Backer Version: How To Adapt H.P. Lovecraft!

This is perfect, great job

Tristan

Fascinating and insightful, also that is a new take on vampires for me XD

Dave

Having walked away and thought about it... is there anything within Lovecraft's fiction that is an obvious statement on LGBTQA people? For race, it's painfully easy to find: 1. Explicit statements in his letters showing that he was racist, 2. Racist descriptions of people of colour in his fiction, and 3. Monsters compared to people of colour to show how horrifying they were. Number 1 is important in showing that Lovecraft was indeed racist. Numbers 2 and 3 are important because they show you can't just ignore the nasty author and "enjoy the work". So, I'm wondering if equivalents to 2 or 3 exist for homophobia. I'm not asking for a comprehensive list here; I'm sure that some of the books you read while researching this video have it covered. But I am curious. This may also be too personal - such passages may strike you very differently since coming out to yourself. This is not a demand to highlight them for random strangers on the Internet.

Periwinkle

I only watched this after your editing stream; apologies if you have already finalised it. I like the overall structure of the video, but I felt a few pieces of text were up too briefly. If nothing else, please make "PART 4: In Which I, Wrongly, Allege That The Shape of Water is a secret Lovecraft adaption" at about 25:38 visible for longer before starting the speech behind it. Also, now that I type out that heading it seems to use title case for the first line but not the second. In a few other places I paused to read text, such as the Del Toro quote at 2:00. There's a case to be made for leaving these as is. People like me can pause, other people don't have the flow of the video interrupted. In the dinner scene you excerpt from the movie "Cthulhu," I was fascinated by its use of a fixed camera. I get irritated when movies wiggle the camera for no apparent reason, but these scenes show how a fixed camera can really emphasise the sensation of being trapped in an unpleasant place. I like Deante's suggestion for the title.

Periwinkle

Hey Hbomb I really liked the vid and only had two comments. 1.) The title should be "The Whisper of Cthulu" since it serves as a reference to the DVD rom title of the movie, describes your initial feeling about Cthulu the movie (which was that there were very little terrifying monsters, and too many people and their feelings), your current feeling about your movie that it is great since it encapsulates the feeling of being an outsider, being marginalized, and feeling like all of your calls are but whispers in a vast and uncaring universe. It also the possible and subliminal resonance people have with the fear of Dracula and suburban monsters. 2.) You should add black borders to the shots of you and gradually tilt your shot to make the audience feel paranoid and afraid to add the horror to your video.

Thanks so much!

Hbomb

That was lovely. Thank you for sharing it. I'm sorry I'm so profoundly unhelpful, but frankly I wouldn't change a thing (except for the above referenced aside to qualify the use of a shitty but eloquent doucheweasel).

Esme

Thanks for this really thoughtful comment. I wasn't sure about if I should quote MH in the piece and someone noticing that has made me realise I really do need to qualify if I'm gonna use his work - I've added an aside that points out he kinda sucks. Cheers! :)

Hbomb

This was so good! I'm a Science Nerd not a Lit Nerd, so this was a really cool introduction and dissection of a genre that I really like, but haven't thought all that much about. Tonally is works so well. I love your humour, but I'm so glad you chose to keep the jokes to a minimum for this one. It works super well when your clearly discussing something that means a lot to you. Honestly when you posted on twitter that your next vid would be personal I assumed it was the set up for a prequels video, but I'm not disappointed in the slightest. (Which sounds super entitled but is actually the highest praise I could possibly give<3) Thank you so much for sharing such a deeply personal video with us. It's very clear this important to you, and I'm glad you get to post it and receive all the lovely comments above. Thanks Hbomb!<3

When I first started watching your earliest work, I loved the quality, but over time I've been blown away by how much better you've become.

John Howland

I'll be vague in case you haven't seen it, but the scariest parts in "Hereditary" to me were the interactions, or lack thereof, between the mother and the son after a pivotal moment in the film. The dinner scene you showed reminded me of that.

At 14:48 you say "the idea that truth is not the opposite of facts, but is actually something more than facts", but I think you meant to say "the idea that fiction is not the opposite of facts...", given that it relates to your earlier contrast of truth and fiction as a reflection of truth, not just its opposite. Or I may have misunderstood the entire thrust of that sentence.

Pavel A

This is wonderful! typo alert: I think you meant "bit" at the end of your oscar copyright claim text

dj empirical

On second viewing I notice that at 14.45 there's the line "The idea that truth is not the opposite of facts..." Surely it should be "The idea that fiction is not the opposite of facts"?

FreeBard

my only critism really is that i had to pause the video to read the quotes while you were talking over them a couple of times. kudos on this video, its great, made my cry before the opening title screen. really brave work and i enjoyed it a lot!

Calysto

Thanks a lot for your very personal video ! Really loved your vision of Lovecraft. Since you're asking for feedback, I would like to react to the use of a quotation of Michel Houellebecq. In France, MH is seen by many as problematic. I believe I can say without much controversy that he is strongly islamophobic and anti-feminist. My interpretation is that he has created for himself an identity not unlike that of a nihilistic aristocrat and a reactionary dandy, in the way of Louis-Ferdinand Céline. Two quick examples to support my claim (but many much deeper and precise works exist on the subject). First a quotation about feminism from his French Wikipedia page: <a href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Houellebecq" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Houellebecq</a>#Sur_le_f%C3%A9minisme My tentative translation of the first sentence (and I am no professional, so take it carefully): "As for me, I always thought that feminist were lovable bitches, in principle inoffensive, but they were unfortunately dangerous in their disarming lack of lucidity." I suggest finding other works in English from MH to better understand his positions. Second, it is to be noted that MH published in 2015 "Soumission" ("Submission" in English), a SF book in which an Muslim President is elected and establishes a religious political regime, in which (basically) one has to be Muslim to be a state servant, women cannot work, and so on. Again, their must be deeper dimensions in this issue, I am just offering this as a start for reflection. My understanding of the quotation used in the video is that MH is unequivocally admirative of HPL reactionary and anti-modern stances, and each element of the quotation is directly linked to MH's work and worldviews. I too read the book from which the quotation comes, and it is clear to me that it is a way for MH to develop his own "philosophy" and intellectual work (it is no a "simple" study of HPL). It does not mean that the quotation is false or should not be used, it means that it has a certain connotation and should be taken with vigilance. I hope this helps you, do not hesitate to contact me should you need more information.

