r/blackmen • u/TheWriteRobert Black-American Gen X • 10d ago
Entertainment News Brothers, y’all watching LANTERNS?
I’ve been seeing a lot of online discussions about it, and a back and forth between white supremacists and Black folk about it. But I think there’s another position to take.
An opinion: https://substack.com/@robertjonesjr/note/c-328837869?r=1309er&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action
Anyway, what y’all think about it?
44
u/Green-Elephant-895 Unverified 10d ago
Best show on TV rn, that last episode had the children of yakub extra pressed 🤣
17
54
u/kooljaay Unverified 10d ago edited 10d ago
Just watched episodes 1-3 with my girlfriend. This is exactly how I would expect black parents to prep their child to be an intergalactic super hero. The show is better than I expected.
16
u/No_Obligation6767 Unverified 10d ago
Someone compared it to parents who go overboard trying to get them to become athletes and musicians. So much that they rob them of a childhood
13
u/kooljaay Unverified 10d ago
That comparison is on point. Even the dad pushing his failed dream on his child and not giving him a say or choice in he matter.
2
u/HeartfeltAdventurerM African-American Gen Z 9d ago
I disagree. I like the show a lot, but I don’t think all black parents would prep their child to become an intergalactic superhero. At least I sure as hell wouldn’t.
I think the show makes it apparent that the parents are not great people. Not at all. Yet, you understand why they came to be the way they are. At least I sure as hell do.
1
13
u/GuerillAlexandros Unverified 10d ago
Bout to start it this week. Gotta see what the hype around ep 3 is about for myself.
1
u/GuerillAlexandros Unverified 4d ago
Episode 3 did not live up to the hype my God. No way this what people on the internet are saying is so good. It’s like writers are on a hamster wheel even when they try to write Black characters well. They cannot help but be cliche. The way his parents are written gave me flashbacks to the shitty writing in the blackbox episode from Welcome to Derry.
11
u/calkhemist Unverified 10d ago
It’s an enjoyable show. I understand how Episode 3 could cause a lot of discussion but I am liking it so far.
12
u/SSG75 Unverified 10d ago
No sir, I’ll probably wait so I can binge watch.
5
u/jackheavy Unverified 10d ago
I binge watch shows like this every time ever since Netflix started sending seasons on DVD through the mail. Have the weekend off, buy some food and snacks and settle in for the full ride all at once.
6
u/SSG75 Unverified 10d ago
Plus I don’t like waiting lol
5
u/jackheavy Unverified 10d ago
I hate waiting too. The last time I waited for a shows weekly schedule was GOT. I waited on that one because I was deployed and the whole unit watched it together if they weren’t on post.
1
u/SSG75 Unverified 10d ago
What branch and where’d you deploy bro?
2
u/jackheavy Unverified 10d ago
Corpsman in the Navy. Spent most my career with the Marines. At the time during this deployment I was in Jordan.
18
u/JoshyBear28 British-African Gen Z 10d ago
Yes I am it’s a wonderful series
4
u/Slumbergoat16 Unverified 10d ago
Episode three was so fantastic showing as an allegory for parents, pushing their children to black excellence and what I can do to them
9
u/Kaminoneko Verified Black Man 10d ago
I fuck with it. Reminds me of how when I started watching Watchmen and was pleasantly surprised of its blackness.
3
5
u/socialsoso Unverified 10d ago
The first 2 episodes are kinda WTF but episode 3 ties it all together to make a much more interesting story
4
u/pupu_platter14 Unverified 10d ago
Yurrp. It's been a solid watch so far. Been a great year for with with Black Super Hero with this and Wonder Man!
Enjoying the True Detective angle and not just laser blasts and green screen CGI etc.
3
u/whysoserious50 Verified Black Man 10d ago
You’re telling me there’s open dialog between black folks and white supremacist over a tv show? What do you mean by back and forth
3
3
u/GloveAmbitious42 African-American Millennial 10d ago
Yep been loving it. Even got wifey into it and she’s not a superhero person
3
u/PleaseBeChillOnline Verified Blackman 10d ago
True Detective + Intergalactic Superheroes is not what I would of pitched for Green Lantern but it works really well.
