Outsiders: How To Adapt H.P. Lovecraft In the 21st Century 

H.P lovecraft was terrified of two things: fish and minorities

"How is gay life? Is it satisfying?" Is how I begin phone calls

"Holy Shit, my Teenage Literary Idol was so F*ckin Racist" is a fantastic title for the next big Japanese light novel.

Shadow over Innsmouth is actually about the horror of finding out you have welsh ancestry

"How is gay life? Is it satisfying?" My friends awkwardly trying to be nice when I came out to them

"How is gay life? Is it satisfying?" is the new "Oh hi Mark, how's your sex life?"

Okay, but the REAL question: *Why does every photo of Lovecraft look like he's trying to keep the frog he's holding in his mouth from escaping?*

The „what the fuck howard“ caught me so off guard cause I never considered that Lovecrafts first name wasn’t actually just HP

His wife actually cited in her divorce papers that his 'antiemetic tirades' were one of the main reasons she wanted a divorce, seeing as how she would constantly need to interrupt him and remind him she was in fact Jewish.

If you ask me, Lovecraft being super bigoted was one of the reasons his work is fascinating. Because I think Lovecraft did something I think other bigoted authors never do: I think he laid all his cards on the table and actually honestly gave his real feelings about it. He didn't really write heroic adventures about the white hero triumphing over the 'ignorant savages' or something. That's how a lot of bigoted people want to portray themselves. As heroic, as right, as better. In their eyes, they are perfectly justified. This or that is 'evil'. This or that is 'inferior'. This or that is 'disgusting'. But honestly I doubt most bigoted people are actually like that. That's the front they put on. Lovecraft's stories are pretty much about the way I think most bigoted people actually are. His protagonists are mostly people comfortable in their own little bubble, who over the course of the story watch as that bubble bursts around them and can't handle things outside it. Lovecraft's antagonists are 'The Other'. They are not overtly morally 'evil' exactly, more like their very existence invalidates the protagonist's very concept about what morality is. Invalidates what they thought the world was. Maybe invalidates their very identity. And in the end, there is no 'happy ending' for Lovecraft's protagonists. Sometimes their reactionary response might let them in some way 'win', sure. Sometimes. But they can't go back after that. Their perfect little bubble is gone. They know what's out their now, and they will spend the rest of their lives looking over their shoulder, fearing, doubting, nervous, knowing they can never truly win as vast uncaring forces slowly got closer. And really, isn't that what bigotry actually is? Fear of the unknown. Of 'The Other'. I think that's kinda why Lovecraft himself sorta backed away from some of his more extreme opinions later in life. I believe there is a quote of his somewhere where he admits in a letter that his glorification of white anglo-saxon culture was in view of history just as deluded as the protagonists in his fiction about the place of humanity in the cosmos.

This means every lovecraftian god is gay cause homosexuality was a massive unknown to him, finally, my true idols have arrived!

When I was in college, the orchestra (which had many Jewish members at the time) was playing Wagner. In a conversation about it, one of those Jewish orchestra members just said "I think his music is beautiful. Wagner didn't want me playing his music, so I'm going to play it." Her protest against Wagner's beliefs was to play his music.

For reference, HP Lovecraft wasn't just a product of his time; even people back then thought Lovecraft was super racist.

“H.P. Lovecraft would be spinning in his grave!” Given the beliefs he held, making Lovecraft spin in his grave is a particular pass-time of mine.

I'd say shape of water is actually decisively anti-lovecraftian, since it is about embracing the unknown and the other, while lovecraftian works are about averting your eyes from the unknowable, uncaring universe. Definitely ripe with lovecraftian themes though, but mostly subverting them

"Being actually expected to prove to people that I wasn't inferior" That statement had no excuse to be so relatable

"How's the gay life? Is it satisfying?" is such a weird question. Like, no, it's not satisfying. It's life. All of it is terrible

I was a huge Lovecraft fan in my early years and being mixed race to this day I find the notion that Lovecraft equated mixed people to immortal aquatic lords of darkness kinda flattering.

