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British actors "take all our roles", declares Nola Darling at Olu, his British-Nigerian love interest in the last season of She must have it (#SuperFunkyCaliFragiSexy). "We have black, talented, trained, skilled players here in the US – and in the end, Black Brits is cheaper than ever," she continues. From Samuel L. Jackson real life commentary on the subject.
In response, Olu claims that the Black Brits are "liberated from the psychological burden" of slavery and Jim Crow, which has prompted Nola to inform him that he [has] Stockholm Syndrome and fell in love with your kidnappers "- but not before explaining the basic facts of British involvement in the transatlantic slave trade.
The reaction of the black diaspora in the United Kingdom has been quick: Nola Darling's feelings were an insult to the Black Brits' experience. Although the problematic views of a fictional character do not necessarily reflect the feelings of its creator, when they are supported for the clip on Instagram, Spike Lee answered with a sudden "Truth Hurts?"
The scene describes the British character as the villain in the interaction – "how can such a magnificent person be so ignorant?" Nola asks. This is a strange premise given the recent political history in the UK. Events like fire at Grenfell Tours, the Generation of Windrush the scandal and the pursuit Brexit The debacle clearly indicates that modern Britain, like the United States, has not been liberated from its white supremacist foundations. And why would the British be "unloaded" from slavery while a large proportion of them also descended from real estate slavery? Given this clear false statement, it is understandable that someone like John Boyega would repel. In the exchange between Nola and Olu, who is really ignorant?
In a magazine for the first season of She must have it, writer Zoe Samudzi criticized the series' inauthentic sensation and overheated dialogue, noting that "the result is an inorganic character who continually utters words that are too tense and overly spiritual" Gilmore Girls-sque banter … who feels detached from the real experience and conversation and who lives in a purgatory between 1986 and today. "In a series that sought to find the boldness of the perspective of the original film on the baduality of modern black women and the life in Brooklyn in both chords, we simply update a plot of land painted by numbers. attached to a facsimile of the original story, anchored with the overworked vocabulary it misses the pace of a real conversation between peers.
Season 2 continues on this note, unrelated to the parameters of the original source, giving rise to a chaotic succession of episodes composed of intriguing plots and intrigues and plot plots allowing to make complicated remarks about gentrification, queer relations, artistic expression and exploitation, self-love. , clbadism and relations of the black diaspora. With the latter, Lee tackles the subject with the precision of a hammerhead.
Unfortunately, the tete-a-tete of Nola and Olu prevents any opportunity to properly examine the ability of black British actors to badume and do justice to the roles of black Americans. Controversy has erupted recently with the backlash in Cynthia Erivo casting like Harriet Tubman and Samuel L. Jackson's commentary on casting models in which he inaccurately portrayed Britain's relationship with interracial dating. These nuances must be explored, without projecting the experiences of other groups, nor use language close to xenophobic tropes.
There are several discussions at stake. Hollywood remains the largest film industry in the West, with many more roles available for black actors, which is driving more Britons across the pond. and with the British education system investing in arts training at a rate far exceeding the scope of states, casting agents are known to openly bad the "pedigree" of British imports. This tends to cost black Americans more because of the more limited availability of top-notch roles specifically targeted at black actors.
All of this shortage of manufactured goods is, of course, largely due to white production companies and various other guardians. As we work to create our own platforms and tell our own stories, it is prudent to explore what representation looks like in a race-based casting and how we can work to expand the pool of important positions available to Blacks. in the film industry on each side of the Atlantic and on each side of the camera.
It was particularly shocking that Nola and Olu's argument was further compromised by choosing to pronounce badly the names of Chiwetel Ejiofor and John Boyega, an anti-black trope and turn Olu into an incoherent mishmash of West African identities-A British Nigerian with a Yoruba name claiming the Fulani tribe while covering himself Kente Ghanaian Regalia.
Ironically, Nola's character seeks clarity by appealing to Yoruba spirituality on a trip to Puerto Rico, failing to recognize the sources she was so scornful of before. She is identified as a daughter of Oshun (an orisha made famous worldwide after Beyonce interpolation of Yoruba iconography in Lemonade).
Today's African diaspora is more connected than ever, and nowhere is this more evident in Brooklyn, home to a large Caribbean population, Caribbean Day Parade, the Museum of Arts of the Contemporary African Diaspora (MoCADA) and other black cultural institutions. On the last weekend of Memorial Day, the streets of Fort Greene's beloved Spike Lee were littered with annual BAM celebrations of African identity, creative expression and performance. DanceAfrica, as well as the new traditions of the diaspora such as Everyday Africa. By not recognizing the rhythms of the neighborhood, Lee reveals how far away he is from the details of Black Brooklyn's daily life experiences, and he only serves himself and the show by allowing the show to be dominated by his voice and direction.
While black creatives continue to tell stories that we find important, their impacts and themes tend to have a broad resonance. That's why Roots was a phenomenon spread not only in the United States, but also in Europe, and the history of Haitian Revolution is universally remembered as one of the blacks of self-determination and insurgency. This extends to marketing: BlacKkKlansman, for example, was an American story that Lee Make efforts connect with the black British audience, similar in logic to the targeted global campaign that Marvel has engaged for Black Panther.
Engaging in storytelling work is not an exclusive tradition; it is a place of exchange and collaboration, provided that all parties who come to the table have entered a secure space of mutual respect and understanding. It's a waste for all of us when a new piece of black work fails to understand this framework.
Shamira Ibrahim is a Brooklyn-based writer from Harlem, Canada and East Africa who speaks about culture, identity and politics. Follow with her on Twitter.
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