HBO series supposedly about Lovecraft's works

[Kyriakos]

When I first came across the trailer, I thought that this doesn't have a Lovecraft vibe at all. I was also surprised by the idea to have black protagonists in the work of a notorious anti-black racist like Lovecraft...

Then read in the comments that this series is based not on the actual works by Lovecraft, but a 2016 novel some guy wrote, where Lovecraft's stories (and mindset) are examined in the Jim Crow era.
So Lovecraft's name apparently is just used to sell this, which isn't a good idea. First of all it is false advertising - given the title alludes to Lovecraft, but in reality the show is about another author's book. Secondly it focuses on arguably the worst element of Lovecraft himself (racism) instead of what he became famous for (some imaginative literature).

Anyway... next on HBO: "Kafka's world"! Based on fan-fiction about how someone read Kafka and tried to get through the soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia

[Knight of Heaven]

Seems another woke HBO show that wont be very successful, just like the watchmen wasn't. Because nowadays everything needs to be a statement, and all about social/political commentary of current affairs.

It seems genuine art and storytelling is put into a secondary position.

The new Penny Dreadful City of Angels show is also like this. And it is unbearable. Which is a shame, because i actually enjoyed the original Penny dreadful with Eva Green, and Timothy Dalton.

Instead City of Angels is yet another politicized drama with racial overtones, that I quickly found preachy, cliched and ultimately, tiresome. Missed opportunity as well, given to what penny dreadful was all about. No Edgar Allan Poe, no Lovecraftian themes.... instead they go with Santaria.. mythology, while the focus is mostly on the latino/white american racial tensions in LA and populist politicians being in bed with actual Nazis, with the aim to build a road over the Latino barrio, because you also had to cram the savage capitalism in the pot as well. Oh also the hunting fo jews by the nazis in LA as well, because why not.

Also, Natalie Dormer tries her best but is unable to fill the role in the series that it is meant for her to fulfill. She is no Eva Green.

Anyhow, this new HBO show seems to follow this trend. Im just counting the days until they want to censor anything Lovecraft related because it can be offensive.

[irontaino]

Seems another woke HBO show that wont be very successful, just like the watchmen wasn't. Because nowadays everything needs to be a statement, and all about social/political commentary of current affairs.

It seems genuine art and storytelling is put into a secondary position.

The new Penny Dreadful City of Angels show is also like this. And it is unbearable. Which is a shame, because i actually enjoyed the original Penny dreadful with Eva Green, and Timothy Dalton.

Instead City of Angels is yet another politicized drama with racial overtones, that I quickly found preachy, cliched and ultimately, tiresome. Missed opportunity as well, given to what penny dreadful was all about. No Edgar Allan Poe, no Lovecraftian themes.... instead they go with Santaria.. mythology, while the focus is mostly on the latino/white american racial tensions in LA and populist politicians being in bed with actual Nazis, with the aim to build a road over the Latino barrio, because you also had to cram the savage capitalism in the pot as well. Oh also the hunting fo jews by the nazis in LA as well, because why not.

Also, Natalie Dormer tries her best but is unable to fill the role in the series that it is meant for her to fulfill. She is no Eva Green.

Anyhow, this new HBO show seems to follow this trend. Im just counting the days until they want to censor anything Lovecraft related because it can be offensive.

Non white people existing in media? The scoundrels! Social commentary in movies and tv? Gasp! That's never been done before!

[Knight of Heaven]

Social commentary in movies and tv? Gasp! That's never been done before!

That is why it is tiresome, cliché and nowadays overly preachy. And thus not appealing.

[irontaino]

That is why it is tiresome, cliché and nowadays overly preachy. And thus not appealing.

So every piece of media that ever existed and will ever exist doesn't appeal to you then? Cause I hate to break it to you, literally every piece of media has some form of political or social commentary, whether implicit or explicit.

[Kyriakos]

I think a real issue is false advertising (this isn't Lovecraft art/fiction, but some other guy's) coupled with the fiction being centered on racism (Lovecraft's but also Jim Crow era US, when Lovecraft was already dead anyway).