Fabien HILDWEIN

I've watched this twice and I cannot offer any constructive feedback (thankfully others are on top of that) but I'm happy for you that you are comfortable enough to post something like this. I dissolve into bubbles of happiness and love every time somebody opens up about their queer experiences so this is both lovely to watch in that regard and also really interesting as somebody not particularly invested in or knowledgeable about lovecraft.

alexis

This is a brilliant video! I have a lot of strong feelings about engagement and analysis with literature on the basis of personal identity, as I do a lot of work in my academic life on women and queer people (of which I am both) in the Greek tragedies. This sort of work is exactly the kind of thing that I love to see, and I feel like it adds a lot to literary theory in general to have subjective and personal takes on things alongside the more objective takes that analysis is more typically associated with. This video also desperately made me want to take the course my university is offering on monstrosity in literature and representation of the "othered" body, so thank you for that :D

This is a technical question, and quite possibly too late to be changed, but why is the footage from Cthulu displayed in the wrong aspect ratio?

I think this is some of your best work, and it made me change my view on Lovecraft's work. When I was a teenager I liked it much in the way you did - there were weird monsters and cool ideas and that huge, uncaring universe felt homey. However, I actually read very little of his work, mainly a short story collection, and mostly absorbed his cultural effects osmotically through games and other fiction. I think especially the games is what made me become more and more dismissive, with the focus on going mad by being confronted with something new or unknown - reading a book or seeing a strange building or creature is something I could imagine as terrifying, but not madness-inducing. This made the games like Call of Cthulhu always seem a little silly to me. With my gradual understanding of his racism and general xenophobia it seemed that his works would be forever relegated to something to be valued more for their massive impact on popular culture. However, with this way of viewing his works, as illustrations of someone feeling alienated from teh world rather than expressing disdain for parts of that world, I think I can find more interest in his own stories. I've had a collection of his works for a while but my idea of reading it cover to cover stalled out since the very first ones are... well, not that great. Thanks for giving me a reason to get back to it.

Hbomb this was so touching - I always love your videos but hearing you speak about a topic you can emotionally connect with in a real way was for me much more gripping. I'm a trans woman myself so I appreciate the pride call out and the ownership of identity. As far as I'm concerned, we all stand together! ♥️

I think the title of the video should also reflect the relationship between Lovecraft and queerness, and not just the act of adapting his work, since it's arguably the more important and focused on aspect of your video. Also good lord hbomb this video is so good

As someone who’s struggled with my own identity and have internalized a lot of harmful assumptions about myself, I really appreciated the tone you took. I really liked this video, even knowing only the bare minimum about Lovecraft and his work.

I liked that little tinge of discomfort from not getting the intro until 10 minutes in. It's an odd detail but with the rest of your monologue and other details it helped the mood.

Great Joe

Super nitpicky, but I definitely had an internal flinch at “naturally” assuming you were straight, straight being “natural” and anything else then unnatural etc etc. Minor thing, thought the whole video was very good &lt;3

Mara Weber

Fantastic stuff!!

surasshu

This is a good video, for lots of reasons. Contrary to your feelings in the description about this video being indulgent, I feel like personalizing content, more than just attempting to abstractly engage with it, makes it stronger. It's something to say queer folk identify with themes of Lovecraft, and it's something more than that to recognize that you yourself identify with those same themes. There's probably a fancier word for it, but I think personalizing a perspective helps make the perspective personal to us, the viewers, as well, and makes for a more impactful video. All of this to say, I think you did great with this one! Don't beat yourself up too much. :) Since you were asking for feedback though, I got a couple of ones. I think the very beginning is a little jarring, and while that may be what you were going for, it did distract me from the text. I had to rewind and re-read the text. I think it's technically more than sufficient (wpm and air time are aligned), but with the jarring start I might recommend something change. Make the text fade in from black instead of just appearing, make it stay just a little bit longer, something. Not a big deal, but something to consider I guess. As for a title, which I think you accurately identify as seeming off: I might recommend something like, 'What it Means to Adapt a Work: H. P. Lovecraft' or 'Adapting H. P. Lovecraft', or 'Why I Love this Lovecraft Movie I Hated' for something cheeky. Last thing, promise: I think the long bits of text on screen, while talking over them about something that isn't reading out those words exactly, gets confusing. As a viewer I both want to read what is being shown, and hear your thoughts, and the only way to get that full picture is to pause the video when text shows up, read it, and then hear your take on it. The worst case scenario of this is when pausing the video means interrupting you while you're making a point: when unpausing the video, I then have to rewind to the start of your sentence to hear the full thought uninterrupted, because otherwise I don't have a grasp on what you're saying. Put another way, I love the full reading of the quotes that are shown that Dan, Lindsey and Eric do. I don't know if the other bits of shown quotes are as well served. With as much direct quote reading that goes on, I don't know that I'm recommending more of it, maybe more non-textual footage instead? Smaller quotes would work too actually, easier to process while listening without having to pause. Anyway, just wanted to direct these thoughts at you to do with what you will. It's still a fantastic video!

Robin!

