Lovecraft Country (Spoilers for Episode 1)

[Imaculata]

I just watched the first episode, and I have mixed feelings about it. I love the characters and the setting (the casting is on point), and I love the portrayal of the time period and segregation. The special effects are also really good.

However, I don't feel they've succeeded at nailing the Lovecraftian vibe or suspense. Perhaps they are just showing too much of the monsters, but I feel it is also because of the way it was directed. It is just not very suspenseful.

I have not read the book (I wasn't even aware this was based on a book), but I do like the idea of basically cleansing the racist legacy of Lovecraft's work, by making this a story about black characters dealing with racism and segregation in a Lovecraftian setting.

 

[Rabulias]

Well, that escalated quickly. I am interested to see where they go from the end of episode 2.

And the award for understated line of the year goes to "Don't eat that."

 

[cbwjm]

Well, that escalated quickly. I am interested to see where they go from the end of episode 2.

And the award for understated line of the year goes to "Don't eat that."

I'm definitely curious about what's going to happen next, felt like I was watching a mini series and this was part 2 or 2.

You're right, it was a great line.

 

[CapnZapp]

I see what they were trying to accomplish in EP 2, but also think they failed.

In EP 1 the good outweighed the bad, but EP 2 was just a rushed heap of WTF...

 

[CapnZapp]

However, I don't feel they've succeeded at nailing the Lovecraftian vibe or suspense. Perhaps they are just showing too much of the monsters, but I feel it is also because of the way it was directed. It is just not very suspenseful.

I agree, but I don't think they're even trying for the Lovecraftian vibe.

The monsters are so in-your-face and all-action and splatter-gore I think those sequences are deliberately a subversion of how "wonderfully" monster encounters play out in classic Lovecraft: understated, after-the-fact, dreamy, etc. After all, the entire show is a naughty word You to ye olde H.P. of sorts...

But I haven't read the book either, so what do I know.

 

[Umbran]

the entire show is a **** You to ye olde H.P. of sorts...

Mod Note:

Dude. Language. Keep it clean, please.

 

[payn]

I actually liked the second episode better than the first. Had a very Get Out meets lovecraft vibe to it.

I can see why some folks have an issue with it. This version is not subtle at all. Not capturing the right horror suspense feel, more like a weird mystery suspense story.

 

[Umbran]

I can see why some folks have an issue with it. This version is not subtle at all.

1) Perhaps Lovecraft's subtlety is overstated.

2) They are doing a mass-market show. They must establish the reality of these horrors for the story to make sense.

3) I think there's an intentional and meaningful analogy there. Neither horror nor racism is subtle when it is targeted directly at you. There is no material difference between the oppressiveness of walking through a malign eldritch gothic house and down a city street filled with folks who may want to lynch you, or between the many-eyed beast chasing you through the forest, and a pickup tuck full of hicks with guns who want to shoot you for being the wrong color. People think Lovecraft's horror and his racism are subtle because they are reading both from the safety of their comfortable armchair.

Basically - racism is a horror just as much as Great Old Ones are. The subtlety is an illusion of perspective.

 

[Imaculata]

1) Perhaps Lovecraft's subtlety is overstated.

In regards to the horror element, I respectfully disagree. Lovecraft rarely discribed the monsters in his stories in great detail, leaving much to the imagination, and creating a strange other worldly atmosphere around his mythos. That is what the show (judging by the first episode) is lacking.

Subverting Lovecraft is great. But doing a worse job than him at the horror is not. Lovecraft is not a briljant horror writer by any stretch of the imagination, but he sure did horror a lot better than this show has done so far.

Basically - racism is a horror just as much as Great Old Ones are. The subtlety is an illusion of perspective.

There are many ways to do horror. Racism as horror does not need to be subtle. But Lovecraftian monsters benefit from a bit of mystery and suspense. Just throwing blood at the screen does not have the same effect.

 

[Umbran]

Lovecraft rarely discribed the monsters in his stories in great detail

So, he was vague. I don't think that equates to subtle.

I will be honest. I find Lovecraft's prose... boring. He was not subtle. He merely leaves out detail, leaving a dry result that lacks tension from an inability to set the mood. And no, that's not the gripe of a modern reader with a taste for modern pacing. I liked reading the Silmarillion. This is more noting that Lovecraft's general ideas were more powerful than his prose... by a long shot, and those ideas aren't really most powerful within his own writings, but in the hands of others.

But doing a worse job than him at the horror is not. Lovecraft is not a briljant horror writer by any stretch of the imagination, but he sure did horror a lot better than this show has done so far.

I will then also respectfully disagree - there are many things that classify as horror, and this is doing a solid job of some of them - maybe just not the ones you want.

There are many ways to do horror. Racism as horror does not need to be subtle. But Lovecraftian monsters benefit from a bit of mystery and suspense. Just throwing blood at the screen does not have the same effect.

I think that, if you are in a state of empathy for the characters, there's plenty of suspense in the show.