If one markets a show with the name of a famous author in it, surely the vast majority of those who will try to find out what it is about will be familiar with the author and come due to him. So it is a bit crude to have it turn out this isn't about Lovecraft's cosmic horror art anyway, but social commentary, moreover by some other author

[Knight of Heaven]

So every piece of media that ever existed and will ever exist doesn't appeal to you then? Cause I hate to break it to you, literally every piece of media has some form of political or social commentary, whether implicit or explicit.

That isn't the point.

You know there is social commentary smartly being embedded in a story, and then there is being preachy, cliché, and making a statement, there is also being overly morally judgmental on this things, as often this things are nowadays. Because they are more interested in saying something then actually doing something genuine. If you cant see that trend today, then its on you.


And given the current political climate, and social cultural war, yes i do feel its beyond tiresome a lot of mainstream media today.

Your quip about non white people being present in media, is hilarious to me. As the media that i consume since im a child, never always was from the Anglo Saxon world.

You were trying to discredit my opinion, by imputing something on me that isn't true, and that i never claimed. Just because i have different opinion. So yeah im going to take issue on that.

But to answer your question, as i age, yes most piece of media nowadays is not appealing. Not all. But most. For sure. Which is nothing new.

I think a real issue is false advertising (this isn't Lovecraft art/fiction, but some other guy's) coupled with the fiction being centered on racism (Lovecraft's but also Jim Crow era US, when Lovecraft was already dead anyway).

If one markets a show with the name of a famous author in it, surely the vast majority of those who will try to find out what it is about will be familiar with the author and come due to him. So it is a bit crude to have it turn out this isn't about Lovecraft's cosmic horror art anyway, but social commentary, moreover by some other author

Yeah it doesn't really make sense. Lovecraft himself, was highly anti emigrant, specially against the Irish at the time, they were arriving in America ( as social commentary goes the treatment of the Irish, and Polish in America its something that mostly gets overlooked in media most of the time ironically).

But this seems to be quite the marketing move, just to tell something quite unrelated. Imo is just another missed opportunity, to make something good out of lovecraftian horror lore, or short stories.

Instead we get a run of the mil Social commentary about systematic racism and the history of black people in America, as if that hasn't being done to death to exhaustion this days.

That is the main thing here for me.

[conon394]

Yeah it doesn't really make sense. Lovecraft himself, was highly anti emigrant, specially against the Irish at the time, they were arriving in America ( as social commentary goes the treatment of the Irish, and Polish in America its something that mostly gets overlooked in media most of the time ironically).

Well to be fair. As my grandfather once put to one of my outright racist great uncles whining about affirmative action. All a Pole or Irish had to was loose the accent, modify your name and move out of the ethnic neighborhood and go to a WASP church for free affirmative action. Can't really change your skin.

Instead we get a run of the mil Social commentary about systematic racism and the history of black people in America, as if that hasn't being done to death to exhaustion this days.

Err you got all that out of the trailer? I kinda like the ideal actually the guy was such a bigot that its hard choke down his stories for all their interesting originality. Same goes for my son oldest daughter and wife. Jim Crow south works for me seeing as black people had to live in a dystopia of paranoia already add another layer. Honestly the US deserves another look we spent quite a while ignoring it.

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but social commentary, moreover by some other author

Well yes but I am pretty sure nobody going to drop a major production on Lovecraft's actual social commentary - not prim New England WASP - BAD and worse if dark or frankly from anywhere east of England

[Kyriakos]

Sweet home Carcosa, where the skies are circled by strange moons

Although this isn't about Lovecraft, it might (or might not - I am not optimistic) include some interesting discussion of how the black reader of Lovecraft comes to terms with his literary idol being racist against blacks.