(This is long as hell, sorry kjsdfnsdfk) I've been a long time watcher of your videos but never pledged on patreon because I didn't have the regular $$ for it (I'm a full time student) but my friend is a pledger and told me about what you say in this video and I pledged just so I could watch it &amp; leave a comment here. I seriously love all your videos so much, I've watched them so much I have them practically memorized and I put them on as background noise a lot -- I'm a huge nerd and I love all the deep cut in depth analysis shit you do and it makes me want to do my own videos almost, if I had the time and skill for it. I haven't watched the entire video yet, but I'm at about 11 minutes in and I was so struck by what you said I had to comment before I finish watching. I know this video must've been really hard to make, and same for uploading it and coming out to your subscribers and internet and it's amazing and I really applaud you for making it and this is gay but I'm really proud of you for it and for all the way you've come and grown up and learned more about yourself and people and the world. It's very touching to hear you talk about what you've had to hear and how it went back to the movie in a way. It can be strange once you've realized things like that about yourself, looking back at things that you did or didn't do and things you liked or that made you feel uncomfortable and knowing it could've been in part because of who you are but hadn't known at the time. And it's a very personal thing, the journey and all of it but also just the things we pick up and can't let go. Having your mind go back to that one movie over and over, remembering bits and pieces and seeing them in a new way and not knowing why they just won't leave you alone is one of those little things that's always hard to explain to others but has such an impact on you. Talking about literature, especially older stuff and "classics", through an LGBT lens is incredibly important to me. Just because a story isn't canonically gay it can still have a message that heavily resonates with the experience of being gay or trans, and LGBT adaptions or readings can be very personally touching but they get written off a lot as "why did you have to make it *gay* though?" which takes it from being something that could be important to a lot of actual people into something to write off for being gay or "PC". My brother loves Lovecraft but always actually disliked him a lot (because I've known for a long time about his racism) and have had trouble applying death of the author to his works because I feel like his views can be so easily seen in them (the grotesqueness of the outsider, the disgust at crossbreeding, blah blah) but honestly? This video has brought me over to liking his concepts, if only to make them about being gay 🤷. There's a lot of great ideas brought forth in his work, and being able to rework them into something that's not weirdly xenophobic because of veiled racism is very good. For real, I adore your videos and everything you've posted and the stuff you talk about and how you go about it, I wish we could like chat about literature and stuff all the time the way my friend who got me into your Patron do :P And tbh, I've always suspected you might be bi if only because you're really cool and all the people I gravitate towards end up being some form of LGBT lmao. Whatever type of reception you get for this video, I'm seriously blown away by your courage in creating and posting it and talking about such personal things that you would never have had to mention unless you wanted to, and this video is very important to me for a bunch of reasons and I'm a gazillion percent behind you. I can't even think of what to say without going off into a dissertation on my hot takes on gay literature but really thank you SO fucking much for making your stuff and keeping at it and being bi/pan/whatevs and just living the dream of being a pretentious bastard on the internet and getting paid for it. You're an inspiration to me, like literally I've seriously considered making science videos because of your videos, and just... keep doing what you do man I fuckin love it. I'd die for you dude :/ thanks for my bi life

If that wasn't a great way to end Pride, idk what is. Though I never really got into Lovecraft myself, I really loved the video and it did make me want to read some of his work or maybe rather the works that were inspired by him.

Saru

In a more general comment rather than specific things, I had a similar experience with Orson Scott Card, who's books I really liked when I was younger and even have a signed book from him, and then I found out he was uh, a bigoted fundie asshole. I thought this was a pretty interesting video, although I'm not fully in agreement with the idea that a good adaptation and something that talks about similar themes are the same thing,

Max S

Super super love this video - I've been going through similar realisations recently about why I was so in love with le Guin and the origins of the Tolkein universe and Blake and Shakespeare's plays/poems about crossdressing and as a bi enby who's still not out at home a lot of it really resonated with me and it was generally siick #pride Also don't know if anyone's pointed this out yet but the explanatory note at the bottom of the title card of del Toro's oscars bit isn't grammatical &lt;3

This was absolutely fantastic, and—as someone who had similar experiences of reading Lovecraft as a Youth™ in part because the horror was so massive and gripping, and a lot because the vocabulary made me feel probably a bit smarter than I was—really, really struck home for me. That, and the disillusion that came with realizing how hateful the man was, hoo boy. For me, personally (and, whoops, about to get into some Very Personal Stuff here) being a Gay Trans˜™ who grew up in a conservative evangelical household, where I was told in no uncertain terms that their big, incomprehensible God not only acknowledged me but actively /hated/ me, I think on some subconscious level, I found the ambivalence of the old gods of cosmic horror to be almost... comforting, in a way. Yeah, the scope and scale of these massive horrors from beyond is still there on a similar level, but being wholly insignificant instead of an active parasite to be obliterated was massively preferable to the God I'd grown up with. Which is... not a thought I've really had an opportunity to really ponder on, much less put into words, until now, so thanks for that. Happy pride. &lt;3

Daniel Jason Draws

Wow that really is a crazy portrait of Lovecraft.

Driahva

Great work.

Louise

You should really check out Alan Moore's latest comic Providence, it's a Lovecraft riff that hits on almost these exact themes

Sam Scott

Excellent video as always, keep up the good work!

"Putting The Love Into Lovecraft"

This was brilliant, Harry.

Great video, congrats on coming out! "We're all alien to ourselves" is a great takeaway, particularly interesting as a queer take when so often, it feels like there's pressure to know some stable, immutable truth about oneself in order to perform proper Gay Pride™. Also, just in general, I love the amount of effort that goes into setting in your pieces to camera. I think there's a typo at around 27:50 (the Oscars text frame).

Really enjoyed this! Fascinating and well presented, and your personal story really added to what you had to say. Like someone else said above, I did find some of the quotes popped up too quickly to read, especially when you were also talking quite quickly over them. It wasn’t a massive issue as I felt like I could get a general overview of what the text was saying while also listening to you, but lengthening the cuts and pausing the audio a moment or two longer might be helpful if you really want people to take in the text also.

Angie

I love your videos because of how genuine they are; a lot of people put a sort of distance in their video essays that makes it sort of difficult to connect with the person and their videos. The way you talk about all of your interests and personal experiences is very down to earth and makes your videos incredibly enjoyable to watch. This one wasn't an exception.

Quinn Gallagher

really enjoyed the video - having gone through a similar realisation later in life that I run "by sail and steam", as some say, I can definitely say that I relate to the description of what realising you're a bi man. Completely agree with your analysis of The Shape of Water in this context, imo - I think the fact that there's very obvious Mythos parallels in it, but it investigates the lives and extremely personal hopes &amp; fears of marginalised groups!!! EDIT: lol I posted this comment at the 20min mark Similarly, people might already know about Ferretbrain's series of Lovecraft analysis, but *just* in case you don't, if you like this video, you would probably enjoy it: <a href="http://ferretbrain.com/articles/article-1099" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://ferretbrain.com/articles/article-1099</a>

This was remarkable to watch, honestly. A lot of the feelings expressed are so familiar and it was so touching and lovingly "hp love-crafted". Amazing job. Congratulazioni, and happy post-pride, HBomb!

