TV

‘I May Destroy You’ Was Snubbed At The Golden Globes And People Are Furious

"emily in paris nominated but i may destroy you isn’t....this is just so..?"

by Merryana Salem  4 February 2021
i-may-destroy-you

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Supposedly, award shows reward and celebrate notable and culture-defining works of art, but I May Destroy You being snubbed for a single Golden Globe nomination proves I have yet to see a single one consistently do so.

The 2021 Golden Globes nominations, in fairness, were always gonna have a tougher time than is usual. A year of waylaid, delayed, even entirely shelved film and television releases meant that pickings were slimmer than expected when it came to choosing noteworthy media for nominations.

However, none of that excuses the total snubbery Michaela Coel’s limited series, I May Destroy You. The word ‘groundbreaking’ is tossed around a lot, rarely applied to stories that warrant the praise’s accurate meaning. But Michaela Coel’s masterful mediation on sexual assault, trauma, and rape culture and how it intersects with Black womanhood, queer men, art and social media was truly groundbreaking television.

Not only is it infuriating that Michaela Coel’s incredible series did not get recognised for its astounding quality, but the media that did receive nominations exemplifies a racial prejudice at play. Emerald Fennell’s film, Promising Young Woman was nominated for four Globes including best screenplay, director, and best motion picture.

Promising Young Woman deals similarly with rape culture and trauma from sexual assault- but from a distinctly violent white female perspective. Unlike Coal’s script that graciously attends to how race impacts both trauma and healing, Fennell’s tale of revenge, while perhaps cathartic, offers little artistic meditation outside its sweet as candy but blood-soaked aesthetic.

Coel’s performance in I May Destroy You holds a veritable wildfire to Carey Mulligan’s in Promising Young Woman too, which is not to say Mulligan is undeserving of recognition for Promising Young Woman, However, there is a clear racialised preference for whose performance of personal trauma is deemed worthy when it comes to rape culture.

It would seem that the Hollywood Foreign Press association is ready for representations and conversations about rape culture, but not any that acknowledge its true insidiousness in every intersection and industry, or media that is brutally honest about the hard work of healing. I May Destroy You‘s strengths were many, but perhaps its greatest was it’s centring of the good, bad and ugly of healing from trauma and how much its made more difficult by the pervasive apathy of popular culture to survivors.

On the other hand, Promising Young Woman was a typical female revenge fantasy. Despite its distinctive female gaze, it failed to escape the trappings the countless male-centric rape-revenge fantasies that came before it such as Kill Bill.  PYW centres on the perpetrators, and it’s controversial ending martyrs the assault survivor with gratuitous male violence, ultimately leaving the viewer with one clear notion. Healing is futile and life after sexual assault centres on revenge against the proprietor.

In this way, Coel’s I May Destroy You was undoubtedly ahead of our time. Even Dylan O’Brien (Teen Wolf) tweeted, “Not only is I May Destroy You absolutely fucking brilliant, it should be required viewing. Apparently, you can be TOO far ahead of humanity @MichaelaCoel we don’t deserve you.” Similarly, Birds of Prey director, Cathy Yan tweeted that the series’ going unacknowledged is “bullshit.”

As a long time devotee of Coel’s incredible work, I can’t say I am surprised.  Fans of Michaela Coel know all too well how her groundbreaking work often goes snubbed, only for works influenced by her’s to be revered in the hands of future (whiter) artists. Don’t believe me? Just watch her 2015 series, Chewing Gum and try and tell me how ‘original’ and ‘groundbreaking’ 2016’s Fleabag really is.

The Golden Globes have a long history of ignoring and degrading work by people of colour, especially Black artists like Michaela Coel. While many are shocked to find her work ignored by a predominately white male institution, POC are not. I May Destroy You is not the only work that has been ignored, or belittled this year.

Steven Yeun’s performance in Minari, alongside total blanks on performances in Da Five Bloods and Lovecraft Country, shows that despite diversifying productions, recognition is still a white artist’s game and it’s one they have rigged to win.

You can stream I May Destroy You on Binge and Foxtel.

Merryana Salem is a proud Wonnarua and Lebanese–Australian writer, critic, teacher, researcher and podcaster on most social media as @akajustmerry. If you want, check out her podcast, GayV Club where she gushes about LGBT rep in media with her best friend. Either way, she hopes you ate something nice today.