{"id":100000038,"date":"2022-11-27T22:37:46","date_gmt":"2022-11-27T22:37:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernmelanin.com\/toh\/2022\/11\/27\/the-real-americangods\/"},"modified":"2022-11-28T03:03:06","modified_gmt":"2022-11-28T03:03:06","slug":"the-real-americangods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernmelanin.com\/toh\/reviews\/the-real-americangods\/","title":{"rendered":"The Real #AmericanGods"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Have you seen American Gods? It\u2019s a television series based on a book of the same name. The premise?<\/strong> A reluctant hero, Shadow Moon, realizes his familiar world is actually inhabited by gods and divine beings of all kinds. He runs into Odin, Anubis, Thoth, Ishtar, a Jinn (or genie), and a surprisingly tall leprechaun. What\u2019s dope is the Black Gods are played by melanin-rich Black men and women.<\/p>\n

These characters are real flesh and blood, and you might miss them if you passed them on the street. In fact, they\u2019re the personified deities of the many spiritual traditions found in this country. For example, Anansi (or Mr. Nancy) is the immortal trickster spirit of West Africa, remembered by Black Americans across the Caribbean and Southeast in legendary tales of rebellion and subterfuge.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"Mr. Nancy portrayed by Orlando Jones<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

These \u201cmythical\u201d beings are sustained and empowered by those who believe in them, and at risk of disappearing once they are forgotten by all. These \u201cold gods\u201d represent the ancestors and cultural heroes of America\u2019s many ethnic groups and communities. They represent the ancestral spirit of the people and the destiny they designed for their descendants. The \u201cnew gods\u201d who could replace them represent materialism, vanity, convenience, and obedience to the state. In other words, these new \u201cgods\u201d represent an end of the world, for both humanity and the true and living Gods. The series follows Shadow Moon as he fights his way to salvation, for himself, the Gods, and the rest of humanity.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s dope is that the Black Gods in this series are diverse.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"Thoth and Anubis are Black men who have been in America since before Columbus came, now running a funeral home in the Midwest. East African Bilqis is the goddess of love, loosely based on Makeda, the Queen of Sheba. Shadow Moon\u2019s Black too, well half-way. But none of them have the passion and intensity of Mr. Nancy, or Anansi the Spider. That\u2019s the original Spiderman, you know!<\/p>\n

An immortal \u201ctrickster\u201d known for making the unexpected happen, Anansi stands against injustice and cruelty. From West Africa, he came along on a slave ship with his people. Throughout the series, Mr. Nancy is the show\u2019s leading voice of outrage and resistance, arguing that only he among the Gods knows what it\u2019s like to truly fight for survival.<\/p>\n

Now, as all the Gods find themselves at risk, they can understand the plight of Black people in America, who have been beaten and buried alive \u2013 until they forgot who they were, their power, and their gods. Orlando Jones, as coproducer of Season Two, wrote his lines to address real social issues affecting Black America today. This is why you\u2019ll hear such authentic righteous fury on a show that otherwise wasn\u2019t about race.<\/p>\n

Jones was named a consulting producer in Season Two, writing for other characters as well, especially characters of color, including Bilqis (Yetide Badaki), Salim (Omid Abtahi), Jinn (Mousa Kraish) and Sam Black Crow (Devery Jacobs). Above all, fans loved those moments when Anansi would \u201cgo in.\u201d But the showrunners behind Season Three didn\u2019t! So they wrote Jones (and Mr. Nancy) out of the show, saying his \u201cangry gets shit done\u201d attitude was \u201cbad for Black America.\u201d The showrunner in question didn\u2019t deny that this was the issue, only saying he wasn\u2019t from Connecticut! Jones also cited the show\u2019s producer Fremantle for how they handle Black people like himself and Gabrielle Union. Union recently called out the \u201ctoxic culture\u201d behind America\u2019s Got Talent. American Gods also let go of several other actors of color as it becomes whitewashed.<\/p>\n

\"\"So I\u2019m done watching the show. It was great visuals while it lasted, but this sort of change spells disaster for me. The moment any program or entertainer tries too hard to placate and pander to hypersensitive white supremacists, I know it\u2019s their end. That show, minus its powerful social commentary, is just a show. Sure, it\u2019s dope to envision a universe where Gods and divine beings are all around you\u2026but you don\u2019t need TV to do that! I suggest you leave the show alone (if you\u2019ve been watching) and read the book instead. Reading allows you to see what you\u2019re not being shown.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve read Black God<\/strong><\/em><\/a> or Knowledge of Self<\/strong><\/em><\/a>, you know this is exactly the world we live in now! Yes, there are divine beings, both good and evil, all around you! And many of us are living out timeless stories over countless cycles, some with more clarity on our true origins than others! Just look around and you\u2019ll see the ancestors among us. They\u2019re in the faces of people you pass every day. They are in the voices we use when we speak our truths. They are with us in the form of our talents and abilities. And we are living out a legendary story right now.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your superpower and how will you use it?<\/h3>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Have you seen American Gods? It\u2019s a television series based on a book of the same name. The premise? A reluctant hero, Shadow Moon, realizes his familiar world is actually inhabited by gods and divine beings of all kinds. He runs into Odin, Anubis, Thoth, Ishtar, a Jinn (or genie), and a surprisingly tall leprechaun. 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