Bosses: Lena Waithe, Pushing for More Representation on TV and Making Excellent TV in the process ……
I don’t know about any of you, but I am absolutely obsessed with Aziz Ansari’s hit Netflix show “Master of None”. I recently spent an entire Sunday binge watching ten episodes worth (I don’t want to admit that that number actually translates into ten hours of TV ……and then I also binge ate some pasta because, well, it’s Dev’s favorite food and there is a pasta heavy plot)of the series’ beautifully shot, nuanced, and by turns emotionally gripping and absurdly hilarious season two. If you haven’t gotten the chance, MON is a must watch. Not only is it an extremely entertaining TV show with a sick soundtrack (I also have devoted many consumption hours to the Spotify playlist, check it out), Ansari has created a piece of art that pays testament to a wide swath of experiences and backgrounds — something mainstream TV desperately needs and pathetically lacks. A common praise of the show is that it embraces diversity— not just that it simply features actors of many different races and identities in lead roles, but more importantly, that the discussions the characters’ various backgrounds provoke amongst themselves generate deep and intelligent ( and sometimes uproariously funny) meditations on intersectionality, otherness and identity in America. MON makes nuanced questions and misconceptions about race, culture, gender and sex a part of its storytelling fodder. Season 1 tackles difficulties relating to immigrant parents, racism on TV, implicit bias and sexism, and season two continues with dialogues on religion, dating across racial lines, and issues surrounding culture, family and sexual orientation. Indeed, possibly the best episode of the season, “Thanksgiving”, focuses on the character of Denise, who is black, female, and gay, played by phenomenal actress Lena Waithe.
Denise, in my book, is second only to Dev as the show’s best character. She has a consistently on-point wardrobe, is completely sure of herself, and has no problem stopping misogyny with a citizen’s arrest on the G Train. She provides common sense and the reminder of maturity Dev sometimes needs to function as an adult. Denise is awesome, so I was really excited when she got more airtime and a backstory in “Thanksgiving”. Not to give any spoilers away, but Denise's storyline in “Thanksgiving”, a capsule episode chronicling the same day ( Turkey Day, duh) over the course of many years, follows her path toward coming out to her best friend, Dev ( Aziz’s character) and ultimately her family. The episode shows the very early childhood days of Dev and Denise's’ lifelong friendship, and immediately asks questions regarding race, later portraying the intersections of race, culture and sexual identity, and allows Denise to become a fully fleshed-out character. I don’t want to give anything else away — the episode is masterfully shot, written and acted. What I recently was pleasantly surprised by though, was the fact that Lena Waite not only is an awesome actress, but also was one of the writers of the episode — Ansari approached her to help write it as a semi-autobiographical work. That’s not all — at only 33 years old she actually has two other major creative endeavors in the works at the same time. In a recent NY Mag interview she mentions that she is working on a project called “The Chi”, a drama following five black men on the Southside of Chicago, as well as a half hour comedy pilot about her experiences in LA.
She writes:
I want to make the most of this opportunity I have to shed light on what it means to be gay, black, and female in 2017, and I want to help usher in new voices. That’s to me the most exciting thing, the fact that I now have some leverage in this industry. I’m like, “Great, now meet this writer who has a unique voice and I think should have a TV show,” or, “Read this feature, now let’s try to get this movie made.” That’s my mission. I feel like I’ve accomplished a lot, but for me it’s about pushing to the point where I can be Mark Walhberg, Ryan Murphy, or Shonda Rhimes. I want to be at that table in terms of bringing new voices in. There’s a lot of Donald Glovers, Jordan Peeles, Justin Simiens. And there’s a lot of me’s, too. I just want to go find them and help open the door so they can walk in.
Prior to Master of None, the Chicago Native was the master-mind behind a number of other impressive projects. In 2014, Chicago Mag profiled her accomplishments, which also included producing the film “Dear White People”:
The 30-year-old television writer and Chicago native has penned the hit YouTube parody “Shit Black Girls Say,” co-created the webseries “Hello Cupid,” and landed a gig writing for the Fox drama Bones. She’s also shopping her pilot, “Twenties,” a cheeky, irreverent look at a wannabe-famous video blogger, which has earned Waithe a comparison to another Lena (Dunham).
Waithe is working to bring her own unique voice to the forefront and push for more portrayals of LGBTQ women of color on TV. In the process, she has made it her mission to pave the way for more varied voices in entertainment. Her body of work is already extremely impressive, and I can not wait to see where she is headed next. Lena is absolutely a Jefe, and seems to be destined for huge things.
