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Watched the first episode of this, and I think it deserves a thread. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvamPJp17Ds Based on the novel by Matt Ruff, that I am not personally familiar with, Lovecraft Country is an HBO show about Atticus Freeman, a nerd who joined the military and returns home to find his father missing, in the titular Lovecraft Country. He goes on a road trip to the deep northeast with his uncle George and his friend Letitia to discover the truth, and on the way - very bad things happen, both natural and preternatural. The show is produced by Jordan Peele and the showrunner is Misha Green. As you might expect, knowing anything about Lovecraft, racism is a key theme here. The original novel was written by a white guy (which is presumably how you get names like Atticus Freeman), and I don't know how the show compares, but from the outset it's clear that the producers know what they are doing, and so far the show is pretty promising. They are definitely not shy about calling out Lovecraft himself - the first time they mention him by name they bring up his, er, poem, "On the Creation of N-Word," which is by far the worst thing he ever put to paper. It's hard to get a sense for where the season is going, not being familiar with the source material, but so far it seems to largely be a period piece with a helping of cosmic horror in the margins. Either way, I feel confident recommending it based on the first episode. Hakkesshu fucked around with this message at 11:00 on Aug 18, 2020 |
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Aug 17, 2020 21:27
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| # ¿ May 12, 2024 03:51 |
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Preem Palver posted:I'm digging it. Some minor changes from the book but so far it's all stuff that serves to make it work better for a visual format. You are correct, I somehow missed that they were going to Massachusetts and just assumed it was the south because it's visually coded like the south. My bad. Edit: I want to shout out how good the montage juxtaposed with the James Baldwin speech was https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Tek9h3a5wQ There's a part where they drive away from the gas station and there's a huge Aunt Jemima sign there and reminder that they didn't change their fuckin racist rear end brand until literally this year Hakkesshu fucked around with this message at 11:09 on Aug 18, 2020 |
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Aug 18, 2020 10:59
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Oasx posted:First episode was good, I would have preferred a bit more Lovecraft and monsters, but perhaps that will come in later episodes.  Yeah the flip is caused by nothing visible. I'm assuming this was intentional, but we'll see?
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Aug 18, 2020 12:24
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banned from Starbucks posted:For how fast they sped through poo poo in ep 2 its really weird going back and seeing the time they wasted on that duet and poo poo with her sister. Ep 1 feels bloated in comparison. I assume that stuff is setup for later, since the sister showed up in other clips in the trailer. Yeah, I thought this was a good episode, but it's a pretty bizarre shift in tone and pace. Just, going from learning that monsters exist to willingly being part of a magical ritual to open a gate to another world because you think you are the descendant of a weird cult leader in the span of... an hour or so. They maybe stuck too closely to the book here.
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Aug 27, 2020 09:35
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This was a good episode, though the effects were kinda weak and the corny musical stingers were a bizarre choice that robbed the supernatural stuff of any tension IMO. Doesn't seem like anyone is talking about it online though, man that second episode probably did a lot of damage.
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Aug 31, 2020 21:34
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Sleeveless posted:I just realized that the final reveal of the episode basically completely validates the racist cop's suspicions and that he was totally right about someone putting them up to buying that house even if they themselves didn't realize it. Big ol' yikes to that. Shut up, Sleeveless
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Sep 3, 2020 08:59
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JazzFlight posted:Uhhh, did you miss the part where he shot a begging innocent nurse who wasn’t a spy in the head? The fact that they didn't do that is a huge strength of an otherwise uneven show IMO. It would have been cowardly to try and excuse imperialist war crimes by saying "he's one of the good soldiers!" - that was not the reality for most people who were or are STILL part of that system, especially not in his position/status, and speaks to the notion that they are trying to create realistic characters instead of ones that are "morally superior". Making soldiers not flinch at killing someone is literally the loving modus operandi of the military. It all fits in with the message that the show keeps bringing up, which is that sometimes people you like are horrible loving monsters and you have to actually learn to process that instead of just averting your eyes. Hakkesshu fucked around with this message at 10:41 on Sep 23, 2020 |
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Sep 23, 2020 10:32
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JazzFlight posted:So then have him use the word hypocrite, not drop the gay F-bomb. This is a show about the black experience and it is cool + good that bad things like homophobia and toxic masculinity are rightfully addressed in that context, actually.
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Oct 1, 2020 13:05
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Xealot posted:Yeah, she can't possibly replicate that level of powerlessness, on an individual or community level. She knew she wasn't actually going to die, and was fundamentally in control of what was happening to her. This clip from Jane Elliott's "Angry Eye" documentary went around a while back but is a perfect encapsulation of this dynamic. https://twitter.com/JuggernautBG/status/1268183226415288327?s=20
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Oct 7, 2020 10:55
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This thread became really good after people got over the fact that Tic (and the other characters) aren't always supposed to be likeable. Good job everyone.
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Oct 16, 2020 09:41
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As far as I can tell this show is entirely about how people stuck in abusive systems wittingly or unwittingly continue that abuse because that is what they have been taught and that is what society keeps teaching them - powers much greater than us influencing our every move, often without us knowing. It's something of a cliché in itself, but I can't think of any other recent show that drove that point home in a more convincing way, despite its flaws (and there are many). Around the middle of the season I wasn't entirely convinced they would have a cohesive throughline here, but I am definitely glad to be incredibly wrong about that.
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Oct 16, 2020 12:26
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| # ¿ May 12, 2024 03:51 |
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My biggest problem with the finale is that it loving sucks to just kill Ruby off-screen. Maybe that'll be undone in the next season though, who knows. The finale wasn't a good representation of the show at its best, but even at its messiest and most convoluted the themes are so strong they carry the experience. I hope if they make another season they can keep it a bit more focused and less schizophrenic - they completely gloss over so many important things happening constantly and often don't deal with the consequences, and if I could have changed anything it would be to slow everything the gently caress down just a little bit. The second half was definitely stronger than the first half, but overall I still think they didn't quite manage to toe the line between the main plot and the subplots that well. One of the most bizarre things is that everyone was just... kind of okay with what Christina was doing until the very end of the season? Like they've known that she is up to no loving good since the second episode and they basically just leave her to it? I get that they have a lot to deal with, but it's just kind of a bizarre dynamic to have the villain of the season take a weirdly passive, mostly conversational role for 90% of it and none of the protagonists actively working against her for just as long. That's a relatively small nitpick though, because the show really landed its themes with absolute expertise. Each episode gives you so much to think about and they cover so many crucial parts of the black experience and history in America that I just haven't seen many other shows or films deal with. What a cool, weird show.
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Oct 20, 2020 10:49
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