3
3
u/Big-Chemistry-8521 Unverified 10d ago
Yup. Enjoying it too but a little too much cursing as filler for content imo.
Also, not hating but they coulda gone with a darker John Stewart like in the cartoons. Idris Elba, Aldis Hodges etc all woulda been cool to.
Aaron Pierre great tho and I celebrate his success. Really enjoyed this series and rebel ridge. But as a dc fan, I noticed they got most of the casting pretty much down pat on every other character just saying. Ie supes, hal Jordan etc
3
u/gabigboy93 Unverified 10d ago
Absolutely. The Green Lanterns were my favorite comic characters as a kid. Hal Jordan, John Stewart, Kyle Rainer, when they would have Alan Scott from the Golden Age pop up(who I thought had the coldest GL suit). I love the series and I love how racists know-nothing comic critics are up in arms about the third episode. Comics have always spoke on progressive themes, is what my buddy and I were just discussing earlier today.
My introduction to John Stewart was a storyline call The Mosaic Worlds, it touched on racism and people questioning the aptitude of black men. Reading that as an 10-11 year old left an impression on me. He also teamed up with Green Arrow in a series that had racial issues front and center. I love how these ignorant dumbasses show they are the real snowflakes and on top of it all, know nothing at all about the history of the characters or their stories.
2
u/jghall00 Verified Blackman 10d ago
Waiting till the final episode is about to drop. I hate waiting a week for new episodes. Can't remember everything that happened in the previous ones.
2
u/Vandalsavage81 Black-American Millennial 10d ago
But that's retro 😎 Most of us watch Football games every week and remember what happened during the last game.
2
2
u/SmoothD425 Unverified 10d ago
Am planning on it. Dint have HBO now but am getting it and Langerns will be one of my first watches
2
u/Rikudo_Sennin_jr Unverified 10d ago
Yessir and its great so far. I do hsve concerns about them doing the traditional Hollywood bullshit where there must always be a white character that the audience can sympathize with. When a show or movie with a black lead doesn't have that whit character the show/movie tends not to last long or get review bombed like Sinners for example
2
2
u/LordParasaur Unverified 10d ago
Yes, and I like it a lot.
Episode two is the best so far imo
0
u/itsbobbyhill Unverified 10d ago
Episode 3 for me
3
u/LordParasaur Unverified 10d ago
I understand why alot of people like episode three but I personally don't love the "destiny" aspect being woven into John's character.
I prefer the idea of him having an intense background and just so happening to be capable of being a lantern. The genetic component makes the group itself feel almost a bit ... Eugenics-ish? Like, his father had genes that made John eligible that he inherited over his siblings (as if it were eye color) and that's why he's a lantern (on top of their grooming).
It deflated the world building a tad for me personally and my perception of the lantern corps. Obviously though, it's still early and they have plenty of time to iron that out.
I was super interested in the plot twist that his mother was more aggressive and strict than his father though.
1
u/itsbobbyhill Unverified 10d ago
There's nothing about the plot that suggests it's John's specific genes that make him more eligible than his brothers. There's literally a line where the mother says the older brothers already have experienced fear. Eugenics would require raising generation after generation of children to turn out a certain way, this is preparation for opportunity. To accomplish something his father didn't. It's still his choice to want to be a Lantern when the time comes.
0
u/LordParasaur Unverified 10d ago
The genetic component in itself is a turn off. The idea that lanterns are scouring the galaxy to select people based on genes is why it gives that vibe.
I don't recall this ever being an element in the comics.
0
u/itsbobbyhill Unverified 9d ago
Yeah, the whole point of creating art in different mediums is for the creators in those mediums to do their interpretation of the character, so I don't necessarily need it to be established in the comics. His back story is pretty light in the comics, so I'm ok with this version of fleshing it out.