Unfortunately I can no longer find the comment, but one of the creators of this movie actually commented on this video saying that Hbomberguy nailed it, that this video understands what they were trying to accomplish even if they fell short in some areas

I always thought Lovecraft’s work was about the fear of outsiders. This video made me realise it’s the fear of being an outsider in a world you thought was your own

We stan our bisexual king

“I can’t look at Greek statues because they awaken something in me!” Character development

I remember watching this video years ago and hating it because I was super homophobic and didn't like that you talked about gay people as anything other than bad people. Growing up in American Christian fundamentalism will do that to you. I've since had to confront these biases as I realized that I'm trans and bi. It's wild having the same reaction to this video that you had to the movie. I'm glad I came around. Thanks for making vids, hbomb. ❤

I think ironically, by writing about how absolutely fucking terrified he was of outsiders, Lovecraft's writing resonated with those very outsiders and their lived experiences.

If anyone feels like watching Cthulhu 2008 because of this video, please be advised that there is a scene in which a woman rapes a gay man. I feel like that is an important thing to note.

There is an interesting anectode about Lovercraft's racism and antisemitism: he loathed New York, he thought it was too big, too chaotic and modern, and of course, too diverse. He grew up in a provincial town that was literally just white middle-class people, getting to a city that had all the races and all the social classes was a cultural shock. Anyway, he hated that NY was so diverse and he thought that whoever came to the US from another country should assimilate and be assimilate by the American culture and not, uh, misgenate the pure US culture. However, after a certain event, he changed idea quite drastically, and started believing that immigrants keeping their culture was actually a good thing for the American way of life, that a "pure" US culture doesn't exactly exist and that we would all benefit from meeting with other cultures. The event was overhearing two orthodox Jews in traditional attire talking in Yiddish. So, yeah, it may be possible that what made him realize he was a really racist and antisemitic POS even for the day's standards was realizing Jewish people were, well, people. Oh, and he actually hated East Asians more than anything else in the world. Even his views on black people softened a tad bit, but East Asians were still the real evil to him, and I find it baffling that LITERALLY NO ONE EVER MENTIONS THIS

I think that Lovecraft’s stories often involve a fear of discovering in oneself that which one loathes. There’s an Internalised Oppression theme where the true terror is in empathising with and/or in becoming the loathed and feared. Which resonates with us who have experiences of Internalised transphobia/homophobia. There’s also perversely a comfort in the uncaring impersonal inhuman entities and threats that allow us to experience a form of horror disconnected to the very real threat of bigoted violence that we experience. It lets us experience horror in the safe way more privileged people do, as a fantasy of enjoyable illusory danger that is over when the book is closed or tv off itv theatre left.

Ad played in the middle of a sentence came out as “You don’t get seven sequels without TRACTOR SUPPLY”

I just realised I've been pronouncing "H.B. Omberguy" the wrong way all this time.

No insightful comment, just wanted to say I loved it, give it an engagement boost, and say that the homophobic Dad from the film kindof looks like Davis Aurini

"how is the gay life" fantastic thanks for askin

In the time since this video came out, I have: -Played night in the woods in preparation for the upcoming video -Had it make a profound impact on me -Realised I was trans -Stole the name of the protagonist in honour of that impact and also because it's just a nice name -Lived for over 2 years as a woman named Mae I do wonder if that video might ever come out someday

"Why be alien to eachother when we are all aliens to ourselves?" Holy. Shit. Thanks for that.

Brecht Stoker? Bram Strotsky? I think you did pretty good.

Fuck man this got me in the feels. I’m straight myself but I grew up not liking football or beer and sports etc. And as such my dad treated me like I was gay, he bat me and threw me through a fence once over it. It didn’t help that all the beatings crippled my self esteem so I couldn’t get a girl to prove him wrong or just make the hate stop. It’s cool now, I’m 27, have a loving girlfriend I plan to marry and I’ve not seen my dad in nearly a decade.

