Decoding Netflix’s “Bright” from a Black perspective

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From The Melanin Man:

The moment I finished watching “Bright” I knew I would have to write a post on it. The social and political themes are obvious to the casual observer, but there is also SO MUCH metaphysical and occult symbology and knowledge hidden in this film one could write on it for days.

I’m still “green” when it comes to the occult, which means hidden in Latin, mythology and mysteries of the universe. I have to admit, learning occult knowledge is really tricky at times. But thanks to binge watching on a ton of Bobby Hemmitt YouTube videos over the past two to three months, I feel like I have basic understanding of the occult as it relates to Black-Melanin Dominant population.

If you haven’t watched the movie but don’t plan to, feel free to read the plot summary courtesy of IDMB. If you’ve watched or plan on watching Bright, you can bypass straight to my “meat n’ potatoes” analysis of the film. I wasn’t going to trouble myself with typing a synopsis as I normally do.

This film is set in an alternate reality of the city of Los Angeles, where humans co-exist with orcs, elves, and fairies. Officer Daryl Ward (Will Smith) is out on the streets with his partner, Nick Jakoby (Joel Edgerton), who is the world’s first orc cop. Jakoby is grabbing a burrito when an orc gangster emerges from a shop and blasts Ward with a shotgun.

Some time later, Ward is ready to go back to the force. He is struggling to keep his house that he shares with his wife Sherri (Dawn Olivieri) and daughter Sophia (Scarlet Spencer). Sophia hates that her dad is a cop because she worries he’ll get killed. They see a video from Joe Rogan interviewing an orc as they discuss Jakoby being on the force. The other orcs hate Jakoby as they consider him a traitor. Ward dislikes having him as a partner because he blames Jakoby for him getting shot. Sherri then makes him go outside to deal with a fairy that’s attacking the bird feeder. Ward takes a broom and whacks the fairy to death.

Ward and Jakoby ride together, with Ward openly blaming Jakoby for the shooting incident. After driving through the wealthy Elftown neighborhood, they arrive at work, where a few rotten cops – Pollard (Ike Barinholtz), Hicks (Matt Gerald), and Brown (Joseph Piccuirro) – mock Jakoby when he’s not around. When Ward is assigned to be on patrol with Jakoby for the day, he protests to Sergeant Ching (Margaret Cho), but she doesn’t care for his complaints.

Ward and Jakoby head downtown to handle a disturbance, meeting with Sheriff Rodriguez (Jay Hernandez). A crazy man named Serling (Chris Browning) is waving a sword around and yelling nonsense. With the officers drawing their weapons, Serling surrenders and is taken into custody. On the ride back to the precinct, Serling pukes in the back of the car before starting to speak Orkish to Jakoby, saying he has a message from an organization called the Shield of Light, telling him to “remember the old ways”, and how a prophecy has chosen him, and that Ward is blessed.

Ward is later approached by Captain Perez (Andrea Navedo), along with two men – Yamahara (Kenneth Choi) and Arkashian (Bobby Naderi) – who order Ward to record Jakoby admitting that he let Ward’s shooter get away.

Serling is interrogated by an elf FBI agent, Kandomere (Edgar Ramirez), and his partner Montehugh (Happy Anderson). The agents ask Serling what he knows about two elf sisters – Leilah (Noomi Rapace) and Tikka (Lucy Fry). Serling knows that Leilah is a dark elf, part of the Inferni clan that wants to resurrect the Dark Lord, an evil entity that was defeated 2,000 years earlier by the Nine Armies. Leilah and her minions want to bring him back to unleash darkness upon the world with the use of three magic wands. Leilah is a “Bright”, meaning she can wield a wand without it destroying her. Montehugh says they need to find Tikka in order to set a trap for Leilah.

On the night patrol, Ward tries to get Jakoby to confess to the incident, when they are alerted to something going on at a house on Abrams Street. They arrive and are shot at by an unseen assailant. After a shootout, the officers kill the assailant. They head inside the house and find dead bodies, including a few that look like they were burnt alive. The officers find Tikka, who is in possession of the wand.

Ward calls in Ching and the other cops in regards to the wand. They want the wand for themselves, and they order Ward to go along with it and kill Jakoby, or he dies as well. Ward goes outside to do the job, but first he presses Jakoby at gunpoint on what really happened when he got shot. Jakoby admits he did let the shooter get away, but it was because he lost him in a crowd. He thought he cornered the guy in an alley, but it was just a young orc spray-painting the side of a building. Knowing that the human officers would kill the kid on the spot, Jakoby let him get away on a fire escape. Moments later, Ching and the officers step outside. Ward spins around quickly and shoots them all dead, but Pollard is the only one hanging on for his life. Jakoby attempts to arrest Ward until they are approached by a gang led by wheelchair-bound Poison (Enrique Murciano), who knows about the wand and wants it for himself so that he can walk again. Ward and Jakoby take Tikka and head into their van as the gangsters start attacking.

The officers drive away as the gangsters pursue them. The gangsters shoot at them, but Ward and Jakoby are able to shake most of them off. They find a place to hide briefly until more gangsters come after them. One of them finds the wand and tries to grab it, but it causes him to explode and kill those around him.

