Hollywood is largely white and liberal so no surprise the show's producers are as well. Again you're disrespecting an award winning Black director by claiming he has to follow directions from his white producers or appeal to a white audience. Not to mention this is an adaptation of an award winning book by a Black author

Besides more of your irrational, politicized hate towards Peele, Jenkins mentioned a big influence on this is the Black painter Kerry James Marshall as well. When thinking of the viewer, he wasn't imagining the response of white liberals. He determined the level of violence portrayed by consulting a focus group of all Black participants in Atlanta and concluded that his "job was going to be pairing the violence with its psychological effects — not shying away from the visual depiction of these things but focusing on what it means to the characters. How are they beating it back? How are they making themselves whole?”

Jenkins purposefully did everything he could to avoid the trauma p*** label, which he's talked about in many interviews. He's graphically showing the atrocities of those times not to make the audience squirm but so conversations can be had at how horrible it really was and how that affects today.

“This whole show is driven not by Cora's attempt to free the condition of slavery, but by this broken heart she has because she feels abandoned by her mother,” Jenkins says. “That's a really important thing. It takes the condition she is in and places it to the side, while placing her as a human being at the center of the story.”

He goes on: “I want people to see that our ancestors — despite this horrible condition that they were forced to endure — they still had very full and rich lives.”

He's clearly outlined his goals for the show and it has nothing whatsoever to do with what you're saying. Again, you're obsessed with viewing media through this one lens and I'd suggest you stop consuming whatever it is that has you so mad about this "liberal agenda" for month and try to learn to appreciate art again

I appreciate your write up yet do find some serious flaws here with your sentiments

First, to chalk it up to “Hollywood is all white and liberal” is to ignore a lot of subtleties to what that really means. You forget that it was actually easier for black filmmakers to tell their authentic stories without having to butt heads with white liberals from the 70s to 90s. Countless filmmakers from Charles Burnett to Spike Lee to Haile Gerima to Gordon Parks were able to get films made that didn’t rely on a corporation full of white liberals. That’s next to impossible nowadays. And it’s telling when someone like Gerimas last film was in 2009 because he can’t get money or support to make any more films. To get support from white liberals, you have to make movies that white liberals like. The fact that even Do the Right Thing was seen as controversial and dangerous upon release by many journalists and critics is quite telling in the fact that it was solely produced by spike Lee.

Maybe he did a focus group just to get approval for what he wanted to. Black Panther has a ton of support as well, yet it’s a film that depicts the idea of believing in overthrowing a corrupt regime that has oppressed black people for years as radical and portrays people with those beliefs as cartoony lunatics while expecting the audience to cheer at a white CIA agent blowing up Africans with a final message of sharing your secrets with the US if you are a foreign entity. So, I can’t really be all that convinced about Barry’s intents if were just going by what works for an audience.

Jenkins mentioned he recognized the irony of making a show like this and it being funded by one of the richest people in the world but at the end of the day it's a passion project of his and he's telling the story as he and the author see fit. If the director or showrunner has that power to execute his vision I think it's irrelevant where the funding comes from and Jenkins is at a stage in his career where he could get funding and autonomy for any project he wants

I've seen you do this a few times where you bring up another example completely unrelated to the project being discussed. I'm not here to debate Black Panther and there are instances, like Lovecraft Country imo, where there was a lot of pandering and your critiques there would be valid

Try to watch the rest of this with an open mind instead of a self fulfilling agenda. Obviously any show about slavery will have some traumatic scenes, but so far I've been really impressed by how Jenkins is handling the material

In terms of story? Prove me wrong

Dawg this is insane wtf?!??

The way they did North Carolina

yeah on ep 2 and starting to realize what this show boutta be

i aint really interested anymore in these "black trauma" stories that seem to do nothing else beyond convincing us that racism is real and still there. S*** is jus white guilt the tv show

Ok that first episode was a mini masterpiece, some of the best cinematography I’ve seen for tv and in general. A perfect adaptation for at least the first chapter, and I have a hard time believing it’ll fall off the mark

How would you have written Mangrove?

All these “anti black trauma p***” people sound like they just wanna stick their head in the sand. There are schools in places like Texas, and Ohio where they’ve removed “slave” from textbooks and instead called it indentured servitude. So projects like this are still very much needed.

Yes they’re some projects that lean more to the exploitive side, imo Netflix “Two Distant Strangers” would fit that description.

Secondly the white gaze is kicking a lot of yall asses who carry this sentiment wholeheartedly. When I watch some s*** like Lovecraft Country or even Them, it doesn’t cross my mind of what white people think about it.

more black trauma?

Not at all

im having a good day. i’d rather not watch

It’s even worse than black trauma because this s*** is a fantasy

So literally this starts to feel like an episodic spin the wheel f***ed up white racist fantasy after a while because the concept is essentially of these characters just going to some new place only to find that white people are being racist and doing f***ed up s*** to black people. It’s legit sickening. It literally feels like white liberal fantasies of how they have oppressed black people for years.

The worst part to is that there’s pretty much zero characterization in any of the characters here. Yeah the main character never seen her mom or whatever but she never feel authentic. Feels more like a vessel for the audience to experience these disgusting racist white simulations concocted up.

I gave it a 4-5/10

I mostly found its value in some of the courtroom scenes. Thought some of those exchanges were clever and even funny at parts, but even then the situation is drawn up in such a generic and predictable typical courtroom drama way except it’s even cheaper because McQueen has you fully supporting one side by using racism as the tool to get you on their side.

I’m not even sure how authentic Mangrove is historically because it legit feels like one sided propaganda. The cops are awful subhumans and legit feel cartoony and all the main characters are barely given any real soul either. It’s mostly using oppression for characterization like most black trauma films do and I’m sick of such lazy storytelling. Atleast when someone makes a war film, they don’t hide behind trauma to fuel everything.

What's the verdict then

You finished it?

It's great

Went to ep 3 and dropped

Oh wait nvm I know you, I was just talking to you on discord

Lmao wait which server

Black director adapting a Black novelist and the center of discussion is how white people might feel. That’s great

It’s actually white producers adapting a black novel

Theyre the ones who picked Barry you realize?