ABSTRACT
Manderlay (Lars von Trier, 2005) and Black Snake Moan (Craig Brewer, 2006) stand in black and white contrast to one another even while both contrast the relations of white women and black men. The gritty Manderlay, from the controversial Lars von Trier, follows the horrific adventures of Grace (Bryce Dallas Howard), a sweetly attractive and idealistic young woman who discovers a plantation still worked by slaves sixty-eight years after the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment. Grace liberates the plantation only to find that its inhabitants do not want to be free and cannot escape reenacting master and slave roles, especially in the bedroom. Craig Brewer's Black Snake Moan follows the rehabilitation of Rae (Christina Ricci), a carnally attractive redneck woman whose self-destructive hedonism is cured by Lazarus (Samuel L. Jackson), a bluesman with his own demons, and culminates in a happy ending.