This video was my introduction to Hbomber and is such a great microcosm of his work. Still waiting for that Night in the Woods video

Vampire stories, especially Dracula, also reflected the gender norms of Victorian England. The ideal Victorian man was high-minded, honorable, genteel, and composed -- he had his carnal instincts under control, even in matters of love. Dracula feigns that gentlemanly exterior but hides a monster underneath that is driven only by carnal lust/hunger. There are real sexual overtones to the magic Dracula uses to seduce victims, and most of those victims are "honorable" (virgin), beautiful, young adult women. The class overtones are there too, of course, and your broader point that monsters are externalized avatars of social fears makes total sense -- in this case, the fear of the dapper gentleman who's secretly a cad.

Del Toro has so many beautiful projects that just get shelved, damn.

No matter how many times I rewatch this, the Night in the Woods video never seems to appear.

This hits different after J.K. Rowling outed herself as a TERF. I've always been drawn to Lovecraft and many sci-fi and fantasy and horror stories and you've helped me to think about the connection I have with the works in a deeper way. Thanks for that, great video

When talking about how racist Lovecraft was, I was surprised that you never touched on how The Shadow over Innsmouth is a story about the dangers of race mixing.

I KNOW THE DIRECTOR OF CTHULHU DAN GILDARK! He's a great guy and I love working on stuff with him in Seattle. I'm so happy to see someone give him a decent analysis of his film. Thank you HBomberguy, I'll be sure to pass this along to Dan. This is probably the nicest thing I've seen anyone say about this movie!

Just read The Colour out of Space and thought of this video. "The bloodroots grew insolent in their chromatic perversion" is definitely a keeper.

I find it kinda fascinating how I, a bisexual woman, manage to find creators that I just kinda vibe with and than BOOM they come out as bisexual. Wow. You go, king ✨

Is this your official coming out video?? an HP Lovecraft themed coming out video??? Marry me????????

This is so wonderfully honest. I also liked the deliberate wording of "I decided that I hated it."

as a transgender person living on central texas the shadow over innsmouth really touches something in me, and the knowledge that lovecraft would have despised me makes it that kuch sweeter

I know you've hinted at it but explicitly stating it has never been easy for anyone. I'm bi too and only recently came to terms with this in the last few years. Telling my family has been mixed results so far but I don't regret doing it. You're not alone at all and its amazing that you've made me remember I'm not alone either. Keep up the amazing work!

The "it was a different time" excuse does not work for Lovecraft at all, as even at the time his colleagues and his wife believed that he was a pretty huge racist, even for back then

H. P. Bombercraft: cult videomaker of awesomeness

21:52 According to his Jewish wife, they broke up partially because his antisemite affirmations were so many that at a certain point she just couldn't take it any more.

We deal with this kind of thing in music history all the time. Particularly Wagner's Ring Cycle. For those of you who don't know, Richard Wagner blamed his initial lack of success in opera on all the Jewish theater owners. He even wrote an essay about this called "Jewishness in Music." To say nothing of the fact that the music from the Ring Cycle was a personal favorite of Hitler's. My teacher called him the world's first Nazi.

Thanks again for the shout out.

It looks like that joke about male Greek statues awakening something in hbomb in the virtue signaling video was a lot more accurate than expected

24:30 A friend of mine in uni was doing extensive research on Lovecraft's personal life and works. Her research was done in Deland, FL, the same place where Lovecraft visited Barlow in summer 1934. There was a not insignificant amount of evidence pointing to a romantic relationship between the two. As far as I know, she never released her research in any official or peer-reviewed form, but the stories she told about it were fascinating.

