“Lanterns” Leaves Space Behind for Another Race Lecture

Lanterns has sparked a heated debate over whether superhero stories can still entertain viewers without turning every scene into a political lecture. The latest controversy centers on Vanessa Baden Kelly, a writer and co-executive producer on the HBO series. Kelly wrote a scene in which a mother explains racism on Earth to an alien connected to a galactic police force. She reportedly described the moment by saying, “It’s 1986 and this lady knows nothing about nothing.” She also agreed with an interviewer who suggested that aliens might not have known much about racism on Earth because CNN hadn’t yet covered the Rodney King riots. Why would an alien overseeing a galaxy-wide police force need a classroom lesson about America’s racial history from one human mother? There’s nothing wrong with discussing racism in a superhero story. The problem is how the scene is written. When a conversation stops feeling natural and starts sounding like a speech, the story loses its grip on the audience. Lanterns has received plenty of praise, but it’s also drawn backlash from viewers who think the show leans too hard into modern racial politics. Kelly has defended the material by pointing to John Ste...