The film Antebellum is an outstanding fantasy on how far white supremacists could go if they had a legal (or even self-imposed) right to practice overt racism again. Its release is very timely, giving both white and non-white people a radical, shocking perspective on what may happen if race leaves the formula of social, political, and economic equality.
The context of the film looks highly realistic amid the rise in hate crimes and white nationalist demonstrations at the start of Trump’s presidency.
Antebellum explores the dark nature of white hate, contemplating how far white people in power can go to remind Blacks of their place. Analysis of the film’s “movement” and the current rising white nationalism in the USA shows the ugly face of fears associated with Americans’ fear of losing their superior status in the country.
Thus, the revival of ugly, brutal slavery is a possible scenario even in a democratic state if one nation group is continually reminded of its superior status and the need to protect it.
A deeper analysis shows that CBR fuels such support for white supremacy by introducing white fear of “reverse racism.” In the official terminology, reverse racism relates to white people’s reluctance to engage in discussions of race and dig deeper into the underlying causes of racial inequality in the USA. As soon as race comes to the fore, they use colorblind racism to dispel accusations of systemic racial discrimination.
However, if race gets too much focus as the only cause of a problem, Americans perceive it as a threat to their status, involving the CBR framing of victimhood. Thus, Antebellum shows an extreme, though possible, the scenario of what Americans can do if their supremacy gets really endangered.