Somewhere in the Lost and Found

fyeahafrica:

Can you imagine a Senegalese-American Liz Lemmon running 30 Rock? Black women in film and television have been crammed into the role of the stony-faced, long-suffering strong woman or the devilish diva with daddy issues and a thing for the drink. But what about all of us in between? What about the quirky black girl figuring things out and trying to make it through the world?

Indie filmmaker Issa-Rae has tapped into the dialogue of millions of black woman, creating, writing, directing, producing and starring in an huge viral success. The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl are the mishaps and lessons of J, a girl surviving the everyday and doing big things for black women in television. AfriPOP! threw a few questions Issa Rae’s way.

AfriPOP!: Rather than wait for the world to change how they portrayed black women in the media, you created your own platform for a different image. What was the spark that made you turn your thoughts and ideas about ABG into a viable reality that continues to grow?

Issa Rae: I was honestly just tired of seeing the SAME black characters on screen. It’s frustrating to see the same four to five characters depicted when I know that there is so much more to us than that. We’re way more dimensional and diverse than Hollywood makes us out to be. I had been sitting on this character for a while until my friend sent me an article from Clutch Magazine where the writer asked, “Where’s the black Liz Lemon?” and I knew I had to hurry up and make this character happen.

You’ve been getting a lot of love online. Why do you think the show has become so popular?

I think the show has become so popular online because a lot of people can identify with the situations J goes through AND because people feel the same way I do, in terms of seeing the SAME black characters on screen that they can’t necessarily relate to. The word-of-mouth for this series has been AMAZING and I feel like people are realizing that we don’t have to accept these limited characters anymore.

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