > I always thought if you had sex you got horribly mutilated. I think it’s just unprotected sex. > [@RyJae](#): > > Never noticed the black guy dying first thing though. You was probably concentrating on the sex. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2008, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-black-guy-always-dies-first/467640/6 "2008-10-12T23:44:36Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > I don’t know if that has changed at all in horror pics. Has it? And if not, why not? And how true is it? I have heard this before as “the black guy always dies”. The point being not that he’s the first to go, but that he never, ever survives the film. ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2008, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-black-guy-always-dies-first/467640/7 "2008-10-12T23:47:54Z")
- taps feet patiently and waits for list of “Black characters who didn’t get offed.”\* ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-black-guy-always-dies-first/467640/8 "2008-10-13T00:33:51Z")
[TVtropes has a page on this](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BlackDudeDiesFirst). It gives both examples and subversions. I apologize in advance if you never found this site before, some say it is addicting. ---
**Author:** ![kasuo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8c91f0/32.png) [@kasuo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kasuo)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-black-guy-always-dies-first/467640/9 "2008-10-13T01:26:43Z")
> [@RyJae](#): > > I always thought if you had sex you got horribly mutilated. Never noticed the black guy dying first thing though. I thought that was just with the Friday the 13th movies. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-black-guy-always-dies-first/467640/10 "2008-10-13T01:35:08Z")
Horror movies are little morality plays. Have sex, have a bad attitude, drink or smoke dope and you will get killed fast. Monster movies kill off the minorities early. then kill off everybody til they have the smartest and most physically strong left. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-black-guy-always-dies-first/467640/11 "2008-10-13T01:39:39Z")
Horror films often have a heroine and/or a hero who survive(s) and a supporting cast who doesn’t. The survivor main character is usually white, and there’s almost always a black character in the supporting cast. Thus the black character dies, though not always first. This has changed over the years, particularly with modern darker films where everybody dies, but also with black survivors. ---
**Author:** ![5-HT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/f19dbf/32.png) [@5-HT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5-HT)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-black-guy-always-dies-first/467640/12 "2008-10-13T01:57:57Z")
In _night of the living dead_ the black guy dies last. The black guy survives in both the original and remake of _Dawn of the Dead_, though in the remake its unclear if he lives through the last scene during the credits and there was another black guy that dies earlier(though not first). I don’t remember for the original _Day of the Dead_, but in the horrible remake of it the black guy does die pretty early on, though again not first. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-black-guy-always-dies-first/467640/13 "2008-10-13T02:04:38Z")
The Mamet/Tamahori film\* The Edge\* subverts it a bit too; an awesome movie if you haven’t seen it. ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-black-guy-always-dies-first/467640/14 "2008-10-13T04:09:39Z")
**Attack of the Killer Shrews** is another data point–the black guy is the first (possibly the only? I don’t remember for sure) guy to die. It’s pretty glaringly obvious that’s the only reason he was in the film… ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-black-guy-always-dies-first/467640/15 "2008-10-13T04:42:11Z")
Per **Pepperlandgirl** ’s example, is this something that is far more common in older movies? Specifically, in a time when black actors could show up in movies playing most roles but never the lead or a major player? The list at TV Tropes is loaded with avoidances and counter-examples. I think there’s maybe 8 or 9 valid examples out of about 50, and one of them is Vin Diesel. Though there it is “dies first”. “The minority always dies” probably has a lot more support (cf. “white dude dies first” in the Korean film _The Host_). ---
**Author:** ![DarRRva](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/53a042/32.png) [@DarRRva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarRRva)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-black-guy-always-dies-first/467640/16 "2008-10-13T06:42:18Z")
Isn’t the black guy (and Ali Larter) the only ones left at the end of The House On Haunted Hill remake? Though that’s the only one that immediately springs to mind… ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-black-guy-always-dies-first/467640/17 "2008-10-13T14:36:29Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Unless a movie is riffing on the trope (LL Cool J’s character in **Deep Blue Sea** for example), then yes, the black guy is often still one of the first characters to die in a horror movie. Thanks for bringing this up, because I was trying to remember the movie and the actor and couldn’t. I thought that it was a pretty hilarious send-up of the whole thing. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-black-guy-always-dies-first/467640/18 "2008-10-13T14:41:27Z")
Spike Lee and others have talked about the “Magic Negro” in movies, who is the Outsider who has magical powers or is a guru of some sort, but dies before the film is over.: > **[Magical Negro](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_negro)** > > The Magical Negro is a trope in American cinema, television, and literature. In the cinema of the United States, the Magical Negro is a supporting stock character who comes to the aid of white protagonists in a film. Magical Negro characters, who often possess special insight or mystical powers, have long been a tradition in American fiction. > As a trope, the term Magical Negro was popularized in 2001 by film director Spike Lee, while discussing films with students during a tour of college camp... This Wikipedia list includes **Morpheus** from **The Matrix** , but I don’t think he really belongs – Morpheus really isn’t any more “magical” than anyone else in the film (although he is a Leader/Guru). More importantly, as even people who bring him up point out, _he doesn’t die_. He breaks the trope. And, unlike the example in **Deep Blue Sea** , I don’t think he was deliberayely brought in to break the trope – he simply doesn’t really fit into it. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-black-guy-always-dies-first/467640/19 "2008-10-13T14:43:41Z")
The two survivors in _Event Horizon_ were the white female lead and a black minor character. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-black-guy-always-dies-first/467640/20 "2008-10-13T15:08:03Z")
> [@DarRRva](#): > > Isn’t the black guy (and Ali Larter) the only ones left at the end of The House On Haunted Hill remake? Yep. He’s the only guy who lives, period. Mindhunters Halloween H20 The second Resident Evil movie Predator The Nutty Professor remake. Wait, that’s horrible movie, not horror movie, sorry. If black _women_ count there’s Urban Legend and 28 Days Later I haven’t seen Snakes on a Plane yet, but I’m betting that’s another example of the black guy living. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-black-guy-always-dies-first/467640.md?page=2)