Sol

Happy Pride?

TalysAlankil

HBomb this was beautiful. Really beautiful. Comments above have already expressed my thoughts on this but yeah... thank you for this.

I really like what you've been producing lately, even more than your older stuff (which I'm also very fond of), and this is no exception. A couple of notes that I hope are helpful: Around 14:45 "that truth is not the opposite of facts", is probably supposed to be "that truth is not the opposite of fiction" or something similar. Around 14:30 The part about suburban America turning people into killers commits one of your favorite sins to call out: An (implicit) appeal to an imaginary pre-lapsarian version of history, this time one where there was some time and/or place where humans weren't super murdery. While I'm maybe a little more sensitive to this particular version, being in the "I Am Legend actually undersells how much humans are vicious douchebags to the extent that our using the terms humane and humanity the way we do is a sick joke" camp, it's still a cheap, overused shot at modern (American) suburban life--and why take cheap shots when the target is so ripe for actual criticism?

Oh man, double whammy on an insightful exploration of Lovecraft *and* we're gonna see Night in the Woods? Fantastic!

Samael

this was wonderful. happy late pride.

Karin Hammarsten

You and the work you're accomplishing is deeply beautiful. Thank you

I honestly really don't mind when your videos get a bit self-indulgent because you have a way to getme interested in things I wasn't interested in before. THe best example for this is probably the Halcyon vid, which I think is probably your best so far (even though it's not my favourite). In this case you did talk about something I was already interested in, so you basically had me from the word go, but I want to express that while I originally became a huge fan due to the zaniness, I'm increasingly becoming convinced that what makes your videos really great is the earnest, personal core and this video embodies this very strongly. Haha look at me acting like I know what I'm talking about. Anyway, I loved it and it's given me a lot to think about. Congratulations on your official coming-out and I'm looking forward to you talking about the best videogame ever made.

Nichtschwert

love u

I want to make an insightful comment about how good this video was but I can't find the words. Masterful execution of a series of ideas and topics brought together seamlessly is about as good as I can muster right now. Thank's Hbomb.

You are still able to do text the old way with Premiere, it just takes some doin'. I should have some time to elaborate on exactly how when I'm at my production setup, but suffice it to say that it IS possible.

This was incredibly moving. I became interested in your videos because they were funny, but this one had such a distinct tone that I’m not sure we’ve seen from you, and I really enjoyed it. It also made me so glad we have this community that allows for these discussions, these creations of space that are both because of and in spite of folks like Lovecraft. Happy pride Harris. I’m proud to support you 💙

HOW TO ADAPT LOVECRAFT AND ALSO MY SEXUALITY?!?!?!(not clickbait) That would also make a good title

Hbomb &lt;3 I'm so happy for you and your coming-out! This is fantastic! Happy Pride!

Never let anyone tell you you're taking too long to make your videos. They are worth the wait and getting better all the time. Thanks for everything, H-Bomb.

Andrew H

I really like how intimate this video felt especially with the closer camera and the gentler lighting during your shots with you actually speaking to us. The abrupt lighting transition at 16:45ish is a big jarring which is the only technical note I feel capable of making as I'm not any sort of editor in that regard. I really liked the intimacy of the video and the music it felt deeply personal and relatable although that may just be because I'm queer and have also experienced the sensation of being deeply disappointed in the creator of a text I loved and still love. This is the first video you've released since I switched up to $10 per video and honestly I think it's worth the money I really love it. As much as I love your funnier videos I also really appreciate the honesty that I could feel in this one. Happy pride month to you too, H. Bi-mberguy. (I hope you don't mind the pun it was honestly the first word association I made when you mentioned being bisexual and as a fellow bi I thought it was quite funny)

a few other points (1) You saying lovecraft's full name made me laugh because i had never heard it before (2) this video made me want to read lovecraft because the context in which his work was presented to me don't interest me this video does (3) would love to hear your thoughts on Alan Moore's lovecraft work because i love his work but cudnt at all get into his lovecraft inspired books

King Aliyah

i really loved the video it gave me a couple of good cries the ending with happy pride month and when you where narrating the outsider and simply asking aloud why do i exist because while i'm not a lovecraft fan (i've never read his work) i have that i love the manga one piece and it a manga that is often actively hateful to people like me trans people it makes me sad that so many queer and trans ppl have to find comfort and understanding in art that actively despises them because we are not given the opportunity to have our own

King Aliyah

Fascinating and insightful, thank you for sharing! Also never saw vampires like that before, neat!

Dave

Also for the title, how do you feel about puns? Because there’s something that appeals to me about “The Craft of Love” or “Lovecraft, and the Craft of Love.” It serves the dual meaning of exploiting Lovecraft’s name, and your topic of exploration in the video (queerness and love, and the craft of adaptions)...while also being a pun ;)

