Our Generation Has Some Things to Say
While the politicians are busy fighting over what they deem right and wrong, millennials have something to say. And they’re expressing it in tv shows, movies, and books. And we are all here for it!
Midlife Crisis?
I have been on a yearlong journey, healing and discovering my true self. Dare we call this a midlife crisis?
On my quest to understand my place in the world, I have done a full deep dive into assimilation and cultural differences, desperately thinking, I can’t be the only one who feels like this, right?
Since I was a child, I always sought comfort in TV shows and books and how they related to me and society in general. Where I feel a disconnect with family and friends, these fictional characters have found a very special place in my heart. Filled in that gap so to speak.
That being said, the lightbulb slowly began turning on as more and more shows realistically highlighting diversity were coming out.
Unprisoned
In March of 2023, a new show popped up that gave me another name and definition to relate to. Nigrescence.
Unprisoned, staring Kerry Washington, is about a single, millennial, therapist navigating life with her estranged father just out of prison, and her high school son. The show beautifully explores her rebuilding her relationship with her father, melding old school cultural beliefs with current therapy/psychology practices. And it just works. Because isn’t that just most families?
Season 1, episode 6 aptly titled, Nigrescence, went on to explain the term and its various levels as it gave examples throughout the 30 minute or so episode.
Well that quickly took me down the research rabbit hole. With my mind blown, I discovered William Cross Jr.’s “Nigrescence Theory”, more recently referred to as, Black Racial Identity Model. Sooooo, I had yet to hear about this theory but at the same time, I had never related to something so much! Where was this “Model” these past few years that I needed it the most? With all the research that I had done in search of my place in the world, why did this never come up? It is exactly what I had been experiencing.
In a very detailed article, the Black Racial Identity Model covered the experience of “Blacks or African Americans” through 5 stages of identity: From compliance and identifying with colonization; becoming “woke” rejecting “mainstream values” and immortalizing their culture of origin; get this … as people progress through the model and struggle with their identity, mental health challenges often occur as they re-think their values in life; to eventually coming to peace with their identity, their place in the world and advocating for others.
With respect to Mr. William Cross Jr., I know this heavily applies to my life and culture and overall, other cultures in general. Can Latinos coin their own sub-model and name it Beanescence? Our struggles are different yet deep down we yearn for the same type of appreciation and peace in our disparity.
And just like that, all of the shows I had strongly related to in the past 7 years, all came together like a beautiful ombre puzzle from the lightest peach to the darkest brown.
Insecure
Let’s go back to 2016 where it all started for me with my girl, Issa Rae.
All of a sudden I found myself in a group of friends who were career driven and weren’t settling for a ring.
As I looked forward to catching up on the HBO hit, I finished every episode, cheeks sore from laughing my tail off and fulfilled in my soul, ready to take on the world the next day. If these fine ladies can continue taking on the inequality of this world with boundaries, class, and magnetic energy, so can I.
Highlight moment of the show …
When Issa is working at, We Got Y’all. So many key moments of her working there being the token ethnic employee. She was so outspoken, the way I only wished I could be. Finally calling her superior out for her white savior complex, explaining how their logo literally was white hands holding up black kids. She took on colonization in such a brilliant way.
Gentefied
Gentefied had me from the first minute. Watching a stereotypical “thug” riding a bike, all hard, through the streets of LA. The generalized narrative has us thinking, he’s probably up to no good when in fact he’s going to the library to turn in books. And with that, a huge statement was made.
This show follows a family who own and run a Taco shop. You get a peek into each character’s life and just like in real life; each character is unique in their decisions towards paths that better them individually or paths that better the family as a whole.
Nothing new here, but now, we’re calling it out. Putting faces and stories to our struggles. We see ourselves in these families. We feel seen, our challenges heard.
Highlight moment of the show …
The eldest female cousin of the family, Ana, is an artist. Something that is seen as a hobby, something that doesn’t contribute monetarily to her family. Her single mother, the strong matriarch of the family, throws her paints away because of this. Symbolizing the old school traditions of our culture, family first. But that looks so different in America.
Woke
Let me tell you, I was as socially and culturally ignorant as Lamorne Morris’ character, Keef, was in the first episode. Skipping through life with rose colored glasses on as a white presenting light skinned Latina with colored eyes. The moment of realization was metaphorically like Keef’s, and it hit me like a pile of bricks. The impact of that moment makes this the highlight of the show for me.
That woke moment is like the end of innocence. And if you’re like me, I can list more than a handful of significant times I’ve been treated indifferent by not only an unjustifiable ignorance of their own, but also in hatred.
This one show singlehandedly captured the very moment that he became “woke”, in its very first episode which led to a bingeable 2 seasons worth of Keef seeing old situations in a brand-new light.
This Fool
Ooof the Writers sure did know what they were doing with this show. All the Mexican stereotypes … they put the thang down flipped it and reversed it. Playing Mexican stereotypes like a fiddle … nay, a guitar.
I totally identified with Chris Estrada’s character, Julio. A college graduate millennial trying to make a difference in his community. Caught in the middle of love and respect for his culture and outgrowing the toxic parts of the Latino culture.
Highlight moment of the show …
When Julio is tired of being a passive doormat and his pelotas finally drop. He takes on confrontation with the eloquent words of a Dignitary, the stance of an Aztec Warrior, and an evaluation of the situation like a Latino therapist, and I couldn’t relate more.
This Isn’t New
I think by now we know Racial Identity in America is nothing new. Throughout the generations, several shows have tackled this arena we are all involved in, in one way or another. Some episodes, scenes, entire movies, and artists themselves have been canceled while others are kept to preserve a lesson from history.
I can’t tell you how grateful I am to the Hollywood artists who have taken on showcasing Racial Identity in America. These shows are hilarious on their own but transcend politics to reach the soul. I wonder what contemporary take Gen Alpha will provide us with.
Did you know about the Racial Identity Model? What show helped you through your grand awakening? Let me know in the comments below.