Wednesday, October 21, 2020

HBO's Lovecraft Country: A Non-Review

From HBO's Lovecraft Country

I reviewed Matt Ruff's novel Lovecraft Country about a month ago, and I told myself I'd review Misha Green's HBO adaptation once the season was complete.

My analogy of the relation between the book and the show is like the relationship between Bob Dylan’s and Jimi Hendrix’s versions of “All Along the Watchtower.” All the versions are good and technically the latter things are adaptations of the former, but the adaptations in both cases explode the original ideas into higher, mind-bending dimensions. (Misha Green's adaptation plays with this idea in interesting ways that I won't spoil).

I enjoyed the book, but I loved the show. Sometimes the show moved so fast it was hard to keep up, but... I'm not sure the world needs another white dude's opinion. Definitely not about this show.

So, instead, here are some resources from Black academics, creators, and critics that can help to explore the multi-layered dimensions of HBO's Lovecraft Country.


I'm sure there's a lot of other great stuff out there. Since I didn't have access to a multiverse machine, I couldn't hope to find everything. Please let me know what I missed!

In the meantime, I'll be waiting for HBO's making-of documentary Crafting Lovecraft Country and hoping the horrors of our current age don't prevent the summoning of Season 2!

No comments:

Post a Comment