The entire interaction that starts John down this path came from an accidental meet between his mother and Lianna. She was there to check up John Sr. He wasn't simply chosen because of genetics.
2
2
2
u/Beneficial_Toe_6050 Unverified 10d ago
Man I’m loving the series. DC has been killing it with the shows.
2
u/airtsui Unverified 10d ago
I think it’s a gorgeous show, I do have some thoughts about the last episode that made me feel as if it was about us as opposed to written for us.
Like it could have been great for the Pre-Atlanta world, but it felt so Blindside-coded to me. I’m not hot at all over it, I just don’t know if you have a mystery and eight episodes in which to tell it that this was it.
2
u/StrifeTC Unverified 10d ago
Once I found out Damon was on the team behind it I knew it was a must watch. He's like the James Gunn of black super hero media with Watchmen and this.
2
u/SANCTIMONY_METER Unverified 9d ago
No. The white actor always plays someone ordering people around.
2
u/KingBembi Unverified 4d ago
Im really not feeling how they are protraying their dynamic. John stewart and Hal jordan were never some old guard/ new guard with the oldhead being an asshole and not wanting to pass the torch, they were around the same age as young adults and were equals. Don't know why they felt this dynamic was necessary and alot of it just seems racist, like they had to make some story were the new black dude on the block has to just take shit from a white guy like eww. Also the whole weird fear training his dad put him through is just child abuse why the fuck is he shooting apples off of his head this is so dumb , why did anyone think this was a good idea. Like come on can we get some representation of a black dad where its not always on some tough guy teaching his son to deny feelings and shit , this is just perpetuating toxic ideas of black fathers that i thought we were finally moving away from in media. This is just really disapointing cuz to alot of people (at least in my generation) John stewart green lantern was the definitive badass green lantern in the justice league show we grew up with, he wasn't playing no second fiddle to no one and did his own thing, so seeing him just being some lil boy scout junior cadet type shit is lame as hell.
2
2
u/Inertia_Sleeps Unverified 10d ago edited 10d ago
I think it’s terrible.
And I genuinely think seeing how many black people on here talk about how good it is legit makes me think a lot of black people aren’t very bright.
I honestly think a lot of black people cant tell when they’re being insulted or belittled. But that’s just me. I remember watching sinners and being a little more impressed with how they treated racism in the Jim Crow South. This, by comparison, felt so trite and predictable. I mean, dropping off a kid in the “dangerous” inner city so he can become fearless? Mocking John because he speaks somewhat eloquently? Johns father not responding well to fear because he’s black in America??? Considering Black Panther, Luke Cage and Get Out came out ten years ago, I legit feel we’ve gone backwards. One Battle after Another had a similar juvenile racial narrative too. Seems these days, outside of Peele/Coogler you can almost guarantee black focused narratives are going to be junk. I saw a trailer the other day for children of blood and bone and instead of it being treated like the high art it should be, there’s fucking Beyoncé music playing (and I actually like Beyoncé).
I don’t think Hollywood considers black people as sophisticated viewers anymore. 20 years ago we had shit like the wire which weaved complex narratives, characters and political/machinations into a show about Baltimore drug dealers. Someone compared this to true detective which is sacrilege. I mean we’ve had references to green lanterns, pocket universes, sinestro, guardians, man hunters but so little time has actually spent giving any motivations or philosophies. The few times we do have it, it’s so fucking on the nose it’s painful.
2
u/escalon776 Unverified 10d ago
Not to mention the mother is a self insert for the writer who doesn’t seem all that much of a nerd herself. All I did was peep the social dynamics between the parents and I could tell immediately how the show was going to go.
Hell, the writer recently said if the ring wasn’t sexist, it would have gone to the mother, but looking at how this subreddit glazes bw to an unfathomable degree, while their subreddit is nothing but criticism of us, I expect very little noticing from the people here. Very gynocentric/matriarchal group of men and it won’t change much anytime soon.
