Remember the HBO series Lovecraft Country that came out in 2020? As I was watching it when it aired, I noticed there are several quotations of famous photographs about midway through the first episode. Almost three years later I remembered to write a post about it.
There are two shots that refer to photos by Gordon Parks from his 1956 photo essay “Segregation in the South” commissioned and published by Life magazine. The story of Parks’ assignment at the link above is fascinating and infuriating in equal measure. Please read it.
Here is Parks’ photo from Shady Grove, Alabama
Here is the shot from Lovecraft Country. Technology conspired to prevent me from taking good screenshots from my device, so these are photos of the tv, sorry.
The first shot establishes the scene and shows the clear demarkation between the areas that white and Black patrons were permitted to occupy. The second shot is a more direct reference to Parks’ photo, with the camera framing the scene similarly and making the “Colored” sign and service window more legible.
The show runners also quoted the kids’ red and white outfits, best visible in the first shot.
This photo by Parks is probably the best known from the photo essay: Department Store, Mobile, Alabama
In Lovecraft Country, this is an establishing shot where the two figures are positioned a little differently. Just after this moment, the three main characters walk out of the door at the left of the frame and behind the mother and daughter.
Note the repetition of the figure in red in the background. I don’t think it’s visible in this screen shot, but the show runners have also repeated the mother’s slip strap that has slid off her shoulder in the recreation of the photo.
There is also a reference to a well-known photograph by Margaret Bourke-White in the same long travel montage. This is Bread Line during the Louisville flood, Kentucky from 1937.
Here is the reference in Lovecraft Country
I didn’t watch the entire season, but I was delighted by these references in the first episode!
