Page - 139 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 03/01

Bulletproof Love: Luke Cage (2016) and Religion | 139www.jrfm.eu 2017, 3/1, 123–155 supremacist capitalist patriarchy”.42 That is, the show is not just about race, not just about gender, but is about these identity markers as interconnected ways of distributing power within our social context, in combination with re- ligion, sexuality, material dis/advantage, etc. Characters’ responses to their histories of violence flow down gendered lines. This section highlights three themes: absent parents, that is, a lack of constructive gender models; sex; and the relationship of gender to power. from the beginning of the series, the issue of absent parents surfaces. As Pop is explaining why it is important to create a safe space for the young men of the neighborhood, Luke says, “everyone has a gun, no one has a father” (e01). the link between a lack of positive male role models and community violence is made explicit. Pop’s approach to the boys of the neighborhood also reflects what Patricia hill Collins has called “other-mothering”,43 the practice, common in stressed communities, of “taking in strays”, taking responsibility for under- parented or neglected children and integrating them into non-biological kin net- works. this practice is something we see not only with Pop, but also with Mama Mabel and then Mariah (e07). here begins a gendered split between the constructed parenting provided by Pop and that provided by Mama Mabel. Pop, on one hand, gives emotional support and mentoring, consciously creating sanctuary space free from vio- lence. Mabel, on the other hand, brings abandoned children, Cornell and Ma- riah, into her world of hustle and violence. Mariah further takes on the role of “other mother” to Cornell. though she tries to provide him with a kind of care different from that provided to them by Mabel, in the end, she cannot help but reproduce the violence of her past, bringing death rather than life. this parallels the role she plays for her neighborhood: her dream is to uplift, but in the end she cannot help but consume. Mariah’s collapse into devouring mother connects to the series’ meditations on sexual violence. even in episode one, Luke assists a co-worker, Candace, who is uncomfortable serving the ViP room alone, for fear of harassment or assault. the show acknowledges sexual violence as one of the multifaceted forms of violence it addresses, one that swirls around with and refracts other forms of violence, including structural violence. When Misty is speaking with a counselor after her attack on Claire (e08), he suggests that she needs to acknowledge her adolescent guilt over the murder of her cousin, who was abducted and raped (E09). In juxtaposing the exploitation and destruction of this body – young, black, and female, characteristics interpreted by her assailants and by the police as evidence of its disposability44 – Misty’s narrative offers a contrast with Luke’s 42 hooks 2004, 29. 43 Collins 1995. 44 see Crenshaw 1991, especially 1266–1271.