MovieChat Forums > Candyman (1992) Discussion > Some questions (spoilers)

Some questions (spoilers)

posted 4 years ago by Drooch (5333)
3 replies | jump to latest

Why is Candyman saying ‘be my victim’ to Helen when he continually spares her, his victims are surely the innocents he kills?

Are we to believe that Candyman is destroyed in the bonfire? What was he planning to do with the baby?

Once Helen is dead, why does she return as a terrifying Candywoman? Has she now replaced Candyman as an urban legend? She butchered her boyfriend, will she now go on to butcher innocents?

[–] Drooch (5333) 3 years ago

Anyone?

[–] Solastine (1104) 3 years ago

Because he wants Helen to surrender to him, remember she is the one who is killing everyone else (as Candyman tells us at the end of the story.) It's not so much as he wants to kill Helen, but he wants Helen to let go of the rational and become a legend like him.

I think you place too much importance on the baby, that is symbolism... it symbolizes the birth of a new legend, the legend of Helen. Helen kidnapped the baby, Helen burned up in the fire, Helen was "Candyman"

Because the whole movie was about folk lore, Candyman told us that his immortality comes from the people who whisper his name in fear. Helen became the woman that the people from the projects whisper about in fear, not just Candyman.

[–] acidraindrop (3055) 3 years ago

Why is Candyman saying ‘be my victim’ to Helen when he continually spares her, his victims are surely the innocents he kills?

Like most of his lines, I honestly am not sure if there's much to most of it. I have a few ideas of what that particular quote means, but I don't feel confident enough to expand on it. I'd have to watch the movie again more conscientiously.

Are we to believe that Candyman is destroyed in the bonfire? What was he planning to do with the baby?

Candyman exists as long as the idea of him exists in the minds Cabrini Green. I interpret the bonfire scene as Helen basically replacing him. He was terror, and only terror. Helen, in saving the baby, provides hope. He wanted Helen to join him in notoriety, but she basically subverted his myth.

Has she now replaced Candyman as an urban legend? She butchered her boyfriend, will she now go on to butcher innocents?

Maybe she will, maybe she won't. Remember, Candyman exists BECAUSE of the very community he terrorizes. Helen is defined by how she is remembered. But as I noted, her legend is different. She is mythologized as a saviour (the baby). Look at her mural even. Her myth is functionally different than Candyman's for this community.