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Anyone watching Lovecraft Country on HBO? (Original Post) Ilsa Sep 2020 OP
My husband and I are watching it. Behind the Aegis Sep 2020 #1
Yes JustAnotherGen Sep 2020 #2
No. murielm99 Sep 2020 #3
I'm thinking about taking a look at it. Aristus Sep 2020 #4
If feels Lovecraftian to me. Ilsa Sep 2020 #7
Seems very Lovecraftian to me. I like it. rickyhall Sep 2020 #12
Loving it. sweetloukillbot Sep 2020 #5
Are they H.P. Lovecraft stories set to the modern day or Lovecraft-like stories? yonder Sep 2020 #6
I woudn't want to see a Lovecraft story set in modern-day America. Aristus Sep 2020 #8
"....eerie, remote, isolated, rotting little towns", populated by eerie, isolated, rotting people. yonder Sep 2020 #11
I had just posted that when I remembered a little place where I stayed while doing my hospitalist Aristus Sep 2020 #13
How was the food? yonder Sep 2020 #15
There was a Mexican place and an Italian place. Both passable, nothing more. Aristus Sep 2020 #16
There is a book called Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff that is the basis Ilsa Sep 2020 #9
Thanks for the info. yonder Sep 2020 #10
I thought HBO's Watchmen did a good job in the mix of horror/racism genre. Kind of Blue Sep 2020 #14
I knew he was a racist, but what a godawful poem!! I am enjoying the show Nay Sep 2020 #17
Yes, indeed the story has been good and I didn't know it was a book! Kind of Blue Sep 2020 #18
Wonderful JustAnotherGen Sep 2020 #21
Yes, indeed! When I saw the teasers and found Jordan Peele is one of the producers, well, you know. Kind of Blue Sep 2020 #22
Yes! I am really enjoying it. femmocrat Sep 2020 #19
Episode 4 JustAnotherGen Sep 2020 #20
Good rundown of The Hidden Black History of Lovecraft Country Kind of Blue Sep 2020 #23

JustAnotherGen

(33,544 posts)
2. Yes
Tue Sep 1, 2020, 01:53 PM
Sep 2020

I'm not a sci fi type person - but I'm loving the off the wall wacky paranormal stuff.

Music, Costumes, sets, and acting is fantastic.

Sunday night's episode was CRAZY!

Aristus

(68,328 posts)
4. I'm thinking about taking a look at it.
Tue Sep 1, 2020, 01:55 PM
Sep 2020

I'm a huge Lovecraft fan (not the racism; just everything else).

So I want to know: is it Lovecraftian? Or did they just stick his name on something completely unrelated in order to hoodwink his fans into watching it?

Ilsa

(62,232 posts)
7. If feels Lovecraftian to me.
Tue Sep 1, 2020, 02:02 PM
Sep 2020

But my experience with Lovecraft is limited to some poems and a short story or two.

rickyhall

(4,889 posts)
12. Seems very Lovecraftian to me. I like it.
Tue Sep 1, 2020, 02:56 PM
Sep 2020

Years ago I found a box of Lovecraft short story collections with no covers. I never heard of him before but really got into his writings. Too me its much like Poe mixed with Verne. Poe's weird ideas with Verne's imaginative narrative style.

sweetloukillbot

(12,598 posts)
5. Loving it.
Tue Sep 1, 2020, 01:57 PM
Sep 2020

It's changed a few things in the book (some quite significantly), but it is capturing the spirit of book quite well. The changes in the last episode from the book improved on it. Still not sure about the changes in the second episode though, we'll see.

yonder

(10,002 posts)
6. Are they H.P. Lovecraft stories set to the modern day or Lovecraft-like stories?
Tue Sep 1, 2020, 02:00 PM
Sep 2020

I wish we had a way to view as his work is on the top of my list for that genre since first discovering his work many years ago.

Aristus

(68,328 posts)
8. I woudn't want to see a Lovecraft story set in modern-day America.
Tue Sep 1, 2020, 02:05 PM
Sep 2020

He set his stories in the 1920's and 1930's in which he lived. Back then, the eerie, remote, isolated, rotting little towns in which his stories are usually set were much more common than they are today.

yonder

(10,002 posts)
11. "....eerie, remote, isolated, rotting little towns", populated by eerie, isolated, rotting people.
Tue Sep 1, 2020, 02:22 PM
Sep 2020

I'd argue some places today are still like that or returning to that sort of mindset.

Aristus

(68,328 posts)
13. I had just posted that when I remembered a little place where I stayed while doing my hospitalist
Tue Sep 1, 2020, 03:01 PM
Sep 2020

rotation in PA School: Montesano, Washington. It's where the student lodging was for people doing a rotation at Grays Harbor County Hospital. Despite being the county seat, it was a strange, spooky little burg. Perpetual overcast, constant drizzle, pervasive smell of mold and mildew, rotting little wooden houses leaning precariously to one side or the other, empty streets, etc.

One got the impression people were staring at you from behind the curtains in their houses. The place could have given Twin Peaks a lesson in eerie.

I was glad to leave that place for good.

It would make the perfect modern-day setting for a Lovecraft story...

