Lena Waithe faces a social media response about her new series ‘Them’, with some saying they ‘thought a white person wrote it’ for portraying racist violence.
Several people took to Twitter on Saturday, accusing the show of appealing to “ hate crime fantasies ” over a scene in the fifth episode where a baby is brutally murdered while his mother is raped.
The new horror series tells the fictional story of a black family who moves from North Carolina to an all-white neighborhood in Compton, Los Angeles, during the Great Migration of the 1950s.
Despite hopes that the move will be an escape from the Jim Crow South, the Emory family are soon faced with the danger of both supernatural powers and racism from their new white neighbors who, among other things, scorch the n-word in their front yards .
Lena Waithe faces a social media response about her new series ‘Them’ (photo promo poster), with some saying they ‘thought a white person wrote it’ for portraying racist violence
Created by black producer and writer Little Marvin and produced by Emmy-winning black producer, actress and screenwriter Waithe, the series was released on Amazon Prime Video on Friday.
But the furor over the series largely erupted after the Los Angeles Times published a piece asking if the series had gone ‘too far’.
The review pointed to a flashback moment in episode five with the child’s murder before the family moved out of North Carolina.
In the scene, the mother Lucky hides her son Chester in a closet while a white crowd invades her home.
The crowd finds them and the men sexually assault Lucky as the woman stuffs the baby in a pillowcase and tosses him around chanting ‘cat in the bag’ before dropping the baby to the floor and killing him.
The episode in question was written by Little Marvin and Dominic Orlando and directed by Janicza Bravo.
Social media users spurned the violent portrayal and lashed out at Waithe, where they questioned the depiction of violence against black people and some called it “ propaganda for white terrorists. ”
‘I’ve been a horror super fan for over 30 years. Lena Waithe’s’ Them ‘is the cheapest kind of horror,’ one person wrote.
“It’s propaganda for white terrorists and torture porn fetishists. There is a huge difference between fear and disgust. The show is disgusting. ‘
The series, created by black producer and writer Little Marvin (left) and produced by Emmy-winning black producer, actress and screenwriter Waithe (right), was released on Amazon Prime Video on Friday.
Another agreed: ‘Lena Waithe, like many bourgeois black artists, uses black trauma to give their work depth that they are too lazy or unable to provide.
‘Too often people treat a piece of work as profound because black people fall victim and Waithe doubles down to appear profound.’
Others question how people of color approved of the series.
“I think Lena Waithe should judge ‘them’ and try to decipher who her target audience was,” one person wrote.
‘for whom exactly did she make this series? Honestly, when I saw the trailers for it and read about the series, I thought a white guy wrote it. DO NOT look at ‘them’. ‘
Another agreed: ‘Lena Waithe getting as far as she does may be a sign that there is still little to no diversity in these rooms as Lena doesn’t relate this story in any way to a truly living, breathing black person presented and has been given the green light. ‘
“Lena Waithe will pay for her crimes against the black community,” wrote one person alongside an angry Barney the dinosaur meme.
Several people took to Twitter on Saturday to reject what they say invokes “ hate crime fantasies ” about a brutal fifth episode scene where a baby is brutally murdered while his mother is raped
Waithe and Little Marvin are both black.
Little Marvin defended the show of violence, saying it was necessary for “authenticity” about the experience of black people in America at that time.
“Yes, there is a concern, but in the end, as an artist, I have to sit next to myself and grapple with the show’s authenticity,” he told the LA Times.
‘If I can sleep at night knowing that this entire endeavor is authentic and honest, then I am good. ‘
He said the goal was not to be “provocative or hot-button,” but to ask two things: “what scared us the most and what felt most true.” Most of the time those two things were the same. ‘
The executive producer also pointed out the key timing of the release, saying it’s “ a scary place to be in 2021. ”
“We are incredibly broken and split in the middle,” he said.
“There are those who want to bring the country back to a time they love, and there are those who fight for progress. That’s a scary place to be in 2021. ‘
The nation is facing racial reckoning after George Floyd’s death and multiple police killings of black people.
The new horror series tells the fictional story of a black family who moves from North Carolina to an all-white neighborhood in Compton, Los Angeles during the Great Migration of the 1950s. An excerpt from the show
Despite hopes that the move would be an escape from Jim Crow South, the Emory family are soon faced with the danger of both supernatural powers and racism from their new white neighbors who, among other things, scorch the n-word in their front yards.
The trial of white cop Derek Chauvin for the murder of Floyd is currently underway in Minneapolis District Court.
Floyd’s death sparked renewed calls for racial justice and an end to systemic racism, but it’s because concerns are also growing about the resurgence of white supremacy and extremism.
Little Marvin said seeing shocking videos of violence against black people in recent times inspired him to tell the story of ‘Them’.
“My inspiration was to wake up every day and see cell phone videos of black people being terrorized in one way or another, whether by threats from the police, surveillance or something else,” he said.
‘That history goes all the way back to the founding of our country. I also thought about the American Dream. There is nothing more distinctive than owning a home.
‘There is great pride in that, especially for black people. But, as you know, it has been anything but a dream. It has been a nightmare for black people. ‘
Little Marvin defended the violence by saying it showed ‘authenticity’ to the experience of racism and several social media users agreed that those who criticize it are just ‘uncomfortable’ facing the reality of racism .
Several social media users agreed with the creators, arguing that those who criticize the portrayal of violence are simply ‘uncomfortable’ facing the reality of racism.
#THEM on Amazon is insane. This new horror genre that explores black trauma through racism is not going to disappear anytime soon, ‘one person wrote.
And judging by the reviews, it makes our melanin-free friends uncomfortable. So you know it’s okay. ‘
Another person agreed, replying, ‘Glad you enjoy it (?!)! I couldn’t agree more – I overheard a reviewer say it was just too much and she wished it had been called back.
‘I miss the whole point there. Really hard show to work on everything but I’m glad it’s getting the recognition. ‘
Much of the criticism has been directed against Waithe, who is better known than Little Marvin, after she became the first black woman to win the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series for the Netflix comedy drama series Master of None.