Sci-fi, Horror, Segregation, Jim Crow era, Indiana Jones Adventure
By: Melanie Maisonave
Atticus Freeman, who is one of the main characters in the show, goes across the United States during the Jim Crow era, the 1950's, in search of his father. His childhood friend Letitia and his uncle George tag along with him. As they drive through different towns and cities they come across racism. During their venture they stopped at a restaurant that for once did not see harmful. Letitia gets up to use the bathroom and over hears one of the workers saying there are Black people inside and was told to call the cops. She then runs and tells both Uncle George and Atticus to get the hell up, they end up being followed and chased out of the town they are in.
Have you ever been turned down a job or haven't attempted to apply for a job because the color of your skin? Lovecraft Country expresses racism through the eyes of a woman who was turned away from a job to then receive the job on the spot, with a manager position when she transformed into a white women. As the show progresses you see police brutality towards a young black boy who was accused of bothering a white woman. That white woman is actually a black woman and her name is Ruby. Ruby is Letitias older sister. When it comes to today's day and age we still see police brutality towards black people, mainly black men and even more young black men. Are there people chasing other races out of towns? Possibly but we wouldn’t know because most of the time the news channels air what that wants us to see.
Attitucs's father handed him a poem written by H.P Lovecraft called “On the Creation of Niggers”. This poem describes Black people as semi-humans and beasts.
H.P. Lovecraft was one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. He was also one of its most racist” (Romano) When Lovecraft was a teen both of his parents died at a young age and he had suffered social anxiety and began to read and study more, more so horror fiction and astronomy. Lovecraft would write letters to his friends and support Hitler and defend the white lynch mobs. Although, it is very unclear to where Lovecraft's racism originated H.P Lovecraft was a very known racist.
How do Black viewers deal with this same violence in the glossy new HBO adventure Lovecraft Country? (Pierrot). With the show obviously based off racism, were the viewers okay while sitting and watching the show, how did they handle it? Lovecraft Country has a lot fiction in it, such as the monsters and wizard aspect of it. The show is for entertainment purposes.
The show Lovecraft Country has some references to who the characters are in real life and quotes from the writer/ producer. One of the ghosts is named Anarcha — a reference to an actual slave who endured surgery, without anesthesia, by the white doctor J. Marion Sims, whose medical advances earned him the title of the father of modern gynecology. (Phillips) “Misha Green admitted there were problems with this subplot: “I wanted to show the uncomfortable truth that oppressed folks can also be oppressors”.
In conclusion, how does the show Lovecraft Country portray and compared to our reality? It portrayed and compared to the ongoing police brutality that still happens till this day. Police brutality is the reason why we have the Black Live Matter movement and protest. What is witnessed in the show with the brutality from officers is unfortunately no different from what we see on the news channel. Although H.P Lovecraft was such a racist there is no reason to why he was, articles explain that he had a rough childhood. He did create cosmic horror but there does not seem to be any connection between comic and the reality of the show.
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