[saxdude]

One could say that it's false advertising, but really, when has lovecraftian horror ever been able to translate from a non literary format? Indirect means are probably the best way to explore the themes of Lovecraft, and by their nature they necesitate to address the racism in some way. I know some of yall prefer the Octopi but tough luck.
The racism should infact be restated even in more direct adaptations of his work, a central theme and part of the horror. It'd be great if the focus was on latin americans though, but I guess with BLM that's gonna be even tougher than usual.
A straight forward adaptation of Lovecraft would be profoundly boring to me.


Also Knight, Watchmen was a success, not everything needs to be a multiseason franchise.

[Knight of Heaven]

A straight forward adaptation of Lovecraft would be profoundly boring to me.

Yeah see i kinda have to disagree with this. But to each its own.

Also Knight, Watchmen was a success, not everything needs to be a multiseason franchise.

Of course, and thank god not everything needs to be a franchise, although that is what they have been trying to do with Watchmen series for some time.

They had better hopes for this show, so no it wasn't a success in that regard.

Well to be fair. As my grandfather once put to one of my outright racist great uncles whining about affirmative action. All a Pole or Irish had to was loose the accent, modify your name and move out of the ethnic neighborhood and go to a WASP church for free affirmative action. Can't really change your skin.

A competition to who was the biggest victim in history in the US , and thus validating, the worth of more or less spotlight in media, by those terms, its not what i had in mind. Specially given the subjectivity on such things.
I was just pointing out that Lovecraft is known for his anti Migration xenophobia in his time, mainly from European Migration.

Err you got all that out of the trailer?

I actually got it from the Synopsis in IMDB.

I kinda like the ideal actually the guy was such a bigot that its hard choke down his stories for all their interesting originality. Same goes for my son oldest daughter and wife. Jim Crow south works for me seeing as black people had to live in a dystopia of paranoia already add another layer. Honestly the US deserves another look we spent quite a while ignoring it.

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Thats fine, me personally im a bit fatigued on the theme, specially this days. Im not American for one, ( not that it does matter but...), It would be more interesting for me if the setting would be in Africa for example or other place. But i dont actually agree what you say when american media or society spent a lot of time ignoring such issue. On the contrary.

Well yes but I am pretty sure nobody going to drop a major production on Lovecraft's actual social commentary - not prim New England WASP - BAD and worse if dark or frankly from anywhere east of England

Then just do Horror. And let the audiences take their own conclusions out of it if social commentary would be a thing.

[conon394]

Then just do Horror. And let the audiences take their own conclusions out of it if social commentary would be a thing.

Actually been quite few Lovecraft direct adaptions. They just don't tend to work well so far. II guess I vote for the Haunted Palace although its Corman and sort of a mash up of Lovecraft with Poe tossed in (no doubt Poe had the name recognition in 1960s). Slow moody build does a nice job of capturing the source material.

[saxdude]

Alien is pretty lovecraftian.

[Kyriakos]

Alien is pretty lovecraftian.

Despite the tie through Giger (who afaik used some art he made to illustrate Lovecraft's work, in Alien), I am not sure if this is really the case... I also don't see "The Thing" as lovecraftian.
Those movies just aren't centered on a reclusive protagonist as is the norm in Lovecraft, and the danger has more of an action feel.

[Kyriakos]

Ancient Greece is the real Lovecraft country

[conon394]

Nope, look how either sorta cheerful or surprised that fella is. I got one tattooed on my arm with the same expression. I don't see him/her presiding over the end of mankind and or reducing people to madness.

[Kyriakos]

Nope, look how either sorta cheerful or surprised that fella is. I got one tattooed on my arm with the same expression. I don't see him/her presiding over the end of mankind and or reducing people to madness.

It is relaxed cause it is minoan. Mycenaean ones, on the other hand:

[conon394]

Yea well they were arse hats. If I have to go to church I want my topless snake wielding priestess

[Kyriakos]

^
You: A normie
Me: A Lovecraft cultist and intellectual

[conon394]

^
You: A normie
Me: A Lovecraft cultist and intellectual

Sorry dude - It will a shame when I read about some guy yelling about Yog-Sothoth who got arrested in the international version of the Guardian.