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Finally caught up on some media and finally saw ep 1 of Lovecraft Country. It does the thing Watchmen did, which was show you American racism in the contest of a larger universe of magic or super science.
The result is that the racism is more believable when contrasted with the fantastical, as opposed to something people contest because it's part of the ocean we all swim in.
Even so, I found myself thinking "Hey this is a little over the top", but no, it's not over the top.
Even so, I found myself thinking "Hey this is a little over the top", but no, it's not over the top.
In fact it probably understates the terrible racism of that era. And we know it does, because there are still sunset towns (even if they don't have signs advertising it), and white people are *unaware* or (worse) willfully ignorant.
"The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far."
Lovecraft's quote accurately describes the American mind -- the terribleness of the world we made is so bad even today most of us cannot bear to think about it.
Lovecraft (of course) was more racist even than his time. But his stories are art because despite their many flaws, they have power -- both emotional and descriptive. In particular, the idea that the universe is a place too horrible to understand is a vivid critique of Progress.
Less apparent to me was how they can be viewed as a cautionary tale for the horrors our own civilization as well.
Anyway, hope the series ends up as good as Watchmen, and in the interim consider reading the Laundry novels if you want a fun, modern spin on Lovecraft's universe.
Anyway, hope the series ends up as good as Watchmen, and in the interim consider reading the Laundry novels if you want a fun, modern spin on Lovecraft's universe.