I just discovered this channel from an spanish youtuber named Dayoscript. I'm form Argentina, but i can understand english very well. Even so, i thanked a lot that your video has english subtitles, that made not lose some parts. Suscribed! You're amazing!

and approaching a year we still wait for night in the woods :(

Whenever someone decides to make a Lovecraftian story, they can approach it in two ways. Explore the external, cosmic horror of incomprehensible beings looming over mankind, or the internal, psychological horror of paranoia, isolation and questioning one's sanity and identity. They're both very strong themes in his work, which is why The Thing, Shape of Water and Cthulhu can all be considered Lovecraftian despite being wildly different stories.

I only just noticed the significance of how, at the end of the video, you use music from Night in the Woods; a game which absolutely has a lovecraftian horror in it and also plays on themes of feeling like an outsider.

"How's gay life? Is it satisfying" me, living in an overtly homophobic country and in the south on top of that: well,

I'm bisexual. I've accepted it within myself. It took a long time. I've just turned 30. The story is too long to fully explore in a youtube comment but hearing you say those things out loud means a lot to me. I know the strength that took. I am not "out" because I live in the southern US and I don't really like most people here and don't feel that they deserve to know such a deep and vulnerable part of me. My wife knows. We have even shared men together. I feel so lucky that I get to explore and accept that part of myself with my wife. With privacy and intimacy. I know not everyone is afforded that luxury. Hearing you talk about your sexuality openly to all of us has inspired me to own my own sexuality more directly. I don't have much of a point with this comment other than to thank you for being yourself. I respect you and your work so it's empowering to know that you can be so honest about who you are - so I know that I can too.

Saying "Lovecraft was a product of his time" desperately undersells what was going on there. Lovecraft was behind his times even then; he liked to post-date his letters and pretend he was sending them in 1693 instead of 1933. He was a wannabe Puritan in the modern age. It informs his writing but it also shows how outdated his attitudes were when he wrote.

"Have they perhaps, seen the face of an uncaring universe?" Excellent line, so good

WHERES THE NIGHT IN THE WOODS VIDEO, SPLEMBY? WE'RE STILL WAITING

I'm really gonna be that bitch right now and make my thoughtful, introspective, thankful comment later: bicon

"I liked thinking I was smart." - Recovering Objectivists, 1957-????

Just looked up Lovecraft's cat name and last time I saw racism that bad Steven Crowder was talking about meth in the soil

in case anyone's trying to catch the caption at 24:18, it's "Samuel Loveman [nominative determinism joke here]"

Let me give you my interpretation of HP Lovecraft. Let me give a little context: 1. I'm black. 2. I am a straight male. 3. I am in the middle class if not closer to the upper middle class. 4. I, at one time, described myself as a "gamer" in my early 20s (I am 25 now). I loved HP Lovecraft at first. I mean I played WoW (world of warcraft) and to find out C'thun=C'thulu was cool. Then there was South Park showing its love for Lovecraft and its hate for Beiber and I was like "Where do I sign up." It took me years to actually read a short story. And it was like staring into the madness of White Supremacy and the fear of the racial and cultural other itself. Honestly, I couldn't do anything but chuckle. Was not heart broken. Was not even mad. Just laughed. I guess on some level I was like "Of course! A person who had such an affect on my life would absolutely hate me if he met me, oh the irony." Or I was just used to the concept of people hating me (raised in rural white America in Ohio and I wasn't exactly a nice person so...) that it just never really bothered me. The thing is... I think Lovecraft's fear came from him understanding that this universe is uncaring and cruel, including to people like him. People he had spent his whole life being told were of "superior stock". It must have been devastating for him for both of his parents to be dead and for him to have such physical and psychological issues. To the point where he felt like he needed to justify every little thing in response to his world view. Why believe the idea that you aren't the center of the universe when you could believe the idea you are the victim to an unfeeling cosmos and all the racial minorities, poor people, and LGBT people are servants of malignant or uncaring godly creatures that have no basis in reality but for some reason do? I think on some level though, like you were saying, he knew otherwise. I kind of wish the guy could've lived through WW2. I wonder what his stories would have been like after seeing the real horrors the ideals of "superior stock" has brought upon millions. Or would he have just stayed the same but been a socialist kind of? Who knows... and we never will. In the end his fear was both of the unknown (his whole world view being shattered piece by piece and not knowing what to do about it) and what he already did know (he was a foreigner in his own skin aka he could not live up to the expectations of his own views).

