Site-Wide Activity

Excellent work describing the symbolism of the trains! It’s easy to see how what was such a powerful and striking image in its time was even able to motivate congregations and audiences spiritually.

Great work tracing the roles of the train in religious symbolism of this period, Sam. We’ve talked before about how trains can represent industrialism and inevitability. Do any of your sources suggest that maybe […]

This was an excellent analysis, Ty. I think you’re certainly right in that the musical elements of the film serve to draw the audience into the struggles, but I myself noticed the circular nature of the […]

I think it’s really interesting that the train metaphor exists throughout religious based media of this time. The idea of two trains passing one going to hell and one going to heaven in a powerful one. It seems as […]

Eliza, I really like your point that you made. If Chick was really only joining just because they saw the train and everyone else on it, do you think her relationship with Christianity is authentic? How about for […]

I think that death is an extremely important aspect of life. It also plays a pivotal role in the movie along with religion so using this book to show how that existed outside of the movie is awesome.

Carly and Hannah, I really liked the points you both made. I had never read about the use of acapella in film, or like you mentioned Hannah, in an actual musical. How do you think the film would have differed if […]

Hey Jack, It’s really interesting how you saw that the dichotomy between Chick and Zeke gave the film a better taste. The fact that Zeke had to choose between his spiritual or physical interest is what cause pain […]

Olivia, I really like all of the points you made and how well thought out they were. I especially liked your mention of the “mammy,” character as this was something we learned about in African-American Literature […]

I think you’re right that Death’s Black Train is a song of both hope and fear, although the fear in this Christian message can be seen more as motivation to do good and follow God. I found it interesting that with […]

I like your comment on hoe Zeke changed himself when he became a preacher. I’m not sure if this had to do with their new class status, but I noticed when Ezekiel was preaching on stage the kids started to dance as […]

Howard’s article does a great job of illustrating how the music flows with the characters. I did not think about the Prodigal Son, but the story closely relates to the film. Did you notice Zeke preaching on the […]