Oluwatayo Adewole Sep 15, 2020. 4 minute read
Lovecraft Country Lets Violence Be Righteous for Black Characters
Lovecraft Country is a show full of violence. The vast majority of this schlocky gore is directed against the series’ deliberately cartoonish racists. A shoggoth bites off one’s arm, while a haunted elevator decapitates another. It’s a fantastical, deserved type of violence you can pretty easily root for. However anti-racist violence isn’t just left in the…
READ MORE >Oluwatayo Adewole Aug 17, 2020. 4 minute read
Lovecraft Country Asserts Black Humanity
It’s nothing new to point out that H.P. Lovecraft was a disgustingly racist person. Just look up the name of his cat to confirm it. Media based on Lovecraft’s work in the past few years has generally come around to acknowledge this racism. What’s often missing from these conversations is actual engagement with the…
READ MORE >Oluwatayo Adewole Apr 2, 2020. 4 minute read
How ‘On My Block’ Breaks the Mold
Media about teens rarely centres people of color. Just look at two of the biggest teen dramas currently airing — Riverdale and Stranger Things. Riverdale has a range of characters of color, however, with the exception of Veronica and her family, these characters only ever come to the fore as a…
READ MORE >Oluwatayo Adewole Jan 8, 2020. 5 minute read
Bloodline Bullshit Ruins the Revolutionary Message of Star Wars
This piece contains spoilers for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Now’s your last chance to turn back! Star Wars has always had a firmly-expressed family theme, whether it was the connection of the Skywalkers or the found family vibes between droids C-3PO and R2D2. In Rise of Skywalker this…
READ MORE >Oluwatayo Adewole Nov 19, 2019. 4 minute read
The Poetry of ‘Dolemite Is My Name’
Dolemite Is My Name tells the story of legendary Blaxploitation era filmmaker and comedian Rudy Ray Moore. His crude and comedic spoken word massively influenced rap culture. As Snoop Dogg once put it, “Without Rudy Ray Moore, there would no Snoop.” And as the Eddie Murphy-led film tells the story…
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