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[jason10mm]

Some of you guys need to read the source material for this show. Lovecraft Country is predicated on A. an ancient sorcerer cult in New England that is very reminiscent of some of Lovecrafts characters and B. the sorrow a black sci-fi reader feels when reading a favorite author who held their race in such low esteem. But most of this is just in the first chapter and the end. There is very little Lovecraft in it and it is certainly no a retelling of his stories. The book is more Ray Bradbury-esque supernatural or sci-fi vignettes that usually highlight some sort of social injustice perpetuated against black folks. However, and maybe because the book was written by a white man he "didn't go far enough", it wasn't nearly as preachy and one note as the show.

So this show COULD have been a black focused sci-fi show with some racial elements given the time period it is set. Instead it shed a lot of the mythos elements and really zeroed in on the racial angle which I think wastes the premise and turned off most of the potential audience, at least in the eps I saw. It is a pretty common tactic to slap some sci-fi trappings on what is otherwise a social drama just to nab the geek audience and I think in this case the audience saw the sleight of hand.

Plus whatever happens at the end that could possibly create the ridiculous map posted above surely warned off the HBO execs that the show was gonna go even farther off the rails (since nothing like that was in the book). Just like they canned that D&D "black slavery is still around now" show (Confederacy?), I think they are starting to realize that the vast majority of the audience aren't going to tune in just to be lectured and the quality of the show is far more important than the twitter virtue value the premise and hired crew have.

 

[QSD]

A thing to note about Lovecraft is that his racism (ie. different cultures) seemed to stemmed from his fear of anything he didn't understand. His stories also tend to negatively portray technology, religion, magic, the unknown (like the sea) and science.

Yeah, this is a good point. There are very few other authors where links between shelteredness, xenophobia (in the literal sense, fear of the unknown/strange) and racism are so overt and there for all to see. I wonder what would have happened if one of the many weird tales writers Lovecraft was corresponding with turned out to be black. Although we'll never know, I have a feeling/hope Lovecraft would not have turned him away, rather he would have chosen to re-examine his prejudices. I feel like viewing Lovecraft as an irredeemable trash person is selling him short. If he had been exposed in different ways to black culture/people he could have turned out differently. After all, he fundamentally didn't choose to suppress his fears and dark visions, he chose to explore them on his own terms.

 

[OmegaSupreme]

Sorry. You sounded triggered because you accused the show of "race baiting". It's just a fictional story, but people seem really triggered by it. I hope HBO reconsider or another service picks it up, because honestly the little nuggets of information we had on season 2 was certainly interesting.

Yes, people born in the late 19th century would not have the same social standards of today, but Lovecraft had some pretty dark views on other races. You say Tolkien was no better, but there is no evidence that Tolkien had views as extreme as Lovecraft.

You won't see this since you've blocked me for calling out your bs but your demo has also claimed that Tolikiens orcs are his take on black people. They have no evidence for that but it's there regardless. I guess this could be political so I'll leave it there.

 

[Velcro Fly]

Watched the show over the last few days.

Going to read the book eventually since my library has ebook copies available.

Sometimes I felt like I was on some drugs watching this. It felt very out there with weird one off things reminding me a bit of some seasons of American Horror Story.

I think I will like the book more.

The couple little hints to read the book instead of watching the show were almost too broad to miss even if you are half paying attention.