This is without a doubt my favourite video you've ever done. Really well constructed and beautifully done. When I started reading Lovecraft -- also in school -- I did also enjoy his (admittedly often self-indulgent) prose, I loved how it sounded when I read it -- either out loud or in my head. My strongest connection to Lovecraft has always been to his 'apparently-human-but-not' antagonists -- the crossbreeds of Innsmouth, the ghouls from Pickman's Model, Wilbur Whateley in the Dunwich Horror, Ephraim Waite in The Thing on the Doorstep. I didn't ever really understand why I preferred these transgressive and hidden creatures to the protagonists (and even to the arguably flashier ancient gods in the stories). I grew up, just as you grew up assuming yourself to be straight, assuming that I was a straight cisgender woman. Only when I realized in my university years that gay transmen are a concept that exists, only when I realized that's what I was, and started a change to make my body agreeable to my mind, did this love for these characters and monsters make more sense. They were strange and different but hid it -- for a while, though not as subconsciously as I did. As they grew older and stronger, they shed trappings no longer required. (I have an interesting relationship with the Cthulhu movie. I loved it from the start because I first discovered and watched it when I was already transitioning and identifying as queer, so there was no hurdle for me to clear there at all. What did, however, upset me about it was the ending. It's actually a very riveting, powerful ending, but having become so used to equating the Innsmouthian cultists and weird creatures of Lovecraft with myself, seeing one strike so brutally against his own queerness by the end shook me. It was a "no, that's not how it's supposed to go" ending for me. It was to me a moment of queerness murdering queerness and I still have trouble watching the ending, it gets to me deeply.) I also agree with you on maybe Lovecraft having had secrets even from himself. Parts of his identity, his orientation, his belonging, which he never unearthed, and if he had, maybe his stories would have become very different. Maybe he would've been less bigoted. Who knows? I think we luckily live in times where other, less problematic artists tap into the same veins as Lovecraft -- because as many of us are not alone, Lovecraft wasn't alone in his anxieties and thoughts, either -- del Toro does excellent Lovecraftian movies, always has, Neil Gaiman's Lovecraft material is always wonderful, and even, for example, the creators of Welcome to Night Vale - who despise Lovecraft for his bigotry - exist under that strange, eldritch umbrella. (Oh, by the by, out of left field and with zero cohesion, my favourite Lovecraftian game is actually this FMV game, The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker, which is beautifully orchestrated on a shoestring budget and everyone should give it a go.) I have a similar problem with Dune, incidentally. Dune, and especially the characters in House Harkonnen in the first books and the prequels, speak to me as a queer person very deeply (unsurprisingly, considering that they're either outright queer or queer coded), but Frank Herbert was a grossly homophobic individual who disowned his gay son and also equated homosexuality with pederasty, all things his son Brian, who I had a chance to speak to briefly once, explained off-handedly as "very complicated" but "understandable" given "what went on privately". I was stunned and angry at the response at the time, and still don't think it's defensible. But here I am, still a fan of Dune just as I am still a fan of Lovecraft. I'm simply a fan of the parts of their works that I feel a connection to. To wrap things up with a quote by a, to not break pattern so close to the end, equally problematic filmmaker, Lars von Trier -- "Prepare to take the good with the evil." Yes, I'm aware that's a really wobbly final point that doesn't entirely make any statement, but there's a reason you're the one making videos and I'm the one commenting. And this is a very fine video indeed. Thank you for this one, thank you for going out and speaking so personally about your life here. That takes a lot of strength. And a happy Pride to you as well :)

Calder Ravel

This was an incredibly meaningful video to me, as another queer Lovecraft fan. I never was able to put words to what I liked and why the author's significant problems were not a show-stopper for me. Thanks for helping me put my own thoughts in order here.

Just watched the whole thing and now I'm interested in learning more about Lovecraft. Also, that ending has me hyped up. All I need to do now is to resume and hopefully finish that game

Watched it now, echoing another comment, I thought the vampire (especially Nosferatu) as antisemitic trope could've been mentioned. I don't know if you want to say The Thing is a Mountains of Madness ripoff, it's obviously not anywhere like the point, but are you sure you could justify it? I googled and it's a rewrite of a December 1936 story (and without reading it, I'm skeptical of how much was in the first version), and they seem to both take something from the much earlier story The Thing In Admunsen's Tent, so who even fucking knows. It just seems like an unnecessary claim, but so's defending the star war prequels.

John N (@no_genius)

This video was a great one to watch! Really interesting, really relatable discussion of interacting with works of media that speak to your queerness before you yourself even see it. Reminds me of something I heard once went to the tune of "once you figure out you're not straight, your whole life becomes foreshadowing." I completely related to your feelings on Lovecraft regarding the two simultaneous truths of "this writer's work was important and inspirational to me and many other people" AND "this writer's work sprung from a deeply bigoted mindset" as well. Talking about how art becomes something new when it is engaged with by people whom it was never intentionally meant for is a nuanced way of looking at that and a refreshing thing to hear; I'd love to see you discuss it more in the future, if it comes up. My only criticism of this version of the video is the part between 13:21 and 13:30. The rest of this section is streamlined and easy to follow, but that one sentence gets confusing and a little awkward. EDIT: I accidentally hit post the first time before I finished what I wanted to say. Oops. Anyway, great video!

this is my new fav hbomb video so thank you. as a lesbian i can relate to a lot of what you mentioned and im so proud of you for coming out! happy pride!! 🏳️‍🌈 (also looking forward to the NITW video 👀)

@ 29:24: "It's demonstrating a successful understanding of why those stories were worth reading about in the first place" I think you want to scratch "about" there.

Dan Sullivan

Lovely video! Very introspective, and an elegant blending of the academic study on the subject with your own personal experience. Also, and I admit I don't spend enough time on Twitter to know if this is true, but if this is your first public coming out, then congratulations! As Cpt. Holt says, “Every time someone steps up and says who they are, the world becomes a better, more interesting place."

I'm only four minutes in, but I'd like to point out that in such a short time, you've managed to make me really badly want to read Lovecraft's stories, a thing that overexposure and Internet culture has utterly FAILED to do over the past like 5 years. The cult-like way people out there fanatically presented the all-powerful monster characters and the stories of doom stuff irritated me to no end, to the point where I would despise even hearing about lovecraft's stuff (I was even kind of annoyed that your next video was going to be on this guy, but I kept faith that it would entertain me as usual). So good job subverting that and making me want to learn more about Lovecraft !

The video was really well done. A lot of the small bits of humor were really well timed to contrast the tension that built up, but also add to it once the joke was over.

As a completely unrelated follow up: everything you mentioned is also one reason I and so many other people love the podcast Welcome to Night Vale. It's almost entirely based on Lovecraftian works and themes while the cast is mostly made up of queer, nonwhite, and disabled folks. A whole town of outsiders.

Tani

Thanks for this very honest and candid expression of your personal experices Harris. It's wonderful that you feel you can admit it to yourself and us now. Though a bit sad given past context where I've seen you refer to yourself as straight multiple times on curiouscat. I agree that the use of queer as an umbrella term, even from someone such as you who uses it on yourself and is in our community, could be uncomfortable for people, but can't offer a concrete opinion on leaving it in or removing it.

