Saturday Morning Shows; Luke Cage’s Downfall
It’s no surprise that with the second season of Marvel’s Luke Cage, the producers have earned the fearsome ire of the Jamaican public. After all, it samples Jamaican culture heavily, albeit inaccurately at times. This is a problem to the many expressive members of the immediate and extended Jamaican Family, who feel the inaccuracies and lack of proper research indicates a lack of reverence also.
Personally, I had to struggle through the first few episodes after experiencing the Jamaican accents, but my final analysis is more nuanced.
The first season of Luke Cage was well put together, and despite noticeable levels of corn I had to give it the props it deserved. It wasn't just good because of my obvious bias as a black man, it was good point blank. The music selection and montage scenes are top shelf to say the least. It was obvious that the attention to detail was precise, by the effort made to secure live instrumental performances from black musicians. Which I feel in itself is reminiscent of how we’ve always told many of our stories, using the aid of music. The show grappled with the effects of racism on the contemporary African american family and how dysfunctional behaviors along with institutional prejudice have been passed down to reinforce a destructive cycle.
Fast forward to season two and the same qualities remain, except done on a larger scale. There’s more examination of minority issues, better music, and a much more interesting plot with the addition of a new villain called Bushmaster. Bushmaster, played by Mustafa Shakir, is a Jamaican gangster and this is where our little island collides with the marvel universe.
While Mustafa and the host of other non-Jamaican actors that play Jamaicans do the best they can, many people were visibly displeased with the overall inauthenticity.
There were those who believed differently, and argued that Hollywood has never cared about accuracy.
To which contrary evidence was found,
We know Hollywood doesn’t care, we know Cheo Hodari Coker did a great thing in sampling and including Jamaica in this rich portrayal New York history. I applaud it, but none of those things magically make the accents and other inaccurate research good. We’re allowed to be displeased, but we’re still able enjoy and celebrate it for what it is and what it was intended to be. As I say often, we are compound beings and feeling one thing doesn’t negate our ability to think and feel something opposite in nature. It’s not too much to ask for accurate representation and African Americans should understand this more than many. We live in a time where the excuses for not being thorough are minimal, Jamaica is not cut off from the rest of the world.
Hollywood doesn’t care, but when history is reviewed, these are the representations that will be available to the majority. What happens is that, it’s building a legacy of outdated, inaccurate tellings of the Jamaican culture. It’s 2018, we shouldn’t be having another ‘Cool Runnings’ on our hands. There’s too much talent here. Yes there’s industry and international politics involved, but if you value the culture enough to sample it, go the extra mile.
That being said, the show goes on to do many other things correctly. Tackling issues we all face within black communities around the world, like domestic abuse, political corruption and prejudice.
Marvel has done fairly well with it’s foray into contemporary television using arguably successful shows like Agents of Shield, Daredevil, Jessica Jones or Ironfist to name a few. Luke Cage is included in this tally of newly adapted super hero series and perhaps even a crowd favorite. Black Lightning has seen similar and deserved attention, and this is partly the case because Hollywood realizes the power of a diverse cast of protagonists and their ability to pull audiences. Simply put, the minority are becoming the majority. That’s why black people showed out for the Black Panther movie and that’s why we support shows where we are represented, more fervently than those that do not.
