one thing i noticed abt sinners that really stood out to me was that none of the juke joint group thought of sacrificing sammie. like it didnβt even enter their heads.
even when sammie tried to sacrifice himself after remmick promises to leave once he has him, smoke (fresh after his second encounter with the newly turned stack, his twin brother who he did everything for for their entire lives, telling him to join them) pulls him back inside. pearline grabs onto him. slim mouths off to stack.
now, i know what youβll say- βoh, smokeβs sammieβs big cousin. annie wouldnβt have give any of them up, especially sammie. pearline was in love with sammie. of course, they wouldnβt give him upβ. that, i get.
but what about grace and slim?
grace and slim, in the filmβs context, had no reason to not give him up. grace was deeply worried and terrified over what would happen to lisa, still alone in the town while she was stuck in the juke joint till sunrise, and by all means, slim had no obligation to protect sammie, or protect anyone in the joint, really. he couldβve offered, even half-jokingly, half-fearfully, to give sammie to them, or tried to get sammie to give himself up, again. grace couldβve, as well.
but what happened, instead?
grace doesnβt breathe a word about sammie, doesnβt even suggest they take the offer, even when remmick basically says that if they give him sammie, theyβll all leave (she doesnβt know if thatβs true, but she doesnβt know itβs not). she screams, she cries in her grief and rage, but she only dooms the juke once her desperation reaches a fever pitch, once it enters her mind that her- their- only option is to fight, and take all of the undead down with them. sheβs consumed and burning, but she doesnβt turn it into sammie, even if it wouldβve made sense for her to do so.
and slim? slim goes out of his way to protect sammie, to take him under his wing. he tells sammie that he doesnβt have to worry, that the devil (remmick, in this case) will βhave to go through his old friend, delta slimβ. slim chooses to stay behind to buy sammie- to buy all of them-, a chance to escape, knowing he wasnβt going to make it to sunrise. but he did it anyway.
and that? thatβs community. thatβs solidarity. that, even, is family.
ellievsbear
izzy806
theartofmadeline
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
areudirty