William Tongue

Rad vidya, my dude. Just finished watching it and here are my little nitpicky things: 1) there are a lot of quotes from books that are way too long to read in the time that they are on the screen, so I found myself pausing the video to read them and breaking up the exposition for myself, which I kind of did not like (but I am also a slow reader, so others might not have this problem), 2) I felt like the random scenes of stuff kind of detracted from the impact of your coming out moment, which I thought was really moving and resonated with me like wow (trans pansexual here whoop whoop), so I might suggest just having your face saying stuff unless that is not something that you feel comfortable with, 3) the dark screen before the "nautical-looking" example made me worried that my video was malfunctioning, so maybe just add some kind of graphic or your face or something there so folks know the video is still playing just fine. I guess what I am saying is mostly just have more of your face in the video. *heart eyes* But yeah, really great discussion, and so happy this is the first video I will be a contributor to! Happy Pride!!!!

A_Blinkin'

Haven't watched the video yet, assuming you came out as a Shoggoth (and a cute one as well)

John N (@no_genius)

Minor nitpick: At about 2:38 the text for Samuel Loveman's name moves when you add the extra text.

LemmaEOF

This was a really great exploration of Lovecraft and the horror genre, as well as why so many queer people love his work despite everything about his beliefs (something I have noticed as well). However, I do think it's important to mention that a lot of vampire myths were based around antisemitic stereotypes. Creepy, mysterious, and inhuman beings that isolated themselves from "normal" society either intentionally or by force, who abducted and drank the blood of innocent townspeople (yes people literally thought we did that.) The comparison to capitalism is still apt, but I feel like that added context is required. It might even help to bolster your argument as vampires have also become a very well loved subgenre. Though I do recognize that this vide has already taken you quite a while and is overall really fantastic even without my little nitpick. Keep up the great work!!!

Tani

title idea: outsiders outside lovecraft also part one was very moving, thank you for being so open with the internet! when the first part I was actually startled to remember that that was only one part of the video, your story was very evocative &amp; absorbing.

Nathalie

Me, now having finished this video, staring at the ceiling: i wasnt expecting this but oh my god this resonants with me and my experience

Alienea

Me, entering this video: God I'm Always Ready To Drag Lovecraft While Reclaiming His Aesthetic

Alienea

Also at 15:31 there's four periods in a quote instead of three, and the part 4 slide is title case at first but then secret and adaptation aren't capitalised. At 28:00 minutes there appears to be an extra it at the end of your disclaimer?

Max S

I got so many feels. Thank you for your voice and for increasing visibility.

It's beautiful

Jumbled thoughts after first watch: I never got into Lovecraft but I really enjoy queer horror readings, including this one. Good use of the Halloween closet scene. Vampires are also super gay--check out Carmilla if you havent--but I get why you went with the Marxist thing and I liked it. Bi horror fan solidarity &lt;3

gently shake the bees

I think this video is really good. I'm a queer woman who grew up in the evangelical church in Alabama, so... I definitely feel like I have seen the face of an uncaring universe. The video seemed like a good length- if you wanted to add anything back, it seems like that could work too. You reminded me of how huge I was into Dune in high school and made me want to see the movie you talked about.

Ali

At about 14:45 you say "the idea that truth is not the opposite of facts" and I think you meant "fiction" instead of facts? Or instead of truth

Max S

Welcome to the fam HBomb, love your work. From a bisexual activist in Australia.

Rebecca Dominguez

Queer has been reclaimed as an umbrella term across much of the world. We acknowledge that there are people who are uncomfortable with it from its use in the past. It is a great umbrella term and a lot of the pushback recently against the term is from those in the LGBTIQ+ community who are transphobic, because they don't want to include trans people in the rainbow.

Rebecca Dominguez

That was really something! well done for coming out, you're genuinely an inspiration to me

Just finished watching. As a fellow queer [gay, in my case] Lovecraft fan, your points were well-reasoned and well-executed. I didn't have the sudden realization that you did; mine came over time; but I had a similar sort of...it's difficult to describe accurately, but a sort of hostility toward what I considered to be "unnecessary" gay elements in stories, which I easily recognize now as internalized homophobia. I deliberately never watched Cthulu because I don't think a good adaptation of a Lovecraft story as it itself is presented in the text has yet been made, but looking at it as an "inspired by" rather than a straight [heh] "adaptation of" is something I had been too annoyed when the film came out to consider, similarly to yourself. I might give it a chance at some point in the future because of your perspective on it. As others have said, I don't think the video comes off as long-winded or "too personal"; talking about how something affected you personally is somewhat necessary when evaluating something that is, inherently, so personal. You could easily add in things you've left on the cutting room floor without the video starting to seem overly-long or too disjointed, as far as I can tell. Lovecraft's stories, beyond just dealing with the horror of the unknown and staring into the face of an uncaring or actively malevolent universe, have a recurring theme of a sense of "otherness", and it is from that element that I think queer people, themselves being outsiders and being "othered" in society, find things to relate to in his stories. If you're unhappy with the working title you've chosen, perhaps consider something related to "otherness", or "The Other", or "outsiders", etc., because it's a consistent theme in your video as well as in Lovecraft's works. Good video, Hbomb. Glad to have watched it. PS: Eternal Darkness is my favorite horror game of all time and one of my top 5 favorite video games. I have a large custom tattoo referencing it, as the first [and so far only completed] part of a video game-themed sleeve. I was tickled to see the game referenced here, if only briefly.

The Doom Merchant

I thought this was a very sweet video and really enjoyed the introspective direction that you took this in. Although I didn't grow up super into Lovecraft like you did, the theme of examining something that was close or influential but actually turned out to have problematic parts to it is something that I think most people are able to relate to and is important for everyone to do. I think it happens even more for queer people because lots of media, especially older media, often has homophobia to deal with, either in the content itself or from its creator. As someone who is gay myself, I especially appreciated that element to this video. Top notch content, and can't wait to see what you do for Night in the Woods! I loved that game a bunch. Happy Pride month to you as well!

