Cinematically, the episode could best be compared to Lena Waithe’s Emmy-winning “Thanksgiving” episode on Master of None. The “auntie” we don’t remember, the flashbacks of getting McDonald’s as a kid, and even the well-intentioned father whose flaws don’t supersede the love we have for him. So many moments in this episode reflect my childhood in frighteningly similar ways. It hit me that I’ve heard English, Spanish, French, Italian, Korean, and a number of other languages on American television for years - but to hear the language of my own people felt revolutionary.Įpisode 10 carries on with Bella visiting her mother’s home where she catches up with her brother and helps prepare dinner. But never on a mainstream show (on a major network) have a heard Twi being spoken. Yes, I’ve heard Twi in Ghanaian movies, television, and news. Never in my life have I heard Twi, the language of my family, spoken on Western television. Terry immediately says the common Ghanaian greeting of “Ete sen” or “how are you,” on the call - and I flinched. Even before Bella leaves her flat we get a taste of what’s to come when Terry calls Bella’s mother to say happy birthday. In it, Bella goes to her childhood home to celebrate her mother’s birthday. No episode better conveys the prominence of Bella’s Ghanaian heritage than episode 10, which premiered this week on HBO. There's an unspoken comfort in her relationship with Kwame, as they fundamentally relate from having Ghanaian upbringings. While Terry is extremely supportive of Bella’s healing process, Kwame holds more space for Bella’s hiccups on the way to her getting back to herself. Kwame goes with Bella to the police station to report the rape, but he also doesn’t say anything when Bella locks him in her bedroom with a man at a party in her attempt to play a flirty joke. He holds Bella’s hand through scary moments, doesn’t judge, and gives her space to make mistakes - sometimes at the detriment of his own healing, having been sexually assaulted as well. ![]() Kwame, which means “boy born on Saturday” in Twi, the Ghanaian dialect of the Ashanti people, is the gentle balance in Bella’s friendship trio with Terry Pratchard (played by Weruche Opia), who gives Bella tough love and equally aids in her recovery. One of Bella’s best friends Kwame (played by Paapa Essiedu) - who has his own fully-developed storyline about functioning as a gay Black man after trauma - is her rock. It informed her strict, Christian home as satire in Chewing Gum, and in I May Destroy You, it informs her friendships, family, and her source of refuge when her world is unrecognizably dark. In her work, Michaela has consistently told stories through her lens as a first-generation child of Ghanaian immigrants. But Michaela’s drama is, also, instinctually Ghanaian. ![]() Set in East London, the show is a master class on how consent and identity are sometimes tied to self-worth and healing. In I May Destroy You, Michaela unfurls the complexities of mental health, friendship, love, and agency after a major trauma occurs. The drama is analogous to Michaela’s real-life sexual assault that happened in 2018 when she was writing the second season of Chewing Gum. ![]() In Michaela Coel’s I May Destroy You, the actor plays Arabella “Bella” Essiedu, a social-media-obsessed influencer turned author who is struggling to write her second book after being sexually assaulted. Until last night, I had never heard Twi spoken on mainstream television. In this op-ed, Teen Vogue's culture and entertainment director Danielle Kwateng explains the importance of Ghanaian heritage in Michaela Coel's “I May Destroy You.” Warning: Some spoilers ahead for I May Destroy You season one.
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