BBC's Noughts & Crosses Review l 'Its Not For Me...'

Have you seen it? let me know what you thought.

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[mateimnotmagic]

Have you seen BBC's Noughts and Crosses? Let me know what you think below

[SoundBlackRecordings]

So far just finished the pilot episode. I thought it was good but not great. I'm really hoping that there is more focus on the micro issues that stem from colonization like Euro Shops with Destraighteners, skin darkeners, Afro weaves and such like that. How people who are colonized try to emulate the colonizers and how that affects self-esteem as it has us. I've only seen one other alternative history movie like this and again it focused on the macro issue without exploring the more complex issues that are faced by an oppressed colonized people. Where are the white mothers in the kitchen trying to get their their daughters hair "kinky and presentable" or is there a natural hair movement where white people start rejecting Afrocentric beauty standards and start wearing their hair straight, stop dying their hair black and embracing blond and red hair etc? I want to see that.

[mayjeylca]

Small changes can make a big difference..

[pedrocardoso]

There's a broadcasting television here in Brazil that will start presenting this show. I don't know... I felt so unconfortable with the idea of showing "how the world would be" instead of "how it is" when we talk about opression. Most because we have such an opressive and racist president that gives voice to racist groups that just a short time ago were ashamed of showing their faces and now they are standing for things like segregation again... Idk the context in UK but, here in BR, presenting this show will be a certain step back in the social fighting because it'll endorse the speech "humans are opressive anyway so it doesn't matter who colonized who, the results would be the same and we don't need to empathize with the minority struggle". Probably the author wanted to make us think "would you like to be in this racial opressed position?", but it's not what gonna happen. At least here in Brazil.

I'd like to talk to somenone to understand how it would exaclty help the anti racist fight, and check if i'm missing something.

Btw, thanks for the content! You channel is awesome!

[hee]

IMO it doesn't make sense for them to be in Europe tho 😬

[muna]

Appreciate hearing your opinion on it! I would definitely recommend the book as it explores a wider range of the noughts' experiences. But it does centre on oppression by recreating the historically violent treatment of black people - e.g. in the book Callum joins Sephy's high school with other noughts and their treatment at the entrance parallels what happened in Little Rock.
The BBC series was far too short to give a more detailed look at Callum's home life and that of the nought community. Overall, I think it conveyed the message of the books really well but completely agree that it was so jarring because the experience & conversations on black people today have moved past that. The issues and conversations are more nuanced, layered and run deeper than to centre it on violence. You're completely right, it's not applicable to 2020 Black Britain but given the backlash it received and people negging the trailer here on YouTube, shows that its still necessary to confront.
It's a shame that this couldn't have been made earlier

[MSALIYAHJORDAN]

I felt it was pushing the interracial relationships agenda.

[jostinaluver]

You hit the nail on the head for some of the problems I had with this show. I hate when interracial relationships are used to make a point. The whole show feels like a tool to teach white people about why racism is bad.

[joshuawells]

I just watched the first episode and I found the concept fascinating, but the execution lacking.

[samanthahoskins]

I’ll preface this by saying I’m a white American, but I think the story is extreme because it’s science fiction/fantasy. It’s an alternative universe. And in real life, a lot of people (at least in the US, particularly certain regions) do *not* accept interracial relationships, so they are still radical to an extent in some places, are they not?

[bluebutterfly]

While you may think the book my not suit a 2020 Britain. There is no way it would have been made before 2020 when white people even the very well meaning ones just didn't see black people as people. They see colour first and impose all these preconceived notions.
I think the band been brown skin colour was eye opening because black and white we take it for granted that bandages should not match brown skin tones.

[cocoacoolness]

I haven't yet seen this show but I was interested in the idea of how the world may be if Africa colonised Europe, or was simply the most dominant superpower in the world and how that affects the world's culture. Like I could easily imagine how it'd be if China or Japan did but I simply don't know much about African culture and that would have been so cool!! But hey.... This show isn't it.

[Neteruk]

Realistically, any place Africa "colonized" would be unlikely to have segregation. Our culture doesn't allow for such stupidity. Remember, Africans met and mated with neanderthals to create the various races. We don't do the whole enslave thing...that's stupid. Genetic conversion has always been our mode of operation. More likely, they'd have been integrated into the Tui. Now that's not really colonization...it's more of absorption. There's an old principle that illustrates the stupidity of wasting an opportunity to create new blood, by spilling different blood.

[sifak]

This is the best review I've seen on this book and TV series. The concept is so cringe and most persons reviewing this get caught up in black people having so-called power or the lame love story.