- “Lovecraft Country”, a new horror fiction from HBO airing this Monday in France at 9pm on OCS City, is the adaptation of the acclaimed and eponymous novel by Matt Ruff. This ten-episode anthology is one of the most anticipated series of the summer, if not of the year.
- In an America shaken by the racial question following the death of George Floyd, "Lovecraft Country" stands out as an eminently political work by putting the racist history of America at the center of the story.
A series that is both horrific and political. Lovecraft Country , a new horror fiction from HBO airing this Monday in France at 9 p.m. on OCS City, is the adaptation of the acclaimed and eponymous novel by Matt Ruff. Developed for television by Misha Green, to whom we owe Underground , produced by Jordan Peele ( Get Out , The Twilight Zone ) and JJ Abrams ( Fringe , Lost , Westworld ), this anthology which has ten episodes is one of most anticipated series of the summer, even of the year. With its multitude of spooky monsters and its many references to literature and fantasy cinema, Lovecraft Countryconstitutes a vibrant tribute to the horror genre. In an America shaken by the racial question following the death of George Floyd, Lovecraft Country establishes itself as an eminently political work by putting the racist history of America at the center of the story. How do the monsters of Lovecraft Country reveal the horror of racism?
Lovecraft Country follows the quest of a young Black American Atticus Freeman (Jonathan Majors), once a shy and scholarly child and now a disillusioned Korean War veteran and Pulp Fiction lover . The latter embarks from Chicago on a road trip through the disturbing roads of segregationist America of the 1950s in search of his missing father (Michael Kenneth Williams), accompanied by his intrepid friend Leti (Jurnee Smollett) and his uncle George (Courtney B. Vance).
HP Lovecraft's racist ideology
Their initial journey takes them to Massachusetts, the title's “Lovecraft Country”. The genealogy of writer Howard Phillips Lovecraft (1890-1937), described by Stephen King as "the greatest architect of the classic horror story of the twentieth century" dates back to the days of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630 Another nod to the creator of a Myth of Cthulhu , the first episode of the series takes the heroes to a town called Ardham, to a letter from Arkham, the fictional scene from some of HP Lovecraft's gruesome tales that have inspired the novel by Matt Ruff.
HP Lovecraft's literature was born in a context of racial segregation and the emergence of eugenic theories at the turn of the century in the United States. It underlies an ideology that is sometimes racist, even supremacist, sometimes anti-Semitic, expressed in particular in the short story Horror at Red Hook. The racism and anti-Semitism of the SF author are also reinforced in his private correspondence.
The series does not fail to refer to it and denounce this racist ideology which persists in the United States and in the rest of the world. The postulate of Lovecraft Country is obvious: our black American heroes will become the slayers of Lovecraftian racism.
The anxiety-provoking climate of segregationist America in the 1950s
While the race question was one of Watchmen's themes , in Lovecraft Country , this question haunts every shot and every interaction. Lovecraft Country retraces for ten episodes the appalling daily life of black Americans during the racial segregation of the 1950s in the United States. The series recounts the sad Jim Crow laws: a ban on sitting at the front of buses for black Americans or an obligation to serve people of color in a separate room in restaurants.
George, the hero's uncle, is also the author of a guide similar to the film's Green Book , showing black travelers where it is possible to sleep or eat in complete safety.
The anxiety-provoking climate of racism is present in every shot: from the mockery that associates blacks with monkeys to this advertisement for Aunt Jemima syrup, a racial stereotype withdrawn from sale only a few weeks ago following the movement triggered by the death of George Floyd.
The real monstrosity comes from the racists
During their adventures, our heroes will face many supernatural monsters, like those portrayed in the multiple references to the SF series: the Dracula of Bram Stoker Martians of A Princess of Mars , the first volume of John saga Carter to the Gooey Monsters from Lovecraft's Tales .
But the permanent danger that hangs over the heroes does not come from these vintage creatures, the real monstrosity comes from racist whites. The most distressing scene in the first episode is when the White Sheriff Hunt chases down the heroes just before the curfew imposed on them. Finally, when the real monsters - vampiric slugs - arrive, it's almost a relief.
An eminently political series
Who are the real monsters? Man or creature? This is the question the series asks. As with Get Out and Us , Jordan Peele uses the horror genre to deliver a political message. This series is an opportunity to highlight a cast of Black American actors: "Why don't they [horror films] have black characters, or why do they have to die in the first ten minutes? », Regrets Misha Green in the columns of the New York Times .
The series is in the vein of The Night of the Living Dead by George A. Romero which features in 1968, in the midst of the civil rights movement in the United States, a Black American hero who survives an invasion of zombies to finally find death in the early morning in the face of white police officers.
The supernatural as a metaphor for the real is not a new idea, but it works here fully, in view of recent events in the United States. As in Night of the Living Dead , Lovecraft Country paints the portrait of a sick America, in which citizens prefer to kill each other rather than support each other. If monsters don't exist in real life, racism is the real horror in our society.
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