Insecure (2016--)

I am so excited that Insecure exists. I am so excited that it exists on HBO, a major network. It is no secret that black-driven media is severely lacking in the mainstream. This show is pretty damn important in the sense that it is driven by black voices in front of the camera as well as behind the scenes, and that black women are central to its plot and creation.

Issa Rae, the brainchild behind the Awkward Black Girl YouTube series that Insecure builds and extends upon (HBO, I see you and your video-site poaching!), is funny. But that's an understaement. this woman knows how to make the uncomfortable of everyday into an art. Her humor pokes fun at everyday life, confronts the absurdity and upsetting double-standard of micro-aggressions* and racism, and is totally, lovably self-deprecating.

Screenshot from trailer

Her best friend, Molly (Yvonne Orji) is a brilliant addition. While Issa is an open hot mess, Molly seems like she has her shit together, and tries very hard to make it appear that way. She has the job, the style, and the personality--but she is not so much unlike Issa. Neither of them have their shit together. None of us really do.

Insecure has solid material, a talented cast, and the support of a major network. But it needs work.

Great jokes get lost in scenes cut too long. The pacing is paradoxically too fast, yet too slow. Plotlines are not explored deeply enough to seem significant or make sense in the show, yet they are explored too long for the viewer to not expect more (example: Issa & Molly's "Broken Pussy" rap fight, the kids going to the beach, Molly's coworker's experience with being "too black" for the office--all great plotlines that either need to be explored with more attention or not at all).

Ideas are free-floating within an episode, without the much-needed episodal or season spine holding them together. Sure, the former may be more like real life, but we are not watching to see real life. Real life is boring. We are watching to see real life represented through storytelling, and that takes some organization. As is, the series often bores me.

I hope to see the series find its form as time goes on. The potential is abundant.

Screenshot from trailer

*I spoke in another post of my frustration with college activist jargon, so it is unfair to use the term micro-aggression without an explanation. This term refers to actions and comments that subtly (though sometimes not so subtly) show and promote racism. Micro-aggressions can take many many forms, from references to stereotypes in speech, to a customer service representative watching some customers more closely than other, etc.


Watch the trailer here