"Art is lies in service of truth." I like that.

Butler Hospital, where both of Lovecraft's parents died, is still a working psychiatric hospital in Providence. I am a psychiatrist there, and I always like to mention this interesting history to applicants and students. It is sad how many people don't know about whom I'm talking.

I have this same sort of relationship with the Ender's Game books. They're hugely influential, massively useful (especially for anyone who had the "gifted child" label slapped on them at some point), and also written by a huge homophobic piece of shit. I refuse to buy new copies of the books, I've pirated the audiobooks and kindle versions, because I refuse to support Card in any way, but holy shit do I think everyone needs to read those books.

Just finished part one and boy oh boy, you made me cry, H.Bomberguy. Those feelings of "assumed straight" and the fear of being around an abusive person, boy did those strike home. Thank you for your eloquence, even having thought of all these things myself, I don't think I've ever heard it put so concisely As of part four I was wondering if Lindsay's "Monster Boyfriend" perspective would be touched on, and then I hear her voice! Wonderful

someone pointed out hp lovecraft always looks like he's hiding a bird in his mouth and now I can't unsee it

“I can’t even say his cat’s name” “Really? Huh, I wonder how bad it could bHOLY SHIT”

I rewatch this video whenever I feel dysphoric again, it holds such a special place in my heart

"Bram stoker, more like... Bram S-TROTSKY" You can forward any and all royalties to my paypal

in honour of pride month i am back again to watch this and also because my lecturer tried to call lovecraft "a man of principle"

I had no idea H.bomb wasn’t straight. I didn’t even consider it and now I feel like I need to rethink the way I assume things. I needed this. Thank you. I love you and everything you make even if I’m late to the party

The part of the video where Hbomb essentially says “this guys work used to mean something to me on a deeply profound level, but now I’ve realized he’s a complete piece of shit” (At around 21:20) really resonates with me because I feel the same way about Notch. Back in middle school, I was really interested in Markus Persson and I remember reading a biography about his life and writing an essay about him for school. He’s lead a really fascinating life and the story of how he made Minecraft is fascinating. Stories about how he buried himself in coding to deal with his father and sister’s drug abuse are still really tragic. And back then I really wanted to be a programmer, so I kind of looked up to him. And looking at him now, he’s a racist, misogynist, homophobe and Qanon believer. I used to look up to this guy, and now he’s a piece of shit. And mainly for this reason, I really fucking hate the “hatsune miku created Minecraft” meme. I get all the things that it’s trying to do; like how Minecraft has been shaped by the fans and other employees of Mojang, and that notch hasn’t been involved in the development of the game for years now. And I know it’s all supposed to be a big joke. But I still don’t think that kind of erasure is good. To use an old cliché, “those who forget their history are destined to repeat it,” and if we just erase Notch’s name, legacy and controversies from Minecraft, then we’ll keep getting blindsided when popular creators turn out to be pieces of shit, which will continue to happen. Now I’m not saying that we should glorify Notch. Far from it. There’s a very wide margin between glorification and revisionism. I’m saying that notch should be remembered in full. For both the great accomplishments he made and the piece of shit he is. For the both the great struggles he’s endured and the amount of people he’s disappointed or outright harmed.

No way was there a gay poet named Loveman who loved men

If the deep ones in the shadow over innsmouth had crazy good butts like the fishman in the Del Toro film, then I don't blame the villagers for interbreeding with them.

Funny how Cthulhu is what most people think is the most iconic Lovecraft story but in reality Shadow Over Innsmouth is by far the more prevalent story in modern culture from him.

