Whilst we witness her exploration of the event and its aftermath through the series, Coel also manages to examine class, drug use, privilege, colonisation and decolonisation, infidelity, racism, sexuality, family, friendships, and the intricacies of how all these things make up a person’s life. We follow her and her friends Terry (Weruche Opia) and Kwame (Paapa Essiedu) as she navigates life after a rape. It stars Coel as Arabella, a young and successful writer based in London. At its core, the show is a drama about consent that investigates different types of sexual assault. Unapologetically almost all-Black, the show infuses pulsating personal intimacy with a brilliant honest exploration of Black millennial life. That’s the astonishing feat creator, writer, co director and lead actor Michaela Coel and her team managed to pull off. Within twelve twenty-minute episodes, an immensely relatable universe is created. Everything that I thought I knew about black representation in television was challenged the rulebook was thrown out and a new road paved. I was therefore shocked, midway into I May Destroy You, when I realised I was watching something truly groundbreaking. These highlight shows and movies that showcase the talent of people of colour, though you could argue that their hands have been forced by the events of the last year. Netflix are now curating new content categories such as “Representation Matters” and “Black Lives Matter”. I wasn’t completely wrong, as since then, these platforms have led the way on LGBT and ethnic representation. I even wrote an opinion piece in 2014 about how exciting it was to see streaming services like Netflix and Amazon thrive, due to their inclusivity. Naively, these last five to seven years, I thought Black representation in television had gotten better. Coel’s audio-visual commentary on memory, hindsight, and the depth of how ultimately shit the darkness of toxic masculinity can really be, was stunning.Read our review of I May Destroy You here. I did initially struggle to get into the series at first, because of its non-linearity and the trickiness of the screenwriting, but all of this is why the show is so good. In their heft, tragicomedy and icy takes on the disorienting splinter that is the patriarchy, we learn how to be smart. It is comparative to other British greats like Promising Young Woman, Fleabag and The Crown, and the USA’s first season of Russian Doll or HBO miniseries Mare of Easttown. The scenarios her friends get into are amazing and transcendent, and the funky, psychological dialogue keep us afloat from the throes of the otherwise very dark story. I particularly loved the moment when ‘Something About Us’ by Daft Punk – one if history’s sweetest odes – is used to soundtrack a scene between Arabella and her woeful love interest. Her character and performance are exquisite, if sometimes unrelatable (at least from a young male Caucasian perspective), but the doings between herself and her close friends (especially stand-out Paapa Essiedu) throughout the series make for hilarious and devastating watching – from the storyline in Italy, to the breath taking finale between her and the assailant. Media sensation relearning how to survive from a deep trauma. The series has great characterisation of Coel’s protagonist, Arabella, a writer and social Made alongside filmmaker Sam Miller, the series about piecing together the past, preparing for the future, and existing in the somewhere that is the present, is what transpires. This punch has much more of a post-#MeToo twist to it. Prior to I May Destroy You Michaela Coel, is known for her writing and starring in the television program Chewing Gum, which has a completely alternative tonal direction to IMDY. Story and deep in emotion – this is the one. If you’re in need of a Spring-y binge-sesh – rich in It hypnotises me like no other artform, so a review of the series which won the 2021 Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, I May Destroy You (2021) is in order. It’s this kind of depth, this sort of hit, that entrances me about writing – for the stage, the page and the screen. It was amazing, ofĬourse, but such a deep moment was received in such a short amount of time. When I saw this Emmy speech on YouTube, I didn’t know what to think. Do not be afraid to disappear – from it, from us – for a while, and see what comes to you in the silence”. In a world that entices us to browse through the lives of others to help us better determine how we feel about ourselves and to, in turn, feel the need to be constantly visible, for visibility these days seems to somehow equate to success. Michaela Coel, acceptance of the 2021 Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries. “Write the tale that scares you, that makes you feel uncertain, that isn’t comfortable,” TW: This review contains mention of sexual abuse and assault.
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