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Describing the incident as “harrowing” and “bone-chilling,” white, male student Mike Easton expressed his confusion and discomfort after watching an episode of a television show not specifically created to attract and hold his attention.
“It was like something out of a Chuck Palahniuk novel,” said Easton of his experience absorbing the 45 minutes of video that did not explicitly cater to his every whim and expectation. “One or two of the good characters didn’t look exactly like me, and the women weren’t presented as overt sexual objects that were just there to look nice and compliment the men.”
“I had a lot of trouble projecting my fantasies onto them,” Easton explained.
The Westport, Connecticut native had a bad feeling about the show early on, when a character played by a woman of color stood up for herself and wasn’t instantly made into a joke. “It started as a knot in my throat and then just dropped straight into my stomach. I just don’t understand why a small percentage of the characters’ interactions didn’t match up exactly with what I’ve come to expect.”
“It’s like they’re trying to make it as hard to watch as possible,” said Easton, who loudly complained that the show was being unrealistic after a character played by a man of color expressed more than one particular attribute or field of interest. “Cringe humor, I think they call it. I don’t know who they think is going to watch this.”
Easton’s friend Natalie Andrews recalled an instance when Easton scoffed after a white protagonist was corrected by a character played by a man of color who did not have only one notable attribute or field of interest. But when the white character submitted without making a snide remark, Easton just went pale.
“He kept muttering, ‘What’s happening?’ under his breath,” said Andrews. “I think it really did a number on him. He’s not a strong man.”
The program, which stars an ensemble cast primarily made up of minority actors and depicts diverse family structures and relationships, has already been making headlines for some reason. Easton’s case shows the dark side of programming that does not unilaterally reward the dominant perspective.
“I recognize the shapes of humans on screen, and that they’re saying words to each other, but that’s where the familiarity ends,” explained the usually stoic Easton, admitting he could feel himself tearing up. “I honestly felt abandoned. I turned on the TV because I wanted to relax, and here I am having flashbacks to the time I couldn’t find my mom at Target.”
Easton went on to say that that was the worst he’d ever felt and he never wanted to feel like that ever again.
When Andrews suggested he read a book to wind down from the ordeal, Easton replied that he had sworn off novels after failing to get through “The Bell Jar” in his 11th-grade English class.
