Given almost half of this country wants to own black people again, might be timely.

Is in the book, the main character Shadow, is racially ambiguous--you just know he's not white, and you guess part black because of a comments minor characters and a reference to the sickle cell disease his mother had. The God Anansi--Gaiman wrote another humorous book starring him and his son--is unapologetically black, but milder in temperament than this early scene depicts. This scene captures a more thorough look at a trickster God.

There are other characters who are considered black in the book. Gaiman, when he writes, makes his phrasing a little different from your usual white author POV, identifying characters as white, as though white is NOT the default.

I've read the book maybe ten times--I do that with books I love. Generally, I hate TV adaptations. This one had me going from mildly impressed in the first episode to going "holy shit, holy shit" Throughout this second one.

Maybe the third? And were confused. We will try to watch on Demand. Generally we love Starz originals. We will try again since my husband is disappointed there's no Jamie and Claire until September!

It set a pretty high bar for the episode, which managed to maintain. I love the way all the big name actors are just chewing the scenery, while the guy playing Shadow is so understated. It works perfectly.

And yes, it feels very American (if that makes any sense.

Anansi (/əˈnɑːnsi/ ə-NAHN-see) is an African folktale character. He often takes the shape of a spider and is considered to be the spirit of all knowledge of stories. He is also one of the most important characters of West African and Caribbean folklore.

He is also known as Ananse, Kwaku Ananse, and Anancy. In the New World he is known as Nancy, Aunt Nancy and Sis' Nancy.[1] He is a spider, but often acts and appears as a man.

The Anansi tales originated from the Akan people of present-day Ghana. The word Ananse is Akan and means "spider". They later spread to West Indies, Suriname, Sierra Leone (where they were introduced by Jamaican Maroons) and the Netherlands Antilles. On Curaçao, Aruba, and Bonaire, he is known as Kompa Nanzi, and his wife as Shi Maria.

Anansi is depicted in many different ways. Sometimes he looks like an ordinary spider, sometimes he is a spider wearing clothes or with a human face and sometimes he looks much more like a human with spider elements, such as eight legs.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anansi