Episode 3 of Lanterns’ first season can be a hard pill to swallow at times. On the surface “OutKast” plays out like a typical origins story, walking us viewers through how John Stewart was chosen to be Hal Jordan’s replacement for the title of Green Lantern. But the lengths his parents John Stewart Sr. and Bernadette go to prep their son for an opportunity of a lifetime can leave you feeling sick to your stomach.
They’re not just demanding parents. They genuinely believe they’re doing what’s best for John, but they’re letting their own fears cloud their judgment.
One Boy’s Destiny is Another Man’s Second Chance
One night during the 1980s, an infant John watches as his father is enveloped in a bubble made of green light. An ominous voice asks if Sr. is afraid. Naturally, he screams “yes!” because how can he not be terrified by what’s going on?
The experience leaves him deeply traumatized as he devolves into a volatile, alcoholic mess with his instability straining his marriage and relationship with his sons. He gets even worse when he learns that a white man (Hal Jordan) became Earth’s first Green Lantern all because he said he wasn’t afraid. Sometime afterwards, a Guardian named Lianna shows up to the Stewart’s house to apologize for the trauma the selection process caused. She mentions to Bernadette that what made her husband a candidate was in his genetic makeup and their youngest son John “might get an opportunity” to become a Lantern himself.
As soon as the words leave Lianna’s mouth, everything changes. Bernadette views this possibility as a chance to fix the damage the Guardians inflicted on her family. She tells John Sr. about her conversation with Lianna and while she acknowledges that John could grow to hate them, they want to believe they’re doing their son a favor. That by helping him become a Green Lantern, they’re saving John from having to endure the prejudice and discrimination that often prevents Black people from reaching their full potential.
It’s an admirable goal but it’s also where they start projecting their fears and hopes onto their son. Sr. failed the Guardians’ test, so John has to succeed. They experienced racism and discrimination, so John has to become extraordinary to overcome it. They lost an opportunity but it can come back to them through their son.
Fear Is Something to Be Ashamed Of
What makes Sr. and Bernadette’s efforts to train their son so unsettling is how far they go to prepare John for the Green Lantern Corps.
Once John turns five, Sr. teaches him how to shoot a rifle. When John suggests his father shoot an apple from his head “like William Tell,” Bernadette encourages this idea. To his credit, Sr. is actually unnerved by the idea but he goes through with it anyway.
But that’s not the disturbing part. John is starting to internalize his parents’ expectations. Children look to their parents for approval. If a child learns that they can get that approval from behaving a certain way, they will eventually start policing themselves. John understands being afraid is something he should avoid feeling at all costs. It doesn’t help that Bernadette lies about the Guardians watching his progress through birds. This adds to the pressure because to John, he’s being monitored at all times. He has to be fearless to be good enough to be a Lantern.
The absence of fear doesn’t necessarily mean you’re courageous. Normal parenting teaches children that fear is a natural emotion to feel. You help them face difficult situations by teaching them to act in spite of being afraid, and that being scared doesn’t make them weak.
Instead, the Stewarts put him in frightening situations to condition him to suppress his fears. When John is around ten years old, they make him get out of the car in a dangerous neighborhood and make him find his way home. When he comes back home, he breaks down crying as soon as his mother leaves his room. It’s clear that John is being pushed too far but he can’t bring to talk to his parents about how he feels.
Ironically, the Stewart’s training is making John feel afraid…that he isn’t fearless enough to please the Guardians and become a Green Lantern.
Racism Makes the Stewarts More Tragic, But It’s Not an Excuse
There’s no denying that Bernadette is the worst parent between her and Sr., but the show manages to make her sympathetic. Her anger comes from the barriers Black people continue to face in America. To her, the color of your skin or the texture of your hair will determine what kind of life you’re allowed to live regardless of what you do.
When she confronts Lianna for how the Guardians ruined her marriage, she tells her how ridiculous it is to ask a Black man who lives in the United States if they’re afraid. Whether it’s police brutality, being wrongfully accused of something you didn’t do, being a victim of a hate crime, you have no choice but to live in fear in order to survive. It’s why Bernadette is practically obsessed with John becoming a Green Lantern. It’s an opportunity for her son to achieve something anti-Black prejudice can’t take away from him. Her family’s experience becomes a part of her determination to make sure her son can never be dismissed as weak or afraid.
At some point, Bernadette tells John that the real reason Hal got the ring is because he was “privileged enough in this life that he didn’t have to know fear.” These words go against what the first half of the episode already established. Lanterns makes it clear that the Guardians are completely ignorant of what racism and anti-black prejudice is, and they’d be just as clueless about “white privilege”. In fact Bernadette had to explain to Lianna what racism was just to get her to understand why the ring selection process was so traumatizing for her husband.
That scene where she accuses Hal of being too “privileged” to be afraid marks Bernadette as someone who is incapable of separating her pain from her son. She sees the idea of John maybe becoming a Green Lantern as a promise that was made to her. And she’s all but demanding outright for the Guardians to deliver on their end.
Just Following Orders
Even after John becomes an adult, his parents continue to influence every aspect of his life.
When he’s dishonorably discharged from the military due to Hal interfering in his mission, Bernadette applies to art school on John’s behalf. She tells him he should still aspire to be a Green Lantern but until then, he needs to do what makes him happy. It’s supposed to be a sweet moment where it seems like Bernadette has learned from her mistakes but doesn’t show much remorse.
She’s still trying to set John up on a path where he can be successful yet she never has a conversation with him about what that should look like. Her decision to enroll him in art school is based on knowing he liked to draw when he was younger. She doesn’t consider if drawing is something John wants to make a career out of or even if he’s still passionate about it anymore. Hell, Bernadette doesn’t even tell him about the school until after he’s been accepted!
Once John finally gets the chance to interview for the chance to be Hal’s replacement, you can tell that a lot of what makes John who he is tied back to his training in some way. He tells Lianna that the Marines because his father was one and “so I could get here, across the table from you.” He never explains why he became a sniper outside of being trained by his father. You look at John’s stoic and calm manner and ask yourself where Dr. and Bernadette’s ambitions start and John’s autonomy ends.
John Stewart has the courage, discipline, and willpower to become a Green Lantern one day. His parents made sure their son was ready for an extraordinary destiny. It’s just a shame John never had a say in whether an extraordinary life is what he really wanted.
New episodes of Lanterns air every Sunday night on HBO and HBO Max at 9:00pm ET/6:00pm PT.