Aristus

(68,328 posts)
16. There was a Mexican place and an Italian place. Both passable, nothing more.
Tue Sep 1, 2020, 03:35 PM
Sep 2020

I used to eat up and scurry back to the student lodging as quickly as I could. I locked my door and spent the rest of the evenings either studying or hanging out online. Anything to take me away from that pestilential little town for a while...

Ilsa

(62,232 posts)
9. There is a book called Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff that is the basis
Tue Sep 1, 2020, 02:09 PM
Sep 2020

for the show. Some of it feels like Lovecraft, other times it feels like True Blood. The acting and the music are phenomenal. It's 1950s, but they aren't playing Frankie Laine or Bing Crosby or Rock Around the Clock.

Kind of Blue

(8,709 posts)
14. I thought HBO's Watchmen did a good job in the mix of horror/racism genre.
Tue Sep 1, 2020, 03:13 PM
Sep 2020

But I enjoy the extra bonus of thinking that the violently racist Lovecraft is spinning in his grave.

On the Creation of Ni**ers (1912)
by H. P. Lovecraft

When, long ago, the gods created Earth
In Jove’s fair image Man was shaped at birth.
The beasts for lesser parts were next designed;
Yet were they too remote from humankind.
To fill the gap, and join the rest to Man,
Th’Olympian host conceiv’d a clever plan.
A beast they wrought, in semi-human figure,
Filled it with vice, and called the thing a Ni**er.

Nay

(12,051 posts)
17. I knew he was a racist, but what a godawful poem!! I am enjoying the show
Tue Sep 1, 2020, 05:12 PM
Sep 2020

partially because the black people are the heroes, but the story has been good, too.

Kind of Blue

(8,709 posts)
18. Yes, indeed the story has been good and I didn't know it was a book!
Tue Sep 1, 2020, 06:31 PM
Sep 2020

A few years ago, Prof. Nnedi Okorafor, a Nigerian-American author and winner of the World Fantasy Award, a prestigious literary prize for fantastical fiction, wrote in her African-futurism blog of her conflict of receiving the WFA trophy modeled after Lovecraft himself, "I knew of Lovecraft’s racial issues, anti-Semitism, etc., but I never knew it was this serious. How strong the sentiment must have been within his soul for him to sit down and write that poem. This wasn’t racism metaphorically or abstractly rearing its ugly head within a piece of fiction, this was specific and focused.

Anyway, a statuette of this racist man’s head is in my home. A statuette of this racist man’s head is one of my greatest honors as a writer. A statuette of this racist man’s head sits beside my Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa and my Carl Brandon Society Parallax Award (an award given to the best speculative fiction by a person of color). I’m conflicted.

I too am deeply honored to win the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel. It feels so so so right and so so good. The award’s jury was clearly progressive and looking in a new direction. I am the first black person to win the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel since its inception in 1975. Lovecraft is probably rolling in his grave. Or maybe, having become spirit, his mind has cleared of the poisons and now understands the err of his ways. Maybe he is pleased that a book set in and about Africa in the future has won an award crafted in his honor. Yeah, I'll go with that image."
http://nnedi.blogspot.com/2011/12/lovecrafts-racism-world-fantasy-award.html

Yes. I'll go with that, too. It's just too delicious knowing Lovecraft basically inventing the disturbing horror genre is used to reveal the very meaning of horror by awesome writers helping to upend racism I Love it!

JustAnotherGen

(33,544 posts)
21. Wonderful
Sun Sep 6, 2020, 09:23 PM
Sep 2020

I remember that. I was hesitant to watch because of the title - but I kind of LOVE the big old finger it flips at Lovecraft.

femmocrat

(28,394 posts)
19. Yes! I am really enjoying it.
Wed Sep 2, 2020, 09:12 AM
Sep 2020

I’m not a fan of horror movies, but the acting is terrific and the 1950s setting is very compelling. I love the two main characters, Tic and Leti.

JustAnotherGen

(33,544 posts)
20. Episode 4
Sun Sep 6, 2020, 09:20 PM
Sep 2020

I love the show even more.

The nods to the horrors of colonialism and the violence inflicted on transgender/intersex human beings.

Will say nothing else until tomorrow for folks on the West Coast.

And my inner 11 year old felt like I was searching for one eyed Willy!

Kind of Blue

(8,709 posts)
23. Good rundown of The Hidden Black History of Lovecraft Country
Sun Sep 13, 2020, 11:21 AM
Sep 2020

I'm sure most if not all of the history is new to you.

In the first four episodes, the protagonists manage to vanquish poltergeists, vampire blobs, zombies, and other assorted supernatural horrors with logic, intelligence and research. But white supremacy is the inescapable, ever-present ghoul that haunts the show. The show’s not-so-subtle subtext is that trauma inflicted by white people is infinitely more dangerous than any metaphysical menace we can imagine.

While the monsters in Lovecraft Country are reportedly based on racist writer H.P. Lovecraft’s science fiction novels, many viewers aren’t aware of how the show references real history to illustrate the horrors of white supremacy (A character named “Bobo” makes cameos in two episodes, a reference to Emmett Till, who would have been a 12-year-old living in Chicago during this time).


https://www.theroot.com/where-white-people-are-scarier-than-monsters-the-hidde-1845000536?utm_source=theroot_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2020-09-11

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