MovieChat Forums > Lovecraft Country (2020) Discussion > Too many scenes turned into music videos

Too many scenes turned into music videos

posted 4 years ago by mobocracy (869)
4 replies | jump to latest

And too often with music which isn't appropriate to the era.

"Whitey on the Moon" is a great poem/spoken word/song, but it wasn't released until something like 15 year past the events in this show. The Jefferson's theme song? It's sure catchy, partly because it was written in part by a commercial songwriter, but it seems wholly out of place in this show.

It seems like every time this show has a chance, it's playing music and turning scenes into music videos.

[–] Jeepster (1054) 4 years ago

Don’t know what you’re talking about with the “Written in part by a commercial songwriter” statement that you wrote but “Moving on up” was co-written by the late great Ja'Net DuBois who herself also starred in a great comedy series, the legendary “Good Times” as Willona. She was truly talented & will be missed.

As far as “Whitey on the Moon” goes, the first time I ever heard of that song was in “First Man” where they had played it, to much better effect than in here. It’s not that I didn’t appreciate “Moving on Up” but it did throw me off when they played it at the beginning but I give them props to have the guts to do that for this.

[–] mobocracy (869) 4 years ago

Ja'Net DuBois has half the songwriting credit, the other half goes to Jeff Barry (born Joel Adelberg). It's an open question who contributed what, but Barry also has songwriting credits for the TV themes for "One Day at a Time", "Family Ties", as well as writing much of the fictional "Archies" group's music and contributing to some Monkees music.

Ja'Net DuBois doesn't have any significant songwriting credits prior to the Jefferson's theme song, so I don't know what she actually contributed to the song but I suspect it might have been arranging and choral work.

My comment was really that they just had to make a scene in a horror show with a song from a TV show which wouldn't air for 20 years and which was *probably* mostly written by a commercial songwriter, in other words it lacks much in the way of cultural legitimacy besides its novelty as a commercial television theme song.

Overall I think "Lovecraft Country" is probably a divisive show. I want to like it, but I feel like in the effort to be woke nobody was willing to push back on some pretty lame creative choices. The cast is great, I'm always enthusiastic for more great African American actors in leading roles, and I hate to see their talents fizzle thanks to low-quality creative.

[–] exatera (3949) 4 years ago

Why does it matter though? 🙄

You remember Moulin Rouge? I for one just loved how anachronistic the music there was.

[–] mobocracy (869) 4 years ago

It's not the anachronisms so much as it is the over-emphasis of music. They're literally turning stretches of the show into music videos.