Insecure: Going Beyond Stereotypes

By: Marsalis Anderson

Issa Rae is a genius. Her YouTube series named “Awkward Black Girl” spawned into an everyday black woman’s life over the course of 5 seasons. Insecure is a barrier- breaking and paradigm-shifting look into how Black people are portrayed in the media and in television. This series represented many aspects of the Black community, and many related to it.

Through the show’s characters, the Insecure writers make a great collective effort to show the world a highly misrepresented part of the Black community in pop culture - they capture the lives of everyday Black people. Insecure accommodates the needs of the Black person struggling to be seen or who feels unable to be recognized in a world ull of people who may seem better than them. This show reminds Black people that it is okay to

struggle, it is okay to rest, and it is okay to do what makes you happy.

We do not have to be superstars to succeed in this world.

Speci cally, Issa’s character represents people who look like her and who are misrepresented. She goes through experiences that are not often told in the media. A dark-skinned Black woman being spotlighted is a breath of fresh air in a sea of depictions of lighter- skinned women in popular media. Insecure’s focus on Issa as the main character has implications for mainstream media overall. When people talk about Insecure, it allows them to speak highly on a darker-skinned woman as the main character of a very successful show – something that is rare in history. Issa Rae created a platform through Insecure that allowed Black women to be themselves and nd power in doing so.

Despite Issa saying Insecure is “not for dudes” in a 2017 Rolling Stone interview, the show has a versatileway of communicating real issues that Black men face in society. Black men are typically seen as aggressive and overly simplistic in the media, but Issa writes the men so that they have more emotional depth to them.

The male characters express their masculinity in very

different ways, and some are even on a journey to discover themselves. Lawrence constantly nds himself in rapidly changing communities and he grows as a person to re ect his experiences. There are moments where he is insecure about his relationships and is unsure ofwhat he should do with his life. He, along with characters like Daniel and Nathan, all build on their masculinity in similar ways. At different points, they all hold themselves accountable for their actions, pursue professional and personal goals they have, and provide for the people they care about the most. There are small details throughout that exemplify their authenticity, such as Nathan being vulnerable about his mental health or Lawrence’s desire for having a high-pro le tech job.

Through the writing of these men, Insecure pushed the envelope of male characters’ expressions of their masculinity.

Insecure is a shift away from Black megastars and Black trauma; it depicts Black people in a way that is rarely seen in the media – an everyday Black person. We are not all celebrities, and Insecure af rms that we don’t have to be stars to tell our stories. It prioritizes the realism of everyday Black life and emphasizes the power of individual identity.