I honestly believe Lovecraft was a true ‘Xenophobe’. As in he didn’t dislike any specific group, sexuality or whatever, he just disliked anything that seemed strange to him and everything around him that caused him suffering. Which is not necessarily better but interesting I guess

This video reminds of one Lindsay Ellis did a couple of months ago that touched on why marginalized people often resinate with horror stories: “My Monster Boyfriend”

I think your explanation of coming to terms with your sexual orientation over time through your relationship to the movie was really, really interesting, as well as really profound. Ive lived through those experiences with not understanding myself, and hearing you speak words I’ve been thinking for years since I came out as bisexual and later transgender really meant a lot. Good video as usual, and thank you for producing content that gives viewers a good look into the media you talk about, as well as a view into your own life and person.

This is still my favourite hbomberguy video, I appreciate his willingness to open up about his own sexuality in talking about how this man he idolized growing up didn't have a mindset that he agreed with, and how that affected harris' thoughts of Lovecrafts work. I find the idea to be interesting, having a group of people whose belief's didn't line up with an author's at all still be drawn to and praise his work not just despite the fact but also somewhat because of it. I felt truly connected with this video and have now watched it 4 times through.

Zombies are a good example of something that we desire. Our love ones around forever. It is both a desire and a perversion of that desire. Perversion of a desire is the true existential horror. I think it more take from his works what you bring into the work.

I think this is your best video yet. Very personal. Quite beautiful actually. Thanks for sharing.

My favorite soyboy

I'm not queer but I am autistic, something that took me a very long time to find out about. But I always felt like an outsider, an alien among humans, certain ways of thinking or behaviour just didn't make sense to me, and I guess that's why I always related to the monsters in stories, the misunderstood. So seeing things from the perspective of someone like Lovecraft is kind of fascinating to me, because I don't understand where he's coming from with his fear of the unknown or 'others' so its interesting to learn about I guess

The thing is Lovecraft did write a poignant and beautiful set of stories, his Dream Cycle. The Strange High House in the Mist, Quest of Iranon, Celephais, Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, The Silver Key. Especially Dream-Quest, if you can't tear up when Nyarlathotep reveals the nature of Carter's sunset city, you have a heart of stone.

"You already know that the idea of a powerful monster out there somewhere beneath the sea can actually be the least of a person's problem". Not only can it be the least of a person's problem, but to me it's almost been a source of comfort. An uncaring universe is a universe that doesn't judge, monsters from beyond don't care about your skin colour, your gender, or your sexual orientation. And to me it's almost reassuring that something, anything, can make the people who make me feel powerless and anxious everyday as miserable and terrified as they make me. And that while they can hurt us, queer people of colour, allegedly because of the fear we cause them, there is nothing they can do against beings of such tremendous powers. (Also, thank you so much for this video, it was great and I cried watching it.)

"Im shure Lovecrafts racism can't have been that bad ... WTF is a nautical-looking negro!" XD

*looks up Lovecraft's cat. oh no...

YOU CANT JUST BAIT ME WITH THAT NIGHT IN THE WOODS AT THE END AND THEN NOT MAKE A NIGHT IN THE WOODS VIDEO

Quality over quantity is the best way to describe your channel. Now all we need is an hour and half Fallout 4 rant video and your channel would be more perfect.

I've seen multiple people call the shape of water "disgusting porn filth". So i guess we still have ways to go about being able to love stuff that is completely alien to us.

Lovecraft's racism and other fears are precisely why his style of horror resonates so strongly with people. He managed to translate his genuine (if unfounded) fears of the other into a form of storytelling that is easy for readers to identify with. You likely don't have the same fears that Lovecraft had when he wrote his works, but you do have fears just as genuine and terrifying as he did, so you can easily relate to the works at hand.

Soooooooooooo when is that Night in the Woods video coming, Harris?