Lovecraft Country has irritated me.
What is Lovecraft Country? Itâs a new HBO show based on a 2016 novel of the same name. Iâve heard talk that HBO is trying to recapture some of the magic from last yearâs stand out hit series The Watchmen. That gained my interest. I saw The Watchmen and thought it was miraculous in that it achieved a level of honesty about Americaâs past that we havenât seen before on television. Also, it kept me on the edge of my seat most of the way.
So why is Lovecraft Country irritating me? I watched episode 4 yesterday and as I watched the lead protagonist Atticus Turner bicker endlessly with his father and want-to-be, sort of girlfriend Letitia, it reminded me of Samuel L. Jacksonâs character in the movie Pulp Fiction when he described the Superman/alter-ego reverse dynamic. Jacksonâs character explained that Clark Kent is Supermanâs critique on humanity. He reasoned that since Kal-El/Superman is the real person and Clark Kent is the alias created by Superman to allow him to blend in with humans, it offers a view of how a Kryptonian sees humans, mainly as bumbling, hapless souls who had best get out of the way when something important is happening.
So Iâm listening to Atticus (Tic) argue endlessly with with his father and I realize that this offers a possible insight as to how the white author views a typical African American father-son relationshipâas hopelessly adversarial. Letitia is simultaneously over and under sexed and she is depicted as courageous one minute and a dainty, helpless female the next. The show-runner canât seem to make up his mind how he wants to portray these characters but the one thing he is sure of is that they donât like each other for more than a few minutes at a time. Itâs tiring.
While I was considering HBOâs decision not to tone down the tropes ascribed to the black characters when adapting the novel for TV, I realized that whites donât fare too well either. Pretty much every white person weâve seen so far is a version of either George Wallace or David Duke, which leaves me wondering exactly who the intended audience for this show is?
Halfway through episode four, I noticed my wife had completely checked out and was browsing Facebook on her phone. I endured the rest but after the ârazor incidentâ at the end of the episode, I pretty much checked out as well. I donât think I will tune in for this one again. Like I said, itâs irritating.
#entertainment #HBO #TV #racerelations
