TV shows can tie up loose ends, resulting in a satisfying finale, but trauma can never be that neatly and easily resolved. However, Coel chooses to leave the ending ambiguous, reflecting how there is no clear ending to trauma. Each of these endings would have been equally valid. The anticipated and explosive final episode (‘Ego Death’) ends with Arabella in her very own Groundhog Day, living out three alternative fantasies of how her story could end: justice, revenge and forgiveness. While she may be hard to understand for a lot of audiences, we have absolutely no right to judge or dictate how survivors navigate their trauma, even when, and especially when, it makes us uncomfortable. She is a flawed character who responds to situations in unexpected and contradictory ways. In an interview with Radio 1’s Newsbeat, Coel notes how “we respond to trauma and triggering situations in many different ways.” Arabella is not a ‘good’ rape survivor: she is loud, angry and often acts before thinking. We have absolutely no right to judge or dictate how survivors navigate their trauma, even when, and especially when, it makes us uncomfortable. I May Destroy You is populatedīy complex characters who blur the line between victim and villain. Theo “cried rape” as a teenager after pictures were He later has sex with a woman (because he feels safer) without Kwame was sexually assaulted by a Grindr date afterĬonsensual sex. With their own ‘grey’ experiences: Terry feels liberated by a threesome but People how to respond to their own trauma? Arabella’s friends are also dealing Information about someone on the internet without their permission, often in anĪttempt to harass people) are questioned. When she publicly ‘cancels’ him, the ethics around ‘doxing’ (publishing private Listening to a podcast (shoutout to The Receipts Podcast). ‘stealthing’), Arabella only realises that this is a form of rape while When her ‘nice’ boyfriend Zain removes the condom during sex (known as I May Destroy You navigates the ‘grey areas’ surrounding rape in the millennial All of this adds up to create a truly honest portrayal clearly Period sex which, I don’t know about you, is not something I see regularly Arabella is also shown changing her pad and having Memorable moment but the fact that it’s never explained makes it even more There is a moment when Terry is putting Arabella Terry is told to take her wig off at an auditionĪnd asked invasive and ignorant questions about her hair: a situation likely painfullyįamiliar to many black women. We see black characters frequently code-switching in an attempt to navigate Her detached and bemused “huh” perfectly encapsulates the tone of the show: harrowing at times, and hilarious at others, since trauma manifests itself in a multitude of ways.Ĭoel paints an authentic portrait of what it means to be aīlack woman in today’s Britain. While also discovering repressed painful memories. (Paapa Essiedu), Arabella gradually pieces together what happened that night With the help of her friends Terry (Weruche Opia) and Kwame Harrowing at times, and hilarious at others, since trauma manifests itself in a Herĭetached and bemused “huh” perfectly encapsulates the tone of the show: Of a terrifying stranger as the camera loses focus and music becomes muffled. The next morning, Arabella is haunted by flashbacks Pulling an all-nighter, the author of ‘Chronicles of a Fed-Up Millennial’ is Who is struggling to finish the first draft of her follow-up book. I May Destroy You follows Arabella Essiedu: a pink-haired, Twitter-celebrity-turned-novelist In an attempt to process her trauma, Coel began writing I May Destroy You: a limited series based on her own assault which she described as a “cathartic” experience. While drafting the second season of Chewing Gum in 2016, Coel was drugged and sexually assaulted by two strangers. In 2018, Michela Coel became the first black woman to give the James MacTaggart Lecture at the Edinburgh TV Festival in which she revealed that she had been sexually assaulted and discussed the complexities of navigating industry spaces as a working class black woman. Print Screen Editor Francesca Sylph reviews Michaela Coel’s harrowing and hilarious sexual consent drama I May Destroy You.
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