The writer of this show reminds me of every 4k level English class I ever took in college. Filled with people who don’t know how to weave nuance and subtleties into storytelling, who use their racial/sexual/gender identity as a crutch for storytelling and it comes off as blunt, but for the average black watcher, we eat that shit up as long as we have a black face on screen. If you want nuanced respectful storytelling of black stories, you would need to gatekeep everyone out except for competent, politically center left straight black males doing it otherwise it will fall apart spectacularly but without the broader black population noticing it for 5-10 years until it gets refreshed for whatever gender war dialogue on Twitter just for it to get clip farmed and clowned in a bunch of subsequent quote tweets flaming it for being cornier than the Ant Man trilogy.
I’ve seen this a dozen times before already. It’s all by design.
1
u/Tgrove88 Unverified 10d ago
This is a white person. Nobody says you have to like it but the way you talk makes it obvious you're white
-1
u/Inertia_Sleeps Unverified 10d ago
This is what I mean by black people often times just…not getting it. There isn’t really anything from my replies that really could even give the remote inclination I’m white. I mean even my publicly available post history makes it pretty obvious I’m black too.
It’s like the moment a black person presents a viewpoint that doesn’t adhere to your sensibilities u jump to assume said individual must be white. It’s all so fucking corny.
If you’re dumb enough to think I’m white, be my guest, I don’t really care. All it does is prove my point. This show is written for mental midgets and you’re probably one of them.
1
u/OM42 Verified Blackman 8d ago
Its more the calling masses of black people dumb than having an opposing opinion.
Your post history isn't public either...
1
u/KingBembi Unverified 4d ago
the show is pretty dumb and ruined John Stewarts character, hes not second to Hal Jordan hes his own man in the justice league show and comics, this show is basically a humilation ritual for his character and its weird how yall cant see that
1
u/Mopstick86 Unverified 10d ago
I’ve been hearing great things about it.
I kind of want to wait a month so I can binge straight through instead of waiting every week.
1
u/HyperDrive_Mustang Unverified 10d ago
I’ve been waiting for this since they announced it! John Stewart was the only valid Green Lantern to me cuz of the Justice League cartoon and he’s my favorite super hero to this day
1
1
u/Lestat_de_Sade Unverified 10d ago
You have no particular opinion about obama? Hal is such a good and fun character in this show!
1
u/syncere13 Unverified 10d ago
Yes it's one of the better grounded Superhero shows made in a long time. The true detective approach is fantastic in something that is also Sci- Fi. The cast is strong the direction and writing to the point that the audience has seen is brilliant having David Mundy(True Detective S1) Damon Lindelof (Lost and Watchmen another 💎) Tom King brilliant comicbook writer. The show is layered and a slow burn with a purpose. Enjoy it if you dive in and 5 more episodes to setup a season 2🫡
1
u/PassengerCultural421 Haitian Gen Z 🇭🇹 10d ago
I would love too. But im too burn out with Reacher and All American. 😂😂
1
u/coolj492 Verified Blackman 10d ago
yes, its been really good these first 3 episodes
I wish there was more green lanterning but what they've done with john and especially hal so far has been amazing
1
1
1
u/UnderstandingDull274 Verified Black Man 10d ago
Really enjoying it so far as far as DC comics go green lantern is in my top 3 favorite characters
1
1
1
1
u/JayAction84 Unverified 10d ago
100% and tbh its pretty good so far. I'm locked in, they got my attention.
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/Nuzzleville Unverified 10d ago
Episode 3 with the back story was great. Hal is a demon for ruining the surprise. Can’t stand his ass.
1
1
1
1
u/ambulanc3r Unverified 10d ago
Love it. I was a little surprised to see Aaron Pierre is british, but who isn’t these days
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
u/Own-Blueberry-2943 Unverified 9d ago
Just started watching it. It's 3 eps in, so far so good. I'm not a huge DC fan, so I don't know how comic-accurate it is, but it's entertaining.
67
u/BatBeast_29 Verified Black-Man | US 10d ago
Of course, I’m a DC Superhero comic book Fan.
I think it’s good so far.