I wanted to write a show about an estate that wasn't sad or morbid, like a lot of shows portray working class life to be.
Interpretation
The quote expresses a desire to portray working class life in a more positive and uplifting manner.
Michaela Coel highlights the importance of representation in storytelling, particularly in how working class life is often depicted in media. She aims to create a show that reflects the resilience and vibrancy of such lives rather than focusing on the sadness or morbid aspects typically associated with them, thereby challenging stereotypes and inviting a more nuanced understanding of different social realities.
In practice
This quote can inspire filmmakers to focus on uplifting narratives during a panel discussion.
In Britain, we need to start presenting the option of being a writer in front of black women. We need to present the idea of being a writer into poorer communities because the majority of black people in this country are working class. We need to let working-class people know that their voices are important.
I don't believe in comedy as a TV genre - I think there's drama that is funny. Because beyond the laughs, there has to be cost, and there has to be heart.
When you've got African parents, you go to uni, do finance, and go into accounting. But I'm not good with systems. I dropped out in my final year of college to become a Christian poet. Then went back to do my A-levels and went to uni in Birmingham to do political science and theology. I lasted 12 weeks.
Growing up on our estate, we were all different colours, but we were all really poor. I never really realised that black was a problem for some people.
We live in a world where if you're white, an upper-class male of extreme privilege, and able-bodied, and you're nothing that takes you away from that norm, then you're going to have - then the world will not assign you problems because of what you are. That is actually the world we live in.
Where I grew up, in Aldgate, east London, one of the poorest boroughs in the country, I saw lots that was real - the bankers with their briefcases, the man next door with five wives, the illegal immigrants in Flat 5. I'm from a world you rarely see on screen, and I want to show it off.
I used to think it was possible for an artist to alter the inner life of the culture. Now bomb-makers and gunmen have taken that territory.
All beauty comes from beautiful blood and a beautiful brain.
My work has always been about not being conventional and male gaze is convention.
I have a soft spot for art that, in terms of subject matter and material, is in bad taste.
Little by little, I've reached the stage of using only a small number of forms and colors. It's not the first time that painting has been done with a very narrow range of colors. The frescoes of the tenth century are painted like this. For me, they are magnificent things.
On the stage, the characters express themselves more through words than images. So the arguments of the characters and the tension between characters - words have to be used to express that, and I love that about theater.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.