Luke Cage comes at a time when a bulletproof black man couldn’t be any more relevant. Speaking with students at Morgan State University on Thursday, Showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker discussed the shows ‘inclusive blackness.’
I see ‘Luke Cage’ as what I call ‘inclusive blackness.’ When I say that the show is ‘inclusively black.’ I mean that it is a deep meditation on our culture, but it’s done in such a way that when people watch the show, they don’t feel like they’re excluded from the story or the experience of watching the story.
The show features a mostly African-American cast and it’s incredibly refreshing. Even though the show is dealing with superpowers, theres something about it that feels more true to life than anything else Marvel has done in the past.
Coker also commented on the current state of racism in Hollywood.
The racism in Hollywood is not usually just ‘Oh, you’re black, you can’t do it.’ The new racism is not getting the benefit of the doubt, meaning that you’re not considered for projects because you’re black.
My hope is that the show will be looked back on as a milestone in entertainment history. One that paved the way for superheroes of all races leading their own films or television shows.
I’m currently nine episodes deep into the series and thoroughly enjoying it. Mike Colter is fantastic as Luke and Misty Knight(Simone Missick) is sure to be the fan favorite, however. The stand out performances are coming from the antagonists Mariah Stokes (Alfre Woodard) and Cornell Stokes a.k.a. Cottonmouth (Mahershala Ali).
To see what else Coker had to say head on over to the Baltimore City Paper.
Luke Cage is now streaming on Netflix.
SOURCE: BALTIMORE CITY PAPER
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