Earlier than I watched Queenie, I hadn’t heard of the novel it’s primarily based on. I didn’t know what to anticipate moving into—all I knew was that some thought it was controversial. Inside minutes of the primary episode, nevertheless, I used to be hooked.
To be honest, I’m a little bit biased: I’m quickly approaching 25, and as a blended girl, I additionally straddle two worlds and wrestle with belonging in each. to high all of it off, I spent a good portion of my childhood dwelling in South London (huge up Crystal Palace!). I noticed a lot of myself in Queenie and her anger on the world round her, to the purpose the place it felt just like the writers plucked some core reminiscences and experiences from my thoughts to showcase to the world.
Hulu’s latest present is predicated on Candace Carty-Williams’ 2019 novel of the identical title. Set in South London, the sequence follows 25-year-old Queenie Jenkins, a British Jamaican girl navigating the complexities of her identification and turbulent private relationships amidst nuanced societal and familial expectations.
Queenie straddles two worlds: she struggles to attach along with her Black household and group, and he or she works for a nationwide newspaper with primarily white, middle-class colleagues who she always has to match herself to. When her long-term and likewise white boyfriend breaks up along with her, Queenie seeks solace in some problematic locations and learns some powerful, intersectional truths.
Whereas I undoubtedly really feel a kinship, Queenie isn’t about me: it’s about Queenie. After her boyfriend leaves her, she spirals. Queenie struggles to seek out motivation at work and he or she seeks sexual validation from males who see her as an object to toy with and never what she really is: a younger girl struggling to seek out herself in a storm of abandonment points, psychological well being struggles and informal (typically internalized) antiblackness. The sequence does a wonderful job of showcasing the struggling in silence that many Black girls in predominantly white areas usually expertise. From her skeevy coworker to her clueless buddy Cassandra, most of the folks Queenie is surrounded by merely don’t perceive how isolating it may be to expertise the world as a curvaceous Black girl.
One of many causes folks would possibly suppose Queenie is controversial is due to her alternative in males: with one exception, they’re all white. Queenie even tells an in depth buddy that she prefers to not date Black males as a result of she witnessed the horrible methods her Black father and stepfather handled her mom, and he or she refuses to topic herself to that. I’m clearly not going to sentence Black and white relationships—like I discussed earlier, I’m the product of a cheerful and wholesome interracial marriage. However, dedicated romantic relationships, particularly these between Black and white people, take tough work. And never each relationship is powerful sufficient to outlive that hardship.
Queenie in search of validation from white males who objectify her is unlucky however not unrealistic. I’ve witnessed loads of my pals fold for a person who clearly was solely inquisitive about their “exoticism” as a girl of shade. I’ve almost folded just because a mediocre man gave me consideration. It’s the character of dwelling in a patriarchal society—I don’t suppose Queenie’s seek for acceptance by means of intercourse is controversial. In reality, it’s a breath of contemporary air to see an correct illustration of what a number of younger girls of shade expertise each single day.
Queenie is disarmingly genuine, heartwarming and heartwrenching abruptly. For anybody who likes to snort and cry in the identical episode, loves taking a look at stunning Black folks or needs to study some South London slang, Queenie is the present for you.
Queenie premieres June 7 on Hulu—take a look at EBONY’s unique clip from the sequence beneath.
