6 Reasons Why You Need to Watch Insecure
So I thought I’d have to submit to downloading when I heard that my favourite ABG (Awkward Black Girl) Issa Rae had been given a show on HBO, but thankfully, it’s showing on Sky Go here in the UK. Here are just some of the reasons you should be tuning in.
Image taken from issarae.com
#1 She’s (essentially) a good person that you want to root for
She works for a non-profit: yay! She works with kids: yay, she is so much better than me! She’s trying to make the world, or at least the city of Los Angeles, a better place for the youth, and, being the only black girl at the office, she is of course their resident ‘perceived blackness’ expert. When she’s not fielding questions as to ‘what is ‘on fleek’?’ in the office, she’s getting grief from the kids: ‘Why you talk like a white lady?’
#2 But she isn’t perfect
Without giving the whole plot structure away, Issa can do bad things. And she has range as that bad girl; she can screw up by kissing someone else while she’s almost-broken-up-with-but-definitely-not-completely-broken-up-with her (annoying) boyfriend Lawrence, and she can screw up by er, well, screwing. And although my BF took to calling her names (mostly in defence of Lawrence because I have called him plenty of names) I like that she messed up, ‘cause that’s what we do. What’s more interesting, is what we do afterwards.
#3 She has the most ridiculously glowing skin
Like, for real. Each episode I find myself scanning her face and body for a break in the consistently smooth-as-honey wonder that is her skin. Issa, if you want to share your beauty secrets, email me.
#4 She makes it okay to rap in the bathroom
And she takes it to a whole other level; Issa tries out multiple personalities, mostly when she’s in the bathroom, and she’s actually a pretty good rapper. In the first episode she adapts her bathroom personas to the shade of lipstick she’s wearing. When she’s wearing pink she’s cute, and when she’s wearing black she’s so straight up and in your face that I’m pretty sure the average guy would run a mile while experiencing some serious shrinkage in his pants.
Image taken from issarae.com
#5 Her friend Molly’s going through the usual dating shit
I love Molly; she constantly throws herself at the dating world. She knows every single dating app and what’s it’s useful for, but what she’s really hoping for is to be admitted to an elite dating pool – one that comes with a three month wait list. In the meantime she meets every kind of guy and inevitably comes to the conclusion that they all just wanna f***. What’s beneath all this effort is that she’s worried – despite her seemingly amazing career and social life – about running out of time to meet The One.
#6 She’s different –awkward even - and that’s fine
Which makes total sense as she is the brains behind hit YouTube series The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl, which went on to form the basis of her New York Times best selling book of the same name. I believe the reason her work has resonated with so many women, many of whom might choose to label themselves as ‘geeks’, or simply just normal, is because she shows that it’s okay to not fit into any of the stereotypes black women have had thrust upon them for decades, both by white and black media.
Image taken from issarae.com