With ‘When They See Us’ and ‘Leila’, Netflix is wagging its own war against conservatism
While one looks back upon the mistakes committed, the other warns about a future that might be far more lethal.
Lawyer Elizabeth Lederer, the prosecutor of the 1989 Central Park Five case, has reportedly decided to not return to her job as a lecturer at the Columbia Law School. The decision follows a petition that was put forward by the members of Columbia University's Black Students Organisation who immediately demanded for the lecturer’s resignation on the onset of the outcry caused by Netflix’s latest mini-series, ‘When They See Us’. Such was the impact of the series which not only brought forward one of America’s most crucial controversies but also presented the story to a new audience who are fighting the war for equality.
Ava DuVernay’s ‘When They See Us’, which is right now the most watched show in America, tracks the racial discrimination which underlined the Central Park jogger case, where a then 28-year-old woman, Trisha Ellen Meili, was brutally assaulted and raped. Five young boys, between the age range of 14-16 years were charged guilty in the case but there was one major flaw here. None of the boys had committed the murder, and their arrest was solely based on a few lose evidence that did not even include a proper DNA check but was majorly based upon the idea of them being black and hispanic, poor and uneducated, basically the marginalized section. All of them spent the rest of their teenhood and a major part of their adulthood in prison, and when they were released it became difficult for them to get back to a normal life until the real rapist stepped forward and confessed his guilt after 12 years.
‘When They See Us’ tells the story of the most notorious judicial flaw. (IMDb)
The show is not only a heart-breaking throwback to the infamous tragedy caused by the judicial body but it also takes several leaps forward and backward, bringing in contemporary political aspects under concern. ‘When They See Us’ highlights present US President, Donald Trump’s, reaction to the then convicted five boys who were absolutely innocent. Trump, then a property tycoon in America, had reportedly asked for the return and the imposition of the death penalty on these five boys, in an advertisement that apparently cost 85,000 dollars. In a 1989 interview with CNN, Trump had told Larry King, “The problem with our society is the victim has absolutely no rights and the criminal has unbelievable rights" and that "maybe hate is what we need if we're gonna get something done."
Following the show’s release, the lawyers of the five boys, had mentioned that Trump’s infuriating advertisement had caused major damage to their social lives. One of the defence counsellors, Michael W.Warren had said then, “I think Donald Trump at the very least owes a real apology to this community and to the young men and their families.” However, till today Trump continues to remain adamant about his opinion on the Central Park Five as he claims that they are most likely guilty, and “These young men do not exactly have the pasts of angels.” The rightist conservatives, like Trump, also maintain the five men as the original guilty in the case.
If nothing else, ‘When They See Us’ has become a trademark show not because it is another historical take on what was wrong in the past but it is almost a commentary on the shaded conservative beliefs which seem to be dominating world politics today. Similarly, Deepa Mehta’s adaptation of Prayaag Akbar’s 2017 novel, ‘Leila’, deals with the similar idea of discrimination but in a dystopian setting. Somewhere between the realism of ‘When They See Us’ and the naturalism of George Orwell’s ‘1984’, ‘Leila’ acts as a warning at what India might turn out to be if it does not tone down its obsession with one religion. Keeping up with its relevant dystopian society where communities in districts are divided according to their caste, religion and income, ‘Leila’ is a take on India’s treatment of its diversity which more than being its strength has always acted as its setback.
‘Leila’ is a warning against what India might become. (IMDb)
In his book, ‘An Ordinary Man's Guide to Radicalism: Growing up Muslim in India’, Neya Farooque, draws a line between what is believed about Muslims in India and what the reality about Muslims in India actually is. Highlighting what is perhaps the biggest controversy during Modi’s reign as the PM, the Babri Masjid demolition, Farooque had stated during an interview with AlJazeera, “Anti-Muslim bigotry has been normalised in the democratic process of the country under Modi. It is an attack on the Constitution, not merely on the Muslim community...Hindutva (the Hindu supremacist ideology professed by the ruling party) needs an enemy to survive, and hence, Muslims are their prime enemy.” This fact that in order to establish one belief on must find an enemy echoes loudly throughout the two Netflix series, ‘Leila’ and ‘When They See Us’.
Both of them have on one side the believers who are after all a group of people trying to impose their values upon the state by convicting the other group as the enemy, on the other side there are the victims who are falling prey to this turmoil between what is and what should be. If checked from the perspective of the believer- in the case of ‘Leila’ Guru Ma (played by Arif Zakaria) and in ‘When They See Us’ Linda Fairstein (played by Felicity Huffman) - they are people who in their own minds are fighting for justice. Linda kept repeating throughout the series that she wanted to punish the crime committed against women, and Guru Ma wants to stabilize one religion, without having to compromise for other religions. However, that is also where their problem lies, the lack of inclusivity. Linda did fight for the woman but that she fought a blind war where nothing other than her ideas work. As for Guru Ma the conversion is almost an indication towards his own insecurity about the presence of anything that does not match with his ideas. Both these antagonists in the two shows is like a striking reminder, although in a subtle way, of the two conservative parties who are now ruling two giant countries in the world. It seems Netflix is wagging its own war against conservative rights by visiting the past and creating a future for the present to observe.
