I must concede, I was late-comer in the drove of revellers
who gathered on social networks on Tuesday evenings, they would dance around my
timeline, two stepping a stream of ‘Why Luther’ ‘Don’t Luther’,
one over-emotional online social reveller quipped; ‘No LUTHER...I HATE
YOU...AND I LOVE YOU...SO CONFLICTED!!!’ I never
really quite understood why ...
Quite recently I decided to join this proverbial wagon,
after all I love crime thrillers, as a
fan of the genre I remember being heavily engrossed as a youngster in John Grisham
novels and gothic comic flicks about
capped crusaders dishing out ‘my kind of justice’. I’ve always found narratives that delve into
the perversion of law by those seemingly charge with upholding going against
those hell bent on opposing it very
fascinating, I guess when one really explores them you’re posed with this
conceptual, alternative and often more proficient way of approaching law and order. I guess the
fascination is all so common because television and film in the past decade has
been overwhelmed with variations of crusaders and conflicted do-gooders dishing
out what I can only again call ‘my kind of justice’. ‘Dexter’ a popular series
by Showtime conveys such narrative, a man consumed with the need to killing
channelling his demons towards more deserving victims; criminals who have side
stepped the clumsy clutches of the law. If only there was a Dexter in Florida
in this moment in time....now wouldn’t that be something. Luther is a series that not only ticks this
box, it does so ever so refreshingly, I was sceptical prior to watching Luther that
the BBC series would fall short, the
opening scenes of Luther alone suggested scepticism were unjust, by the end of
the first season I was a ‘believer’.
Now what makes Luther interesting is not only the concept;
maverick Black law enforcer hell bent on taking three steps backwards before
making one gigantic leap to clear his obstacles, the production value and
writing is also superb, Neil Cross the man that was also behind another BBC
series ‘Spooks’ has a way of presenting shocking crime scenes with an air of fairy
tale innocence, the big bad wolf is the
latest perpetrator and the pretty little white girls are...well pretty little
white women. This brief visitation to
early childhood scary stories mixed with very modern and very real crimes
leaves you in an eerie state of disillusion, you watch on as recognisable
London settings are transformed into a playground of doom and tragedy, a vision
you realise isn’t as strange and surreal as you might like to think. The
constant shift in plot is compelling, all the main characters matter and some
come back to haunt the narrative, this makes Luther a unique viewing and is one
of the reasons why many herald it as ‘dark, daft and dazzling’, the Heritage
after predicting it would be a flop recanted, going on to say it was a ‘slightly
sillier Silence of the Lambs’, anyone
who has seen the Jonathan Demme’s film will know how huge of a compliment this
is.
Art imitates life and in a more digital age life is beginning
to replicate art, we are being sucked into this cyclical whirlwind where what we
see on popular media educates the masses on how this shapes how we judge and
interact with one another. Luther is a great show because it is a popular and successful
BBC series that has a Black man sitting atop it’s mantle, Idris Elba rose to
prominence after playing ‘Stinger Bell’ in the infamous HBO crime drama ‘The
Wire’, since then he has gone on to star in many more shows and films before
returning to London to head the cast in this eponymous series. The image of
Luther alone is a triumph, unlike his predecessor ‘Mickey Bricks’ played by
Adrian Lester he wasn’t a Black man previously incarcerated, a Black man who makes
a living from being a con artist and evading the clumsy clutch of the law
(which is becoming increasingly thematic I might add) Luther, the character is
a distinguished man of the law, someone who shows almost near abnormal strength
and intelligence when it comes to outsmarting the sadistic men he crosses path
with. His character explores spaces and ideas we’re not use to associating with
Black men, he is charge with heading a predominantly white crime unit, he is an
ex husband who is presented as a constant emotional obstacle to his white ex
wife’s pursuit of a more normal stable passionless relationship with a new man,
he also has a paternal relationship with a sexually troubled white girl –
ultimately cohabiting with her acting as a guardian and protector, these are
all unfamiliar territory for Black men – well so we are told. Luther allows us
to engage in discussions about how Black men are perceived in society and to really
analyse this theory of their ever evolving roles in society in direct collision
and contradiction to a very stagnate reality. A friend of mine succinctly summarised
his opinion of Luther in his Facebook status;
‘Over the last week I finally decided to see what all this
Luther stuff was about and watched the first two series - in conclusion, Luther
saves white women, gets slapped by white men, gets bad people like an unstable donkey.
Vaguely interesting TV. I'm hooked.’
This statement invited an
interesting discussion on the conceptual and cultural (or lack of) themes
around Luther we discussed whether or not Luther the character was written as a
white man or a Black man, did Idris Elba benefit from the process of
colour-blind casting. If the character
of Luther indeed was written for a white man then how valid can any claim we
have to the moral victory of the character be, equally are Black men exonerated
from being synonymously condemned by an ills Luther might commit in the show, it
will be futile to resist the notion that with millions of impressionable
British viewers watching, whatever the character of Luther does on screen will
have a level of influence on how Black men are perceived.
What we can take from Luther is that it allows us to
discuss, we explore the content and context suitably, I extol the series and
all those involved in creating a brilliant product, however unfinished or
unfurnished Luther’s character development might be, we can commend their
commitment to the genre, we watch on us we hope the writers can fill us in and
address the cultural blanks, until then continue to enjoy Elba’s brilliant
performance, he really is in his element when he plays Luther and his portrayal
is the biggest triumph here and an inspiration to any London based actor. He
shows immense talent has he manages to evolve this Luther character into this
singular fusion of Jekyll and Hyde and we watch on nervously just like the
other characters around him, never quite sure what Luther we’re going to get.
Whether Luther was written to be white, Black or other a
friend of mine provided a more interesting perspective, he said and I loosely
quote; ‘Luther is a Londoner first...everything else falls secondary’.
If you don’t already watch the series, I suggest you book a
day off and get up to speed.
Luther can be seen online if you look hard enough, also on LoveFilm and I think it's on Netflix.
Peace.
