![]() Kwame copes with his own sexual assault throughout the show and the struggles of being a gay man in a straight world along with Arabella. Terry copes with her own sexual trauma, while still being supportive of Arabella during the aftermath of the rape. Courtesy of HBO.Īrabella is a British-Ghanaian author and influencer, before becoming another girl who has to endure life as a survivor. From the characters of Arabella and her friends, Terry (Weruche Opia) and Kwame (Paapa Essiedu), Coel creates sometimes frighteningly graphic scenes of traumatic experiences. However, I knew that art like this, art that made me feel something so real and intense, could not be ignored.Įvery Monday night at 10 p.m., I was ready to watch the new episode for the week. I felt like it triggered emotions in me that I was not sure I was ready to confront, nor did I think that these emotions were something I needed to tack onto my already-disturbed, mid-pandemic psyche. ![]() I took two weeks off from watching the show after the rape scene. This was not the case with Coel’s writing, directing or performance. Coel does not shy away from speaking the truth, but she does so in a sensitive and empathetic way. Often, I feel as though films that address rape can be insensitive, triggering and unrelatable. What started out to be a hilarious, exciting love story, took a drastic turn for the heavy when Arabella is raped. I started watching this HBO series in the summer of 2020, which I dubbed “corona summer.” I was bored I love Michaela Coel, and after watching “Chewing Gum,” I knew this talented actor, director and writer would take me for the ride of my life. The series begins with the main character, Arabella, portrayed by Coel, a striking young author with a severe smoking addiction, on a deadline in Ostia, Italy, drunk in love with an Italian drug-dealer, Biagio (Marouane Zotti), and unfocused, without any writing to present to her publishers upon her return from this writing retreat. As Arabella reluctantly leaves Italy for reality back in London, she dreads leaving Biagio, and is aware that her procrastination could potentially get her fired. Mental health, therapy, rape, consent, online dating, substance abuse, drugs, trauma, PTSD, LGBTQ relationships and sexual ventures - all of these topics and more are addressed and explored in Michaela Coel’s “I May Destroy You.” This comedic and triggering dramady, 12-episode series, written, directed and starring Coel, showcases how art can communicate some of the issues that we still refuse to address, even though they are happening every day and often to people we love.
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