Hi Ash and Gene,I watched the 7th episode of Lovecraft Country, I am, and wondered how you both were going to react in the instacast. I was left feeling like I was still hungry after eating a meal. There were tasty elements but I wasn’t sated. Well… I wasn’t expecting to experience more drama on the Twitch stream than the actual episode. I’m a little wary of identity politics generally as it seems to enable abuse based on shallow tribalism. It also enables people to be offended by their own imagination. I also feel that it drives othering by focusing on differences between people. It’s darkly ironic that you are engaging seriously with a show that is exploring identity and othering yet you are being othered for the act of treating a piece of art with a critical eye. These claims of racism are superficial and childish claims. It does a disservice to creators of whatever background to suggest that their work is too fragile to critique. Stop ghettoising art. Lovecraft Country is an ambitious and multilayered piece of art which explores black experiences and women’s experiences and gay experiences and trans experiences within the medium of television using tropes of science fiction, horror, mystery and fantasy and referencing literature, culture and history. Just get in the sea with the idea that is an exclusionary process that can only be interpreted through a black viewpoint. The show is a dialogue. It allows viewers to engage with new ideas alongside familiar ideas. It’s a great way to learn and think about different experiences. Dare I say dialogue builds empathy and gawd knows we need more of that in the world. The raisón de’tre of Shat On TV is to critique a TV show for its qualities as a TV show. You know. Stuff like acting, dialogue, plot etc as well as ideas. What Gene and Ash bring to their deep dives is an exploration of ideas in a manner that I have found open, honest and with integrity. It’s those qualities which enables the engagement with the community they have built. Shat On TV at its best is a co-creation. Yet audiences can destroy as well as create. I certainly don’t want my enjoyment of the Shat experience to be at the cost of stress and harassment to Gene and Ash in creating it. It’s not worth it. We are living in ‘interesting times’ and I want Shat to be an escape into a community that discusses ideas and experiences that enriches my understanding of a show and it’s context in society. Lovecraft Country is a show that deserves that treatment. This really isn’t the sort of email I want to be writing. I want to be discussing a flawed yet fascinating and brave piece of television. Take care and keep safe Shat family and remember the words of Albert Finney’s character in Saturday Night And Sunday Morning ‘don’t let t’bastards grind you down’ (similar to a Sean Bean accent) John Lish
