This February, Midnight Social Distortion will be celebrating Black History Month by honoring Black horror characters, in particular Black horror survivors, throughout the twenty-eight day period. Each day will feature one black male and one black female survivor in horror and sci-fi to bring light to the positive, albeit still problematic, black champions of representation in horror. Some disclaimers first: obvious spoilers ahead, and not all horror survivors will be featured this go round, but will appear in later posts down the line.
Doc (Yaphet Kotto)
Character Arc:
Dream guru and psychologist to the kids and teens at a troubled youth center, Doc was an integral piece to destroying Freddy Krueger, given that he could control his dreams and become a bad ass while doing so. Basically being Maggie’s trainer during the final moments of the movie, it’s Doc’s 3D glasses that helped Maggie send her father to hell for the time being. Absurd concept, but in an Elm Street film, anything is beautifully possible.
Fun Facts:
Doc was the only black man to survive a direct encounter with Freddy Krueger, but not the only black man to survive an Elm Street film. Max Daniels (Laurence Fishburne) also survived an Elm Street film, but had no contact with Krueger. Roland Kincaid survived the first encounter with Freddy in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, but was the first to be killed in the next installment, A Nightmare On Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, which nullifies his survivor status.
Final Thoughts:
Doc’s character was a departure for most of the adult characters in the Elm Street series. Instead of declaring the kids (and Maggie) as insane, he was onboard from jump with the possibility of a Dream stalker, and had the tools and technique to take Freddy out. If Springwood had a Doc, then who knows how many souls would’ve survived Freddy’s blades. Then again, if the town was so close, why didn’t Doc pick up on the trend of teenagers dying in their sleep? Who cares! He survived and that’s all that matters…
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