Leilah and her minions arrive at the Abrams house and find Pollard dying before Leilah finishes the job. She then finds another Inferni elf, Larika (Nadia Grey), who is stuck to the walls. She tells Leilah that Tikka got away with the wand, and she slashes Larika’s throat. The elves then come across a family that they kill for more information on the wand’s whereabouts. Kandomere and Montehugh later come upon the crime scene at the Abrams house, and Kandomere knows Leilah has lost the wand, making her vulnerable.

Ward, Jakoby, and Tikka walk through a sleazy orc/human strip club. Poison and his gang find them and once again threaten them for the wand, but Leilah and her minions show up and slaughter Poison and his gang. Another shootout happens, forcing the trio to run again. They run into a nearby convenience store where they find a place to hide. While tending to their wounds in a bathroom, Ward and Jakoby discuss their relationship. Although Ward doesn’t think of them as friends, he does tell Jakoby that he shouldn’t want to be like him, despite Jakoby previously stating he wishes he were because he sees Ward as fearless.

Rodriguez shows up to the store after hearing about Ward killing the officers. He orders Ward to cuff Jakoby since everyone suspects him anyway, and Jakoby willingly relents. Rodriguez is then shot dead as the elves drive up and crash through the store, shooting at the cops. The trio fight back, shooting at the elves before getting away.

The trio are then found by a group of orc gangsters belonging to the Fogteeth clan. After Ward mocks them, they get beaten and dragged to a church that serves as their lair. The orcs bring them to their leader, Dorghu (Brad William Henke). He wants the wand as well, and he mocks Jakoby for being unblooded (accepted by the other orcs as one of their own). After the cops refuse to give up the wand, Dorghu orders them to be executed. The guards drag Ward and Jakoby to a pit, and Dorghu orders his son Mikey (Brandon Larracuente) to execute Jakoby. However, Mikey can’t bring himself to do so, because he is the young orc that Jakoby let get away. Dorghu allows Mikey to go home, and Dorghu shoots Jakoby, letting his body fall into the pit. Tikka then pulls out the wand and uses it to resurrect Jakoby and raise his body up. The other orcs are astonished and kneel before Jakoby, believing him to be the one the prophecy spoke of. The three then leave.

Tikka then speaks English for the first time, now that she knows she can trust Ward and Jakoby. She explains that she took the wand because she knew Leilah wanted to bring back the Dark Lord, and she had sent Larika to kill her, but Tikka took the wand herself. The use of the wand took a toll on her, and it’s starting to kill her. She tells them that the Shield of Light can help them if they take her to a pool back at the Abrams house.

Ward and Jakoby bring Leilah back to the house. Leilah and the other dark elves show up and battle the cops. Ward and Jakoby manage to kill the elves, and Jakoby appears to shoot Leilah dead. They then take Tikka to the pool beneath a tree, but Leilah emerges, still alive. When she tries to get the wand, Ward grabs it himself. It starts to glow, and he doesn’t explode, meaning he is a Bright. Tikka tells him a war word to cast a spell, which Ward repeats, causing the wand to blast Leilah to smithereens. Outside, authorities arrive just as they witness the explosion. Ward and Jakoby look for Tikka, but she’s gone.

The officers are in the hospital and are approached by Kandomere and Montehugh. Although Jakoby tries to explain everything that happened, Ward denies that there was ever a wand, and that gangsters killed the corrupt officers.

In the final scene, Ward and Jakoby are commemorated for their heroism. Pollard, Brown, Hicks, and Ching are also honored alongside Rodriguez, with Ward expressing his hatred for that fact. Jakoby tells him to let it go, since at least they know the truth. Sherri and Sophia are there to support Ward, while he and Jakoby notice Tikka walking among the crowd, smiling at them.

So hopefully you got the gist of what went down on the surface in the film. Now…to the real deal.

From the little information of come across so far concerning the hidden mysteries of the universe, I’ve come to realize that anything involving the occult or occult practices is not limited to those of the pale-skinned, Melanin-Recessive nature. The biggest misconception is that those of that ilk are the foremost knowledgeable when comes to occult knowledge. In fact, when it comes to the occult, all of it is African-based, derived from the ancient civilizations such as Egypt and Ethiopia (Kush) and dispersed on all corners of the planet. From the mythologies prevalent in our religions and belief systems to the occult sciences (numerology, cosmology, cosmogony, astrology, astronomy), it is ALL the creation of people who were African, Black-Melanin Dominant.

It should common knowledge at this point that the white, Caucasoid European did not create ANYTHING whatsoever on this physical plane. Nor do they have any real access to the metaphysical/spiritual realm as they seemingly have a stranglehold on many various occult texts stolen discovered from the ancient world over millennia.

Unless they have a little Black in their DNA, which leads me back to the film itself.

The wand, the main plot device throughout the film, acts as a representation for having the ability to connect to the metaphysical/spiritual realm (the unseen realm), the realm that directly effects the physical realm, the realm that truly matters in the grand scheme of things. The wand was originally possessed by a wicked subset of Elves (who’s considered the Elite, the self-proclaimed cream of the crop in the film. Sound familiar?) called the Inferni, which derived from the Illuminati. Although these dark Elves had control of the wand, they could not harness its true power without the assistance of a Bright.

