If you know me, you know I love a show that focuses on the daily struggles of being an “almost grown ass” woman.
I’ve spent my college years dissecting each and every episode of Girlfriends, Sex and the City, and Girls and applying it to my life. As the seasons of Girls continued not only did my distaste of Lena Dunham begin to rub off on the enjoyment of show, I realized how little women of color were shown. In fact, the first black woman I saw on the HBO series was Jessica Williams, who had a very brief role as Hannah’s office friend. For years, I had just replaced the main characters of my favorite shows with myself.
Luckily, 2016 became the year where WOC stopped asking to be more visible in these shows and spaces and simply created their own. Shows like Insecure depicted the struggles of women of color and showed the realistic times where we “weren’t so magical.” These WOC based shows are giving real life adaptations of our lives as more than just “the black friend” across our screens and now the new web series Brown Girls is continuing to do the same.
Here are five reasons why you need to watch Brown Girls Web Series !
Brown Girls is written, directed, and stars women of color.
Brown Girls was written by poet Fatimah Asghar and directed/produced by Sam Bailey.
Taking place on the south side of Chicago, the seven-episode series shadows the struggles of two friends who are trying to get their life together. The web series, which debuted back in February, stars Nabila Hossain who is Pakistani American and plays a struggling writer named Leila and Sonia Denis who is black and plays an aspiring musician named Patricia. Brown Girls was actually inspired by the friendship and lives of Fatimah and singer Jamila Woods.
The beauty of the diversity in this show is that it’s not forced to fit the “I need at least one person of color” narrative, it’s simply authentic.
It’s real… very real
Have you ever watched a show that made your feel like you were watching your life played out on TV?
Well, episode one of Brown Girls opens with Lelia crawling out of her kinda sorta not really (but really) girlfriend’s bed the morning after a hook up. She anxiously and awkwardly tries to avoid the inevitable “What are we?” question and of course fails. Let’s be honest, how many times have you been in that position?
As the series carries on, Brown Girls touches on bisexuality in the Muslim community, Tinder dates, and even relationships from the standpoint of our parents.
It’s sex positive.
In a time where most of us are still trying to figure things out, Brown Girls highlights the fluidity of sex. In the second episode, Patricia struggles with trying to kick out a booty call who has overextended his welcome. Instead of giving in and allowing him to spend the night as he constantly insists, she calls him an Uber.
Yes, girl.
Leila is a closeted queer Muslim woman, who is trying to figure out how to balance the many sides of her without compromising. She knows she wants to pursue a relationship with another woman, but doesn’t know how to break it to her family.
The Soundtrack Fits Every Episode Perfectly
Chicago based singer Jamila Woods is the official music consultant of Brown Girls and also created the series’ theme song! Hopefully, a full playlist of the songs used in the series will drop soon.
Um, It’s Hilarious.
Have you ever just sat back and laughed at the struggle that is your life? Yeah, me too girl. Despite tackling some heavy topics, Brown Girls is hilarious. From Lelia drukenly fighting her old boo’s new girl at a party to their mutual friend getting pink eye from eating ass— yes, eating ass, Brown Girls goes there. With only 7 episodes, it’s a quick binge watch that’ll leave you like me, not so patiently waiting for a new season!
So, if you’re need of a new show or looking for a show in which girls who look like you are more than a background character, checkout Brown Girls. You can watch all episodes of the web series on the official site here.
What are some of your favorite web series? Let me know in the comment section!
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One of those "I like MF DOOM" type girls trying to figure out life in her 20's.