Hey Hbomb, just wanted to drop by and say that I really enjoyed this video! I really enjoyed the notes on how one's personal relationship with a piece of media can change as we grow into ourselves and our identities, and in talking about how fiction serves to mirror real-life experiences. I'd go a bit more in-depth on why these things worked for me and how this video helped me solidify some of my own feelings about media and what does and doesn't work for me, but I'm sick and translating thoughts into patreon comments is hard. Either way, congratulations on a well-made video and a well-done coming out, and happy Pride Month.

Lily Bogue

I don't have any experience with Lovecraft or his writing, but I wanted to say, as someone who recently came to terms with their own bisexuality that they had been unaware of or possibly incapable of acknowledging for a long time, thank you. I appreciate and enjoy your work, and I look forward to the future. Also, Night in the Woods aaaaa ;v;

Mallow

💜💜

I felt the video came across really well! I'm not a big fan of Lovecraft himself, but I like a lot of the themes of his work, and so this video was really relatable (to me at least) in how it addressed both the problematic elements and the valuable takeaways. Thanks for your hard work, as usual, and I'll be looking forward to the Night in the Woods video! Also, happy to have you as part of the queer community!~♡

My biggest concern - and this is just self-centered insecurity, so you don't have to pay attention to this if you don't want to - is that, because I feel that my work is so deeply based around these themes, the fact that so many people have similar thoughts and feelings about the subject makes me feel that my work won't have anything new to say. But that's my own stuff. Anyway, awesome video - I am PSYCHED to see the Night in the Woods video when it comes out!

I think that the video beginning with a title card is kinda jarring, maybe starting with showing the introduction of the movie then show the title card explaining you relationship with it, this way you will also have a break between talking a bout the film and Lovecraft, but I don't know I am not an editor and congratulations on coming out

``I could go on a whole rant about this, to be honest - how my childhood trauma placed me on both sides of the unknown, the feeling of kinship I've felt with outsiders due to a number of reasons, including autism, and how much these ideas of strangeness and the unknown affect my own work. Needless to say, I think you hit the nail on the head with this one.

Okay. So at the 20 ish minute mark when you are talking about the overarching racism. You might be able to call back to the "nautical-looking" quote with a little point that a lot of his monsters are from the sea. It ties in with your idea that it is so embedded in all of his writing.

Holy shit, yes. This video gave me a mindgasm - and, I'll admit, some anxiety. This is really close to how I feel about Lovecraft's work, and part of the reason I got so nervous upon hearing about The Shape of Water.

I really appreciate how personal you got with this video. After all media is incredibly personal, that's what makes it identifiable. The realisation of otherness is also something that really hit me and I love the way you talk about it. I'm a bi trans guy and I - literally yesterday- had a conversation about trans athletes in competitive sports with my roommate, which kind of brought that whole "otherness in a set society" topic back on my plate again, so your video has pretty good timing haha. I also like how you let yourself deal with the "your fave is problematic" topic. Again something I super relate too and that I feel gets shoved under the rug too often or capitalised on way out of measure. I think this is a great video, I wouldn't mind 5 min more of footage but I think this is a good length to be honest. You hit everything concisely and the conclusion is well formulated. Thank you for making these videos, nothing better to listen to on a Saturday morning !

datpiranha

(also your video is a useful addendum to the Dark Mother's view of enjoying media with problematic elements).

Amazing video Harris! I’m always about old litriture and queers. More like this please (obviously, only if you want to make more like this) &lt;3

You posted about worrying about this coming across as narcissistic in a curiouscat (or having narcissistic qualities) but I don't think it comes across in this video. A person's response to art is based on their subjective experience of it is all (though I don't even think talking primarily about yourself in response to art is necessarily narcissistic in the right medium - a personal blog or whatever)

I really love the vid and it is just great. I myself discovered Lovecraft only some years back, but similar to you I had to rethink much stuff about his work after reading up more on him. After I realized that I'm queer, too it put on all sorts of media in some light I never thought about before... So my own approach in making creative content has also deepened and I think for the better. That's why I really deeply relate to this video and your message! To the video itself: I think the pacing and structure of the video is nice at it is. But depending on the stuff you cut, it could add some more "meat" to it? Maybe more examples of Lovecraft's shitty takes and good approaches to that? But I don't know what you already had planned for that xD Edit: I also realize the movie adaption you are talking about is basically the opposite to another movie called "Dagon". It adapts the "Shadow over Innsmouth" as well, but is just in your face monstreous and gory as heck. It is basically just retreading the story, but in EXTREME without sense for any deeper meaning. Also, congratz on your coming out and thank you. I hope you had a happy Pride Month as well. :)

This was lovely. Truly.

It's always so good to see a new video! I have no real additional notes... I just thought the whole thing was neat. Congratulations on coming out, so glad to have you in our community!

Sierra

'Hitting the point of Lovecraft'

Matthew Harrison

Hi Hbomb, I really enjoyed this video. I think you weaved in so well the different thought threads, and I would have never compared Lovecraft to The Shape of Water; but somehow you made it make sense. I've never really thought about why Lovecraft might appeal to Queer people, and I always associated his fans with early internet 4chan intellectuals - but at the same time every irl fan I've met has been queer. It makes a little more sense now. Cant wait to see what you post next. Happy Pride!

Heather Johnston

you know you can just say Marx Stoker, right? Maybe a bit too simple and not quite there but it at least somewhat works.

Good Jam

I am about halfway through and I really love the video. I highly recommend listening to the song “Lovecraft in Brooklyn” by the Mountain Goats. It’s a really interesting song nestled into an album about being an outcast. tMG is a really popular band for a lot of queer people and has a really vibrant LGBT+ community. When you were wondering about why queer people love the stories it made me think of this song so check it out!

Talia P

Wow, Harris, this is really great. I think pretty much any queer person can really feel kinship with your own story of suddenly feeling like an outsider to yourself. Not what I was expecting to get from you in this video, but your actual quite sincere and outright take on it was refreshing. Thanks for being honest with us, hope your Pride was good as well! Also I have been waiting an eternity for your NITW video and I will wait forever if I have to

Stormbourne

Adore it as always HBomb!