Connecting it to what I know and the real world, I interpreted a Bright to be a person who possesses a soul and has to the ability to tap into the spiritual realm. In some underground circles, it is believed that the vast majority of Blacks have souls (is it a wonder Blacks make the greatest soul singers?) whereas the majority of those who are considered white” do not. Those who are white who do have souls undoubtedly have “a drop of Black” in their DNA.

If you touch the wand with your bare hands and you’re not a Bright, you can burn ALIVE. It symbolizes the rising of the Kundalini (primal energy located at the ROOT Chakra, where the soul resides.) Except no SOUL exists.

(If you’re not familiar with the Kundalini, please find the time to do some research.)

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The wand possessed by the evil leader of Inferni, Leilah

Notice in the picture that evil elf Leilah is wearing gloves so she can be able to hold the wand. The cops that turn against Will Smith’s character Daryl Ward and his cop partner Nick Jacoby scoop the wand, not with their bare hands, but with a Duffel bag. There’s also a scene where a group of Hispanic gangbangers, who are chasing after Daryl, Nick, and the benevolent elf Tikka (who’s a Bright), attempt to pick up the wand and subsequently burn alive.

How convenient is it that the only human in the film that was able to pick up the wand with their bare hands was Will Smith’s Daryl Ward, who only discovers at the moment prior to destroying Leilah that he himself was a Bright (or one with a soul?)

I peeped that out the moment it was mentioned by the crazy Serling that Daryl was “blessed.”

Tikka, prior to turning traitor to Inferni, was used by Leilah to harness the power of the wand. It can be assumed that Tikka represents the Black woman (who holds the supreme “feminine principle” connection to the spiritual realm) who’s unknowingly, and in some cases knowingly, used by the Elite (who possess practically all of the ancient occult knowledge) to keep and maintain the current paradigm.

And what about the Dark Lord, which was defeated approximately 2,000 years ago by the Nine Armies? Which coincidentally falls around the same time of the chronology of Christ myth?

Side note: Check this post out. This is a good detailed read on the occult symbology that was showcased in Bright. I found one tidbit very interesting. The number of armies that defeated the the “Dark Lord” 2,000 years ago is the same number concerning the Nine Circles of Hell of Dante Alighieri’s Inferno . It details how individuals rejected spirituality in favor of bestial appetites, perverting the human intellectual capacity through the nine sins listed in the image below.

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“The Nine Circles of Hell”

Could it be that the Dark Lord was metaphorically defeated by these nine sins?

We know by now that “dark” should not be seen as “evil,” per se. And “dark” directly correlates to melanin, or “dark matter.” So the fall of the Dark Lord can be viewed as the fall of the people with melanin, the loss of their dominance in the physical world, in part due to its own undoing. Tikka mentions if the Dark Lord returns, he will destroy billions of lives and enslave the remaining to worship him in a new age of magic. I’m not entirely sure on this topic so I’m taking a shot in the dark on this one. If you don’t view this through the lens of good vs. evil, the Brights (ones with souls) will be the ones to “worship the Dark Lord” (respect for the true natural order of universe?) in a “new age of magic” (the new reality of fifth dimensional consciousness?) Inferni may be attempting to gain leverage of the situation, thinking by summoning the Dark Lord through Brights like Tikka (black woman) it can maintain its Elitist position when he returns.

I may be reaching on this one, but hey it doesn’t hurt to try, right?!

Also in the scene where the Orc cop Nick (if you haven’t noticed yet, the film portrays Orcs similar to low-income Blacks, as whole, from the real world) is raised from the dead by Tikka is a Christ-like manner is not accidental either. I believe it symbolizes the Black man rising back up by reconnecting to his better half, the Black woman, through the occult knowledge of his ancestors.

On side note: the partnering of Daryl and Nick is also intriguing to me, as they portray the Black man in two distinct realities. There is no mention of Daryl’s skin tone nor is it necessary since he is viewed and accepted fully as a human being by assimilating into the system i.e. his white wife and biracial offspring. Nick as an Orc whose not assimilated in the system cannot escape his Orc background/ethnicity (his Blackness) and thus must fight daily to prove his worth (his humanity) to his cop colleagues. This is further illustrated when Nick is trapped with the dilemma of fulfilling his duties as a cop and arresting an innocent Orc graffiti artist (staying loyal to his Blackness). He decides to let him go (being Black first, profession second), placing his job in jeopardy. The act, along with the fact he was “raised from the dead”, gained Nick street cred with the Orc gang that captured and sacrificed him, which ironically was the same gang the Orc kid graffiti artist was a member of.

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Will Smith’s Daryl Ward: “You’re really my homie, you know that?!”

This is what I took from Bright. As mentioned before, there is WAYYYY more information in the movie that I glossed over. Again, I think this post does a good job highlighting a good chunk of it.

Let me know your thoughts. Stay vigilant and prudent in watching these movies, fam!

Always look for the deeper, the hidden, message!

Peace and Love to melanated family,

The Melanin Man