"Luke Cage" Cast, Showrunner Call Netflix Series A "Love Song" To Harlem

[CBR News]

Marvel's Harlem makes its big debut in "Luke Cage," a series that was filmed in the very neighborhood it celebrates.


Full article here.

[Hypestyle]

Netflix should order at least 50 more episodes.

[Hexagon]

Agreed. This is gonna be dope. Impatiently waiting

[Rey Leopard]

My childhood and young adulthood were spent in the Upper West Side and Harlem. Upper Manhattan had a unique energetic character. The area is slowly changing but it will always live in my memoires as a very special place with the most interesting people. I hope this series can capture a bit of that magic.

[Iconic]

Can y'all just release this early? Tired of waiting.

[MaxMatrix]

This is perhaps a controversial statement to make but I'm willing to bet that while I'm sure the series will garner wide acclaim, I think it will resonate more with people who are familiar and comfortable with an urban/African American cultural sensibility. Similarly, Jessica Jones resonated more strongly with women of a certain sensibility and people, more broadly, who have experience (either directly or indirectly) with trauma and sexual trauma, particularly. I won't be surprised if some of the more conservative white reviewers and viewers miss out on some of the "aura" and feelof the series (that isn't the same thing as dislike...it's like how hardcore fans of LOTR get alot more out of the LOTR films than use newbs).

Personally I appreciate that. There haven't been many shows like this, before recent memory, to adhere to something like that. And if the show is really good then hopefully other networks will take notice and take chances.

[gwangung]

This is perhaps a controversial statement to make

Not if they know anything about a) New York or b) Harlem as a neighborhood. Even as a non-black person, I can feel there's a real mystique to Harlem as one of the cradles of black culture, dating back to at least the 20th Century, a cradle that both black and white Americans visited, early and often. There's some HISTORY there. There's more of a danger to overly romanticize it and make it "safer", but as you implied, it looks like they'll avoid that and portray a living, breathing neighborhood that'll be just as much a character as Luke is....

[Midvillian1322]

More excited for this then i am SS or Dr strange and ill be seeing both of those first weekend. Cant wait, hope the next month flys by

[Mr.Majestic]

To be honest everything from Marvel/Netflix after Daredevil S1 has been disappointing. If only Steven DeKnight had stayed on board over there instead of Jeph Loeb...

[MaxMatrix]

To be honest everything from Marvel/Netflix after Daredevil S1 has been disappointing. If only Steven DeKnight had stayed on board over there instead of Jeph Loeb...

Couldn't disagree more strongly but to each their own.
There are flaws in Jessica Jones but the way it explored the concept of trauma and did so from a woman's perspective was invigorating in and of itself. And that's not pointing towards the other stuff I really liked about it. But I could see that not be interesting to everyone though.

[WhipWhirlwind]

To be honest everything from Marvel/Netflix after Daredevil S1 has been disappointing. If only Steven DeKnight had stayed on board over there instead of Jeph Loeb...

Strongly disagree. JJ and DD2 were both great for me.

[ROM Spaceknight]

Recently finished Netflix's Luke Cage. Superb series! I was a big fan of DD S1-2 & Jessica Jones, but LC had a completely different feel. I liked the urban tone/vibe to this series, as well as the jazz music/soundtrack.

It definitely had elements of the '70's Shaft & Foxy Brown films (and other movies like them), but much more polished - with an obvious 21st century super-hero element.

Liked the comic references re: LC saying "Sweet Christmas", and seeing him in his original comic outfit (kind of) in the flashback after he escaped from Seagate Prison.

Like the Jessica Jones series, I had very little familiarity with the LC comic character (other than reading some Power Man & Iron Fist issues back in the day), but that didn't affect my enjoyment of the series - I still really liked the story, characters, etc.

I thought Cottonmouth & Diamondback were excellent, three-dimensional characters; the fact that both had tragic childhoods made you feel sorry for them, despite their evil deeds. I found this made them a lot more interesting than a lot of the typical cookie-cutter villains you see in comic book movies.

The final scenes were great, all over the great tune "100 days, 100 nights" by Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings; I had never heard the tune before, but apparently it's from 2006 - it definitely has an old-skool jazz/rhythm & blues sound.

Not if they know anything about a) New York or b) Harlem as a neighborhood. Even as a non-black person, I can feel there's a real mystique to Harlem as one of the cradles of black culture, dating back to at least the 20th Century, a cradle that both black and white Americans visited, early and often. There's some HISTORY there. There's more of a danger to overly romanticize it and make it "safer", but as you implied, it looks like they'll avoid that and portray a living, breathing neighborhood that'll be just as much a character as Luke is....

Agreed. Harlem may as well have been another character in this LC series.

I have only visited Harlem once recently (and very briefly), as a tourist last summer. However, my short visit did make me appreciate the city (and Luke Cage series) all the more - since there is definitely an almost electric "vibe" to that area that I've never felt anywhere else.