Molly McDade

Holistically, I think the video has a good structure. I like the overall flow from "OMG look at this garbage adaptation" into talking about what the core elements of Lovecraftian fiction and then back into validating "Cthulhu" and "Shape of Water" as adaptations. Nice bookend approach.

If you haven't watched her, and wanna take HBombs advice, Nyx Fears would be well up your alley.

Hey man, I think this is really beautiful. I’m a queer person, but I’ve never wanted or needed to come out to 100k+ strangers—fans—before, so to be honest I don’t know what the “right” way to do that is. But the things you touch on in the video (isolation, alienation, desperately trying to justify yourself and having it fall on deaf ears) are all things I relate to. My experience as a queer person has been dominated by those feelings, so I think your video is authentic and I resonated with it. I’m also a big fan of lovecrafty things too! But more often lovecraft adjacent things, like Bloodborne and Night in the Woods (SO EXCITED BY THE WAY). So I thought the way you discussed his work and the works that echo his same pathos was profound and thoughtful. Your heart shined through here. The video has a classic feel, since it’s you talkin with big text on the screen, and even a one winged angel gag. You’re a really versatile artist and it’s nice to see those old hits now and again. The way you interact with the physical copies of his story and the role play book instead of just screenshots makes your fandom for this problematic person shine through. The realness is the objects holds a special weight. And I always appreciate the inclusion of excerpts from other writers in the topic. It gives watchers a chance to go read more into the topic. Title was, I wish you could do something like “Lovecraft out of the Closet” to tie the two themes here—Lovecraft as the problematic person he was plus his stories resonating with marginalized people anyway—together. I’m not really coming up with anything clever right now but I’ll mull it over! Congrats on coming out, buddy. I know you’ve been living your queer life for a minute, but y’know, welcome to the out on the Internet life? :) 💙💙💙💙💙💙💙

⭐️Galactic Pretty Boy, Tommy⭐️

I would agree in terms of the pacing. If there was more you wanted to add I think the vid would take it well. (Also, I too have never played a bunch of the games HBomb talks about but watched the vids multiple times. You are defo not alone. HBomb dweebs 4lyf!)

I agree with JojoScotia, you could add the stuff you cut out I bet. It might add to the video not only for your fans but for yourself. What I mean is, it is great that you are putting the personal stuff out there. I hear over and over again how people who have difficulties in life feel better when they put it out there, even if they are doing it for a big audience like you are. It's refreshing to not have to keep a burden to yourself. Love ya pal keep up the good work.

The 'hope you had a wonderful pride month's at the end warmed my heart.

Great video, Hbomb! Nitpick comment: the quote screen for del Toro's acceptance speech (~27:52) has typos in your parenthetical. You might already know that from the 'workaround' comment above, but better safe than sorry.

at the 28 minute mark "The oscars will copyright claim this if i don't do this it"

Patricia Taxxon

Me too! It meant a lot to hear that in the video.

Alex J.

Harris Bomberguy, you are an inspiration and I went basically through the same realization process, from "of course I'm straight" and then "oh, wow, wait, I am attracted to men and women" in sort of a sudden and stark fashion. Plus, H.P. Lovecraft made me want to become a writer as well, I consumed everything he'd ever written. Thank you, thank you, thank you for creating this.

Ryan Elliott

Happy Pride to you too, a brave video and a great one too. I'm honestly surprised there haven't been more mainstream queer interpretations of Lovecraft, it makes so much sense. But then, I can only imagine what AO3's archives contain...

Lucy Welch

First watch through and I loved it! Perhaps you could warp the audio into a monstrous sounding Del Toro as a work around? Or is it the video as well? Even the aesthetic you used in the sherlock vids for Jekyll would work tonally. Will watch again and reply with anything I see. PS. I have literally JUST started playing Night in the Woods and I am so PUMPED!

love it! very well done, well written. my only criticism is that the cuts of you facing the camera are a tad louder and bass-ier than the rest of the voice over. id balance that a bit.

Ezra Curry

That was quite beautiful, Harris. Deeply personal and relatable. I don't have much constructive to say other than that was truely special. Thank you.

benignentity

Just finished watching. Honestly if you do add in some of the stuff that's cut I think it could bear it easily, pacing-wise, as this video didn't feel lengthy or slow. This video for me is a weird intersection of a topic I'm not interested in (I never got into Lovecraft) and a reality I live in (I'm Bi/Pan). I think you talking about your own experiences does add authenticity to what you're saying and helps to explain what you're addressing (and also I feel very acknowledged as I some some similar experiences). To be fair though, I've also watched your videos about games I've never played / am not interested in (Bloodborne/Dark Souls, Fallout 3) multiple times over so I'm not exactly a totally average person. Anyway, very good video, it makes me happy in my brain, well done, I'm glad I delayed going to bed by half an hour to watch.

JojoScotia

I had a similar experience discovering my queerness relatively late in life, so I really relate to this video. ❤️💙💜

Samantha Schaffer

Potential title: "Moving beyond H.P. Lovecraft"

Cyridius

14:45 - "The idea that truth is not the opposite of facts, but actually something more than facts" not sure, but this might be a typo? like you were talking about fiction vs truth before, think a word or two might have been mixed up

Ya know, I'm PUMPED to see this. I saw a curiouscat on Twitter a while ago wherein you mentioned something along the lines of what I anticipate hearing from you in this video.. I wanted to say on that post that the rest of the world erases us enough as is.. We don't need to do the work for them... Proud of you!

I'm unable to watch at the moment due to internet issues, but is the video just you staring at the camera shouting "JUST MAKE BLOODBORNE!" For like 20 minutes?

The Love and Craft in Lovecraft ?

Tamás Kispéter

LCU: Lovecraft Cinematic Universe

Talia P

“LOVECRAFT IS ADAPTABLE AND HERE’S WHY!” Should be the title

10:30 AM or PM?

Talia P

YEEESSSS I can't wait to watch when I get home!!

Blue Gemini