There’s no way the showrunners could do what you would have them do without them creating a central character that doesn’t behave in a realistic or literary way. You want to sacrifice the little realism that it’s in the show to make statement in a particular way–even though that statement can be made in other ways without sacrificing that realism. Instead of just waiting to see what the showrunners are going to do for their next act, you’re just going to conclude they aren’t going to do anything and thus be disappointed.
Has anyone on the show cast a race-based spell before? Prior to Leti, has anyone cast a spell binding a whole demographic of people?
Just because we have witnessed successful spells doesn’t mean that all spells are successful. For all you know, the theme of season 2 could be about the gang discovering that general spells like the one Leti came up with are more trouble than they are worth. If that’s what happens, will you continue to be disappointed in the show?
Again, the problem isn’t what she’s trying to do, the problem is how the show is presenting the concept of “white”.
The show hasn’t presented anything about the concept of white. All it has done is shown us that Leti believes in white people as a concept. We don’t know if the spell actually works in the way she has intended it to work.
There’s seems to be a weird disconnect going on here, and I can’t quite figure out what it is. Nobody in this thread has criticized Leti or the way she’s portrayed or the actions she took. Nobody is saying Leti shouldn’t have cast the spell she did in the way she did.
What I, and I think others, are saying is that the way it’s presented in the show pretty clearly seems to portray it as a moment of triumph, as if the spell worked as Leti intended, as if “white” is objectively, categorically, metaphysically valid and real.
I may be wrong, though. I’m genuinely asking: What, if anything, did you see that indicated we, the audience, are supposed to be taking away something else?
I mean…it was the last episode of the season. There may not even be a Season 2 or any sort of “next act”. And yeah, if a show tries to tackle issues this fraught while to all appearances uncritically accepting and incorporating a toxic myth that’s central to those issues, I am going to be disappointed. If there actually is a “next act”, and if the show actually deals with the myth of race, I will probably feel differently.
But saying it’s wrong to be disappointed with how a creative work deals with race, because a future follow-up creative work might deal with it better…frankly, I just don’t get that.
I’m not trying to be a jerk here, but I genuinely don’t understand this. What’s a “flex” in this context? A reaction?
I may be wrong, though. I’m genuinely asking: What, if anything, did you see that indicated we, the audience, are supposed to be taking away something else?
You can take away whatever you want to think. The show isn’t telling you what to think.
The final scene is a moment of triumph because for ten hours, we’ve watched the protagonist and her friends be beaten over the head by racism–some of it magical and some of it not–and finally they are not victims anymore. Finally they have power. Anyone with a modicum of sophistication knows that Leti’s newfound power isn’t going to stop racism, but that doesn’t mean the characters still can’t let out a sign of relief and raise their fists in the air. And it doesn’t mean the viewer at home can’t be happy for them that they now have a moment of satisfaction. At least in that singular moment in time, they don’t feel powerless or without hope, and it’s because they fought with their muscle and wits. I don’t know why you think there has to be a message besides “Look at what you can do when you fight hard enough!” It’s the same message you find in any other HBO Sunday night series.
The show isn’t an afterschool special designed to educate people about the social constructedness of race. It’s a show that just invites the viewer to step into the shoes of black Americans in 1950 who manage to get their hands on magic against the backdrop of racial oppression. If the problem of whiteness being validated by Leti’s spell is the only thing you take away from the season finale, then your feet were never firmly planted in her shoes. Your feet were planted in 2020. In 2020, we can afford to navel gaze about race. If the showrunners had wanted you to stay in 2020, they would have set the show in 2020 instead of 1950.
I’m not trying to be a jerk here, but I genuinely don’t understand this. What’s a “flex” in this context? A reaction?
“That’s a weird flex, but ok” is what the snarky young whippersnappers say when someone brags about something baffling. In this case, it means I’m finding the criticism expressed here to be baffling. “I’m not blaming the characters; I’m blaming the show” doesn’t make any sense to me. Neither is criticizing a spell for validating the realness of “whiteness” when we haven’t seen the full outcome of that spell. Even if the series never goes on for another season, this is still a weird thing to ding the show over, IMHO.
Actually, we know that Leti’s spell didn’t stop racism. We know it didn’t hurt white people as a class, because the country is still run by rich and powerful white folks–folks so magical they can brag about sexually assaulting and killing people and still be elected to the highest office in the land. Leti’s spell was ineffectual, if you think about it. It managed to take out Christina, so it wasn’t totally worthless. But it didn’t take out the racist police officers who kill with impunity. Or the racist criminal justice system. Leti thought her spell would give black people a fair shake in society. But she thought wrong.
At this point, we seem to be talking in circles. There’s a real disconnect here. We don’t seem be disagreeing as much as we’re talking about different things. I’ve tried, repeatedly and apparently without success, to explain what I find problematic about the “bind white people from magic” spell. You apparently find those explanation to be weird and baffling. Frankly, your responses baffle me.
So, even though Someone Is Wrong on the Internet, I’m just going to say agree to disagree, and leave it at that.