![]() ![]() Things get no less complex in I May Destroy You episode 8, “Line Spectrum Border”, in which Kwame, still scarred by his own rape and the police’s disinterested handling of it, seeks the supposed safety of women, and Bella, at a loss after being informed by the police that her case has reached a dead-end, returns to Italy. I May Destroy You episode 7 applies the same idea of interconnectedness to Bella’s newfound work for a vegan charity, the “Happy Animals” of the title, since environmental concerns are explicitly tied to black oppression and systemic racism. She’s being told to put aside something that has become integral to her identity, all while editors excitedly discuss its alchemical potential: trauma into content, blood into gold. ![]() She is required by her signature on a piece of paper, and indeed the wider world, to move on with her life as though her assault never happened, but the wider world now only exists when viewed through the prism of that assault. But the relationship between this content, the expectations of her editors, and the confines of her contract is abrasive and ill-fitting. Her resentment over Theo’s presence at the party reads as bitterness, and perhaps bullying, but it’s really a defense mechanism – she sees the presence of an outsider as another potential avenue for trauma.īella’s trauma has, somewhat unavoidably, become a component of her work one of the strongest scenes in “Happy Animals” is when she details her own rape directly from her book. In caring so intensely about Bella and Kwame, she also, inadvertently or otherwise, wants to exhibit some degree of control over their lives that she can’t exert upon her own acting career. She’s the classic best friend who wants the best for those she cares about but can only view their own experiences through the lens of her own self-involvement. I May Destroy You episode 7, “Happy Animals”, is mostly about Terry’s birthday party – but is it, really? I’d argue not, although Terry features strongly and continues to be a grating presence, entirely by design. At one point Coel’s Bella makes explicit the idea that nothing is clear, nor could it be. These are the social and personal influences – past and present experiences, the people around you, whoever it is you might have been or aspire to be – that color a person’s perspective on everything from writing to veganism to being gay to being raped all matters that are grappled with in these episodes. Far from coming down on one side of an issue or another, its stance is that there is no side, only a teetering middle so narrow and unaccommodating that whichever way you tip is mostly just a question of your own balance – and I suppose some prevailing winds in either direction. ![]() This is why Michaela Coel’s work here is vital it’s insistent on unpacking the ambiguity of its themes. Hands remained splayed across faces, ready to close off the audience from the harsh truth of what they were seeing. It’s also missing the point, since both episodes continued to raise difficult questions and, in providing no easy answers to them, offered just as many scenes that were difficult to watch. Its latest pair of episodes, “Happy Animals” and “Line Spectrum Border”, felt in some ways like a reprieve they didn’t contain any actual rape scenes, at least, and the fact that feels like an easy-going lark in comparison to usual just goes to show how thoroughly unflinching this show has been in its explorations of sex and consent. Even when there’s nothing awful happening on-screen, I May Destroy You is nevertheless the kind of show you watch through your fingers. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |