https://blacknerdproblems.com/authentic-black-power-supacell-review/

Intro

Supacell is putting Black superpower numbers on the board in a real way. The runaway Netflix hit from the mind of British rapper/filmmaker Rapman delivers a well-worn story with a fresh lens and heaps of authenticity. If there was ever a conversation around ‘superhero fatigue,’ Supacell puts that to rest easy, innit?

The Rundown

Supacell centers around a group of five Black Brits from South London. They come from all walks of life and have three things in common: they’re about to get superpowers, they all share a connection to a blood disease, and they’re all Black! Their lives weave in and out of proximity as they learn more about why their powers exist. All in all, it gives the feel of a well-thought-out, sci-fi version of Academy Award Winner, Crash. But better.

Black Heroes

From 1998’s Blade slicing its way onto the scene (while also laying the groundwork for the Marvel Cinematic Universe), through to CW’s Black Lightning, and Marvel’s Falcon/Captain America – mainstream audiences are no longer ‘strangers’ to marquee Black characters in the superhero/sci-fi/speculative fiction spaces. For Supacell to run it up and have a whole squad and, subsequently, a world full of only Black people with powers is not only impressive but overdue. Yes, one of them has lightning powers – but dammit, it’s a byproduct of him being a speedster and not a byproduct of lazy writing.

No token characters with trauma-laden backstories that simultaneously define and confine them to a predictable series of actions that ultimately lead to them overcoming their environmental conditions to finally be accepted by the dominant culture. Nah, everybody in Supacell is either right off the block or block adjacent, and it’s about damn time. Not only that, but none of their choices are off the bat predictable. Nothing happens just to move the story forward.

There can be no real shortage of projects like these. Pieces of media that focus on the ways Black folks could and should exist, especially within the fantastical, and particularly by a metric that isn’t rooted in whiteness.

The Cure for Hero Fatigue is a Good Ass Story

Out on the Interwebs, on the app formerly known as Twitter (well, that Black people still call Twitter (“Its mama named it Twitter…”) a conversation is rising out of the daily pop culture chatter. Seems like a wave of media consumers are touting that the era of the superhero is over. Attributing tepid audience response and low box office turnout to ‘superhero fatigue.’ In all honesty, once Paw Patrol jumped on the ‘we got powers now’ bandwagon, I was nearly convinced the fatigue was real.

Then a hero comes along, with the pen to carry on telling the kinds of superpowered stories Black people can get down with innately. Rapman, who is already a cultural staple in the hoods in the UK for his music and TV series, busts through the door waving a four-four and putting his people’s culture front and center. Turns out, what is missing from the superhero genre is authenticity. Real people, with real stories. Grounding gives the supernatural and fantastic elements a nuance that pushes the world-building beyond the powers themselves and into the context of the world in which these powers exist.

It’s not just that only Black people have powers, but how does a world that creates, exploits, and then feeds on Black trauma engage with this shift in power dynamic?

All Black Everything

Not since the graphic novel series Black and the aptly titled sequel White has this quandary even been explored. Furthermore, not since Australia’s Aboriginal mythology series Cleverman, have I seen this level of regional authenticity. Seeing it play out in live-action takes on a more visceral and dimensional feel, weighing on the body of Black and Brown viewers. Shit gets real on Supacell, and it’s better for it.

A Microcosm of Black Issues in the UK

What Supacell does very well is highlight the aspects of the Black experience in London. In the same way folks here tout (truthfully) that there are ‘two Americas’ to relay the huge gap in quality of life between the wealthy and the not-wealthy, Rapman brings viewers to the hoodest of hoods and allows Supacell to tell the entire story there. No super sharp juxtapositions with posh or deeply mixed spaces, save for folks at their jobs. Watching these characters deal with the everyday drama of getting money, making dinner, and getting married – all of that, alongside exploring their new abilities gives the series a grounded authenticity that can’t be faked.

Diversity gets tossed around a lot these days. Coded as both a closeted slur, regarding ‘unearned’ opportunity and access; and as the genuine human condition of living in an interdependent society. Diversity feels forced in a lot of shows, where non-white folks are kinda stuffed into places for the sake of representation but with no real thought-out intention. Supacell pushes against that ‘forced’ feeling in so many ways.

Many of the actors and, by extension, the characters are from the many points of the African diaspora. Hearing accents from the Caribbean and East Africa mixed right in with the different regional accents from across South London’s neighborhoods. Using Black British slang without the incessant need to translate told me everything I needed to know about the level of authenticity in front of and behind the camera.

Streets is Watching (and Being Watched)

There is a thread woven throughout the show: of rebellion and counterculture and chosen family. In the face of white supremacy and under hypervigilant government surveillance. The threat of being snatched up off the street after being caught on CCTV is not a new thing in British media. London, in particular, is one the most surveilled cities on Earth with more than nine hundred thousand cameras. So take note of the many ominous close-ups of cameras watching people throughout Supacell and know that Rapman is sending a message to viewers about how folks there feel about it.

If you haven’t seen Supacell already, stop what you’re doing and hit up Netflix right now, run up those numbers, and get your dose of peak Black superheroism (and villainy!).

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The post Authentic, Black, Power: ‘Supacell’ Review appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.