Welcome to the final installment of our five-week trek through the thrills and spills of HBO’s “Lovecraft Country” (2020). This television series and our exploration of it have taken us through a wide range of topics. We’ve examined how the show and the 2014 Matt Ruff novel upon which it’s based draw from the cosmicContinue reading “Read This Before You Watch “Lovecraft Country” Episodes 9 & 10″
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Discussion Questions for “Lovecraft Country” Episodes 9 & 10
Write a paragraph or two in response to each of the following prompts. In your responses, remember to consider the significance of the titles of these last two episodes, “Rewind 1921” and “Full Circle.” Consider the questions of history, scars, and healing posed by “Rewind 21” (episode 9), which sees Tic, Leti, and Montrose travelingContinue reading “Discussion Questions for “Lovecraft Country” Episodes 9 & 10″
Read This Before You Watch “Lovecraft Country” Episode 8
By contrast to “I Am,” our second episode this week, “Jig-A-Bobo” concerns itself more with the seemingly endless grief of ongoing American racism and racist violence, rooted in past evils but still doggedly pursuing, mocking, and menacing us, just like the two creepy girls who follow Diana (Jada Harris) after she is spit cursed byContinue reading “Read This Before You Watch “Lovecraft Country” Episode 8″
Read This Before You Watch “Lovecraft Country” Episode 7
This week in our continuing exploration of HBO’s “Lovecraft Country,” we again encounter one more-or-less stand-alone episode followed by one that steers us back into the main narrative arc of the series. That said, both episodes include important advances in the overall story of the series, but in each case we get to learn moreContinue reading “Read This Before You Watch “Lovecraft Country” Episode 7″
Discussion Questions for “Lovecraft Country” Episodes 7 & 8
Write a paragraph or two in response to each of the following prompts. In your responses, remember to consider the significance of the titles of these two episodes, “I Am” and “Jig-A-Bobo.” “I Am” (episode 7) focuses on Hippolyta and her efforts to find out what truly happened to George and to solve the puzzleContinue reading “Discussion Questions for “Lovecraft Country” Episodes 7 & 8″
Read This Before You Watch “Lovecraft Country” Episodes 5 & 6
The title of episode five, “Strange Case” strongly echoes the titles of several H.P. Lovecraft tales (“The Case of Charles Dexter Ward” and “The Statement of Randolph Carter” for example. This resonance is apt since the episode’s parallel narrative both deal with forbidden knowledge and secret identities. However, somewhat surprisingly, this episode turns our attentionContinue reading “Read This Before You Watch “Lovecraft Country” Episodes 5 & 6″
Discussion Questions for “Lovecraft Country” Episodes 5 & 6
Write a paragraph or two in response to each of the following prompts. What is the significance of the titles of these episodes, “Strange Case” and “Meet Me in Daegu”? “Strange Case” (episode 5) uses supernatural elements to explore the issue of “passing”? What do her experiences as a white woman reveal to Ruby aboutContinue reading “Discussion Questions for “Lovecraft Country” Episodes 5 & 6″
Read This Before You Watch “Lovecraft Country” Episodes 3 & 4
Welcome back to another week in our continuing examination of HBO’s Lovecraft Country. Episode 3 of the series, “Holy Ghost” finds our heroes back in Chicago where Leti (Jurnee Smollett) has come into some money and decided to purchase a decrepit old mansion known as the Epstein House in the “white neighborhood” where it’s located.Continue reading “Read This Before You Watch “Lovecraft Country” Episodes 3 & 4″
Discussion Questions for “Lovecraft Country” Episodes 3 & 4
Write a paragraph or two in response to each of the following prompts. What is the significance of the titles of these episodes, “Holy Ghost” and “A History of Violence”? “Holy Ghost” (episode 3) employs many of the typical devices and tropes of a haunted house story, but it also adds a few innovations inContinue reading “Discussion Questions for “Lovecraft Country” Episodes 3 & 4″
Read This Before You Watch “Lovecraft Country” Episodes 1 & 2
We begin this five-week horror media studies series by watching the first two episodes of HBO’s “Lovecraft Country.” Based on Matt Ruff’s 2016 novel of the same name, this series first aired during the fall of 2020. Produced by Jordan Peele and helmed by Misha Green, this premium television adaptation and extension of the provocativeContinue reading “Read This Before You Watch “Lovecraft Country” Episodes 1 & 2″
Professor Chuck 