Hollywood Review
Can you imagine a 1940s Hollywood courageous and caring enough to tell the stories of people of colour, or love stories involving anything other than a heterosexual, cisgender man and a heterosexual, cisgender woman? It’s difficult to imagine such a thing, because even modern-day Hollywood doesn’t do a good enough job at offering diversity.
Don’t make the mistake of looking at Netflix’s new series Hollywood as factual, or even to be based on truth. There are characters that existed in the real world, such as Rock Hudson, also known as Roy Harold Scherer Jr (played by Jake Picking) and Hattie McDaniel (played by Queen Latifah). but even their stories have been twisted. This is the complete re-imagining of Hollywood if it dared to tell the stories that took far too long to be told.
The series follows the making of a film, Peg (later changed to Meg), which is written by a black man, and stars a black woman as the lead. You’d be right in thinking that would mean the main character we follow would be a black character, but it’s not. Although there is a rather large main cast, the character that would be classed as the lead is a white, straight, cis man who regularly sleeps with women behind his wife’s back, Jack Castello (played by David Corenswet). The show tries to give him a U-turn and make him likeable by the end, but it’s not enough, and it defeats the point. He should have never been the main character in the first place.
Ernie West (played by Dylan McDermott) should have been the lead. His incredibly emotional and mesmerising performance as a gay, black man living in a world where being gay is perverted, and being black is enough to see you hanged, carries the show. He is also the writer of Peg/Meg so it’s his story to tell.
Camille Washington (Laura Harrier) plays the lead in Meg. It’s the first role of this kind that a black woman had been cast to play. Michelle Krusiec portrays a fictionalised version of the real-life Chinese-American actress, Anna May Wong. Patti LuPone plays Avis Amberg, a Jewish woman who takes over Ace Studios when her husband becomes ill. Holland Taylor plays studio executive, Ellen Kincaid who also mentors many of the actors. All of these women are inspiring to watch. The characters are strong and independent, but all in their own way, with different paths in life. They portray not only what it is to be a woman, but also what the world looks like when women build each other up and celebrate one another.
The series ticks another important box too, with its’ representation of gay people during this time period. It shows the hurtful way in which the queer community is forced to hide their identity, and to keep their romantic relationships secret. But, while it ticks the G box, there are missing ticks next to LBTQ and A. We have to wait until the final episode for a lesbian reference. There are subtle mentions of bisexuality, but it’s never confirmed. The focus is very much on gay men, and unfortunately the rest of the queer community is ignored.
Although this series tries to be inclusive and diverse — and is still more so than most — it feels like it could have gone so much further. It’s a fantasy version of Hollywood where diversity wins, so why does only one part of the queer community get their story told? Why is the black man or woman still not given the lead role over the white man?
There is also a lack of understanding of the true torment and torture the black and gay communities went through. One film with one black lead and one black writer doesn’t fix racism. A few theatre’s in Southern states choosing not to air the film, and a couple of burning crosses sent by the KKK simply isn’t enough to tell the audience what a black man or woman would have really had to endure in this situation.
It’s not just the racism that’s dumbed down though. In the 1940s, if a gay man came out on the red carpet with their boyfriend, they wouldn’t just be boo’d off the stage, they’d be murdered.
We all love a happy ending, and on the surface of it this series is enjoyable to watch. It’s binge-worthy, the acting is incredible, and it does try. The problem is, it doesn’t try hard enough, and at times it feels insensitive to what people of colour and the queer community still have to deal with to this day.
Perhaps the problem with Hollywood is it lends too much to imagination, and leans too heavily on fantasy. Maybe some more realism was needed.
Hannah Parker
