How Lovecraft Country combines classical mysticism and acute sociality - Lifehacker

On August 17, the American HBO channel (in Russia - on Amediateka) will launch the Lovecraft Country series. And many, having seen the first trailers, were very surprised by the unusual theme and presentation of the plot.

Despite the famous author's name in the title and a reference to the world of his works, this project is not based on books Howard Phillips Lovecraft, but on the novel of the same name by Matt Ruff, which was released in 2016.

The original is more about racism than mysticism: the author combined the story of encounters with monsters with the real story of the segregation of black people in the United States in the 1950s.

But Raff's novel gives ideas too "head-on", and therefore is unlikely to be of interest to the Russian audience. And here is the serial version, which was taken up by screenwriter Misha Green ("Subway") and producer Jordan Peel ("Away"," We "), turned out to be more successful. Cinematic techniques allowed the authors to mix different genres and attract the viewer with immersive plot, special effects and staging, and at the same time tell about the real life of America in the middle of the past century.

Monsters: fictional and real

The main idea of ​​the series can be understood already from the first scene: the main character is fighting on Mars with huge monsters, and then wakes up in a bus in separate seats for blacks.

Atticus Black (Jonathan Majors) returns home after the Korean War. Prior to that, he received a mysterious letter from his father. After meeting with relatives, Atticus learns that he recently left with a white stranger, without informing the others.

The main character goes in search of his father along with his well-read uncle George (Courtney B. Vance) and friend Letisha (Jernie Smollett-Bell). On the way, they learn that the monsters and magic that they write about in fantastic booksare quite real. But cruel racists who do not regard blacks as human beings can be much more dangerous.

This is just the beginning of the first episodes, further the plot will develop even more unexpectedly. But already here it is clear that the film adaptation as a whole follows Raff's ideas. Through encounters with ghosts and monsters, the writer introduced the reader to creepy stories from reality. For example, about the servants of the law, who openly threatened black-skinned travelers and could shoot them for almost no reason.

In Raff's book, literally every phrase and every analogy addressed precisely the topic of racism, which made the descriptions too predictable. The show finds a more interesting balance.

In this regard, oddly enough, the very beginning looks the most boring. Much of the first episode of Lovecraft's Lands is like a harsher and rougher version of the famous Green Book. The same guide for black motorists is also often mentioned here.

But then the authors allow monsters and grotesque cruelty to roam with might and main. Here the series turns into a great classic horror. And further episodes quite organically combine the two main themes. Even those who are not interested in the social component of the story will definitely enjoy new versions of stories about magical cults or haunted houses.

Stories: general and separate

Everywhere in the synopsis, only the line about the search for Atticus's father is mentioned, and it may seem that the whole series is mystical road-movie. Moreover, the title immediately gives a hint of the vast geography that Lovecraft used in his books. In fact, this is just the beginning of the story. Further, each episode of the project tells almost a separate story.

This is not an anthology or even a semblance "Stories from the noose", Where the heroes of individual episodes only slightly overlapped. The main characters remain the same, except that the emphasis is shifted. It's just that each episode takes some kind of cliche from horror and presents it in a new form. This is where the clear influence of Jordan Peel is felt. He already did this in the famous movie Get Out.

Apparently, the humorous component also came from him: Peel began with comedy sketches. Therefore, even with the general gloom of the plot, the heroes joke a lot, and their fear is sometimes so exaggerated that it causes a smile.

In some stories, a detective story is added to social drama and horror and even the atmosphere of an adventure movie in the spirit of Indiana Jones.

However, the general storyline is also present. The authors outline it in the first episodes and then regularly return to the main story, which is tied to the characters themselves and gradually brings the plot to a logical conclusion. This helps to bring the individual plots together and entice the viewer for the rest of the season.

Picture and music: retro and modern

In 2020, several bright series have already been released with an entourage of the beginning and middle of the last century. It is enough to remember “Scary Tales: City of Angels"From Showtime," Hollywood "from Netflix, or"Perry Mason"From the same HBO.

But still "Lovecraft Country" differs from them in the atmosphere. Firstly, the authors did not rely only on the retro soundtrack. Of course, a lot of jazz compositions sound, which sometimes turn into real concert numbers.

But they are regularly replaced by contemporary pop music. And among the entourage of the 50s, for example, Bitch Better Have My Money performed by Rihanna sounds very unusual and provocative.

In addition, the series is replete with references to pop culture, primarily to science fiction books, which Atticus loves very much. Of course, Lovecraft's creations are often mentioned - the famous city of Arkham and its monsters. And this also has an interesting subtext: it is known that the writer often indulged in racist statements. But other novels also flicker in the series, starting with the famous "Princess of Mars" by Edgar Burroughs.

This is, again, a way to view classics through the lens of modernity. After all, beloved by many (and even the main character of the series) John Carter from the books of Burroughs was an officer of the Confederate army and fought to preserve slavery. And in the context of the main story, well-known plots are revealed in a completely different way.

The picture combines the classic atmosphere of the USA of the 50s with monsters and magic. The aforementioned "City of Angels" was just embarrassing with the stinginess of the fantasy component. But HBO bragged for a reason that it had invested a huge budget in Lovecraft Country. The graphics, of course, do not reach the level of the first echelon blockbusters, but for the home screen, huge monsters and even crumbling buildings are drawn very well.

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Of course, for all its merits, Lovecraft Country is a series primarily about Americans and for Americans. For those who, at the mention of racism and segregation, immediately begin to write angry comments about “agenda”, You shouldn't even try to watch it. Sociality here is a significant, and sometimes the main part of the plot.

But those who treat this topic with interest, or at least calmly, will appreciate the unusual combination of genres. Of course, not all episodes turned out to be equally interesting: somewhere the plot seems too commonplace, somewhere the heroes go into self-digging. But in sum, they create a good story that is both entertaining and thought-provoking.