So there's this weird uptick in body-jacking narratives in recent years, and I'm... concerned? Not sure if that's the right word.

Watchmen, Atlantics, Lovecraft Country, Soul, WW84(the last two ironically released on the same day).

My concern (again not sure if that's the right word) is how the narrative, meta-narrative, and audiences ignore the ethical implications.

Watchmen and Soul both feature white characters literally wearing and piloting the bodies of Black people.

Neither treats that as serious, as far as I know.

From the reviews I'm reading about Soul. A character played by Tina Fey ends up piloting the body of a Black man. Narratively it's an odd choice.
Apparently they even go so far as to jokingly lampshade it, but never directly address it.

From a meta-narrative standpoint, having Tina Fey, who has employed Blackface in her work multiple times, do so is...

(The first time it happens in 30 Rock, she literally writes her character rolling her eyes at the black character who objects to other character in Blackface)

Watchmen never deals with the implications of having a white Jewish walk around in cosmic Blackface. Specifically where he replaces a Black man who died alone, especially when he specifically states he look any way Angela wants.

It also doesn't address the necrophiliac or consent issues (more on that when I get to Atlantics). Why, if the purpose of "Cal" was so Jon and Angela could be seen in public without drawing attention, are they having sex in a private space with Jon STILL in "Cal" form.

Is it still a violation of consent or boundaries? What does that imply about Angela?

From a meta-narrative standpoint I understand that plot device was to explain why Jon looks the way he does, keep Yahya from having to be in blue body paint all day, and set up the fanservice.

Again narratively it's an odd thing to ignore, or only reference in an off-hand joke.

Lovecraft Country apparently uses body-jacking of Black bodies for significant plot points/twists, but frankly I don't know (or care to know) enough about rhose specific plot details.

Folk who do, feel free to jump in.

Both Watchmen and Soul have cast, crew, and fans who praise both for their stellar "representation" but gloss right over the implications of body-jacking Black bodies.

(I know we've moved away from "Black bodies" as an expression, but it's apt here)

For the latter, I have seen some criticism of the issue. Mainly though it is related to the Disney animation trend of not letting Black characters be visibly so for the movie's runtime.

But overall there is praise for the film.

For Watchmen, I've not once seen someone bring up how weird it is for white Jewish man used his omnipotence/omniscience to live for ten years in a Black man's stolen face/body and a) The narrative never gives that fact weight and b) the character learns literally nothing from it.

Just interesting how seeing attractive Black characters counts as "representation" even when, narratively those characters are actually white characters piloting Black bodies.

Another ethical issue I see with body-jacking in narratives is the dismissal of consent in terms of sexual engagement of any kind.

That brings me to Atlantics.

One thing I was afraid once I realized that the narrative featured a group of dead young men possessing the bodies of local young women, that there would be some sexual misuse of their bodies while possesed.

I breathed a sigh of relief, once I realized it wouldn't.

...until it did at the very end. The young women are not harmed in anyway, as the men possessing only want justice and pay for the exploitation that ultimately cost them their lives.

However the main character's dead boyfriend only want to see her again. Which is fine, right?

Except the movie ends with a sex scene between the lead and her boyfriend, who is a dead man possessing another man's body. What's more the man is a police officer/detective who doesn't even like the lead, and absolutely would not/could not consent to that.

He leaves confused and disoriented after waking up having regained control of his body.

Again narrative and audience alike skip right over that. It is a beautiful movie, and even that last scene is shot as bittersweet romance. But ultimately it's a rape scene not treated as one

Wonder Woman 1984 apparently does the same thing. Steve is brought back not as his own person, but body-jacking another person altogether. This means that all romantic and sexual interludes are betweeb Diana and Steve are nonconsual, because the body Steve is using in stolen.

I did see a few people actually address this, thankfully. Once more, though, an odd decision to have your white feminist lead, in a movie written and filmed in the midst of the MeToo movement, violate consent so flagrantly.

Body-jacking narrative devices are not new. But the element of violation of trust/consent/autonomy that these narratives used to elicit are no longer present.

The horror is removed from the horrific.

It's not lost on me at all that all these stories (except WW84) feature Black actors playing characters that get their bodies hijacked, and three of them feature Black bodies hijacked by white characters.

In a post-Get Out world, you'd think there would be less of this, not more

Get Out only came out 3 years ago. Maybe it was addressing something that was already a trend in Hollywood. Or maybe this is a case of movie/television producers seeing that a thing is popular but totally misreading why.

In either case there's something here worth addressing.

This is about as far as I can take it though. Not an expert on horror or horropr tropes, particularly as they relate to Blackness.

Experts like @thinglygrammar, @courtdanee2, @whatsgooddiablo, or @stevie_mat have a depth of understanding that I don't. They know better than I.

But I'm just wondering what the implications are of this trend are.

If race is ascribed to the body, and bodies bear the weight of material consequences of racism, what does it mean to have media defang the horror of stealing bodily automony/control/consent from [Black] people?

(Please forgive my typos)