Octane: Jeron Braxton on the Fuel of Life

By David-Elijah Brown

Jeron Braxton’s animated short film, Octane, portrays a psychedelic drag race through life; however, this is far from a simple joy ride. This trip presents a colorful and crude reality about an experience many will associate with a journey, a type of hell. In fact, Braxton endorses such a claim through his use of signs in this piece. Octane addresses “the modern commodification of [Black] bodies,” said Braxton in an email when the film debuted at South by Southwest and The Fader in 2018, and throughout the piece we are prompted to “mind the signs,” as Braxton expressed via an Instagram post in 2018. His diction in this work is pertinent to “minding the signs” as each word presented through a caption, billboard, or branding of commodities work to gradually build with a strong potency that radiates alongside the electric, hypnotic beats. 

The film begins by emulating a video game start page. Braxton’s play on life is the first thing brought forth, setting the arena for this work as soon as the film begins. The film continues to an opening briefcase and inside are stacks of twenty-dollar bills. Yet, these bills do not feature President Andrew Jackson and The White House. Instead, we are presented with handcuffs on one side and a portrait of a character likened to Braxton himself behind prison bars on the other. Braxton’s bill reads “In Prisons We Trust,” as opposed to the familiar “In God We Trust '' that has been entangled with our country’s currency since the 1950’s. Not only is Braxton’s work here the first instance of the film where we see his clever use of diction, but it is also imperative to acknowledge this opening scene functions as commentary on the recent efforts to reimagine the twenty-dollar bill and an instance when Braxton’s work speaks directly to the title. 

During Obama’s second term, the petition to replace President Jackson with Harriet Tubman was first introduced, and in 2021 we are still waiting. Perhaps, Braxton’s use of the twenty is invoking some truth behind the scenes. What I mean by this is to consider “octane” as fuel as well as “money.” Braxton uses these fuels as channels to not only fuel his work, but to emphasize what really is fueling capitalism, life, and the commodification of Black bodies. Furthermore, “octane” in other words is a measure of how much pressure and heat a fuel can withstand before combustion. Here, before we dive into this mesmerizing race, Braxton presents that the money in capitalism will exploit, as it will always be measuring its limits. Yet are there any limits to the power of the modern exploitation and commodification of marginalized peoples? Then, what are we to do to stop this madness?

Watch Octane on Vimeo