I recently binge-watched the show Grand Army on Netflix, and let’s just say I’m hooked. Grand Army follows the lives of five teenagers as they navigate high school. Sound familiar? Many may be able to easily compare the concept of this show to Euphoria, and I’m obsessed with teen dramas which prompted me to give this show a watch. The main characters include Joey (Odessa A’zion), Dom (Odley Jean), Sid (Amir Bageria), Jayson (Maliq Johnson), and Leila (Amalia Yoo). In my honest opinion, I believe this show is better than 13 Reasons Why and has more representation than Euphoria. The show tackles topics such as sexual assault, racial profiling, sexuality, and poverty; not to mention, the actors of this show actually look like teenagers. I can promise you that each episode will make you want to watch the next one. However, the show, or should I say, the show creator has recently run into some controversy that I feel the need to discuss.
A playwright and screenwriter known as Ming Peiffer who was a former writer of Grand Army complained on Twitter about the show creator Katie Cappiello. Peiffer first brought attention to her grievances when she tweeted that she and three other writers quit due to racist exploitation and abuse. I was surprised to hear that this show was run by someone who is allegedly racist considering the show revolves around such a diverse group of people; however, it’s evident the show feels somewhat stereotypical.
https://twitter.com/mingpdynasty/status/1301225559243001863?s=20
For example, one Twitter user replied to the trailer, asking “why does the movie gotta be depressing time every time y’all get a black girl lead???” Peiffer then responded to this user explaining that the showrunner would not listen to the three writers of color and the Black writer “who kept asking to not make [Dom’s] storyline poverty porn.” It just seems counterproductive to create a T.V show about the stories of people of color and then abuse your writers who are people of color. The best people to tell the stories of POC are POC, so I was really disappointed to hear this news about the show creator. Furthermore, Joey’s character embodies a performative activist and white feminist. In the initial episodes of the show, Joey decided to launch a free the nipple campaign after she was accused of putting her body on display by a teacher which is very white feminist of her, but the show does not seem to acknowledge Joey’s mistakes. Despite this, I hope the show will have a sequence in season two that condemns Joey’s performative activism, but Joey’s storyline completely changed after the third episode. Therefore, I do not see this happening.
https://twitter.com/mingpdynasty/status/1301234632369807363?s=20
As for whether you should watch the show or not, I believe the decision is completely up to you. I honestly think the show has a very interesting storyline that makes it binge-worthy, so I can assure you that you won’t get bored while watching the show. Moreover, I discovered a representation of myself in the show with there being an Indian character, and I think the show did a good job with diversity. The show deals with modern issues of regular-looking people, and I credit it as one of the most realistic teen shows about people in high school that I’ve ever watched. On the other hand, the alleged racism and abuse that was accused of the show creator make it difficult to continue to watch. The show creator has not responded to these allegations, but I believe they are something to consider when deciding whether to watch Grand Army or not. You can watch the trailer for Grand Army here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fb30tUGqaCk&ab_channel=Netflix