By Ayesha Begum, Senior Editor
The Noughts and Crosses book series by Malorie Blackman, first published in 2001, takes place in an alternate universe where native African people (‘crosses’) have the upper hand in western civilisation and turn to suppress white people (‘noughts’) with Persephone (or Sephy for short) and Callum being the two main characters.
Due to large levels of success, the first book has finally become a TV series but it is unknown at present whether there will be further seasons.
Many, including myself, have been anticipating this release and for me, it lived up to my expectations and went above and beyond. However, I must warn ahead that there are some ‘spoilers’ and that a re-read of the series is long overdue so this review/semi-analysis will be based purely on the show itself and will not be drawing comparisons to the written work.
This first episode, in one word, was spectacular - it sets the scene for the rest of the series and any sequels that may arise. Now, I am no professional movie critic and I would say that I am quite easily impressed however, even I noticed and enjoyed the subtle changes in lighting whether it was the fireworks that lit up on Persephone’s and Callum’s face or the way the Nought areas were submerged in darkness whereas Cross households oozed oranges and reds.
Contrary to the premise of the storyline, life is not just seperated into black and white. This episode shows the multifaceted nature of pretty much anything from the love Sephy and Callum feel for each other to the worryingly familiar anti-Cross Nought campaigner.
Yes, Sephy and Callum have romantic feelings for each other and it is a fictional universe so ‘love at first sight’ is a completely acceptable explanation but, perhaps, there’s something more to it.
Sephy and Callum first met each other when they were both children; Callum’s mother would bring him to work with her when she was babysitting Sephy. They then grew apart and forgot about each other only to meet at a party hosted at Sephy’s home, with Callum helping his mum out by waitering. Maybe rather than just having mutual non-platonic feelings of affection for each other, this relationship may even be built on the foundations of sentiment and nostalgia and an almost yearning for a simpler time; perhaps being with each is the only way they believe they can return back to this time in their lives where they only knew a world with the other in and were carefree, careless children.
In relation to familiar figures, the gatherings held in pubs with the leader of Liberation Militia ,Jack Dorn, strangely resonates with today’s societies. These events, although arguably had reasonable explanations for being held, were nonetheless fuelled by scaremongering, hatred, and division, rather than being built up of points supported by indisputable evidence and reasoned debates. Although having not attended such an event myself, I can only imagine that this is what gatherings of far-right groups such as the EDL (English Defence League) and even incognito UKIP meetings would comprise of.
The scaremongering is particularly relevant in both this episode and in real life; at the end of the episode, Jack Dorn ends up asphyxiating Danny (a friend of Callum and Jude, Callum’s brother, who was to be arrested at the beginning of the episode and consequently was attacked by Cross police officers and left in a critical state at the local Nought hospital) until his death. The preview for the next episode shows Jack at another one of his gatherings emphasising what happened to Danny and encouraging revolt against Crosses. This is a very similar tactic to what the aforementioned groups do in order to achieve their aims - they tend to manipulate information and take it out of context so that it suits their agenda.
Another instance of such intentional acts can be seen in the way news is reported on the Cross news stations; this version of events reports that Danny attacked a police officer and the police officer was simply practising self defence.
However, at the beginning of the episode, we can see that although Danny did disobey instructions, he did not act violently towards the police and the violent reaction was unprovoked. Not only is this reflective of our own supposedly impartial news sources, it also shows the unnerving amount of influence the ruling minority can have on the majority so that they can achieve their ulterior motives. Moreover, the whole issue of police brutality itself is something that is in the public eye quite frequently as of late. Despite being a fictional universe and story, this still teaches us of our own society and tells us not to take things at face value and see things as simply as black and white.
Aside from the more ‘deep’ things that this single episode has managed to address, there are also subtle nuances that carry themselves throughout the episode.
The crosses often switch between speaking a native African language to English and often wear traditional patterns hailing from the continent of Africa. Callum, a nought, addresses his father, also a nought, with the cross term for dad and even says it in the same accent with the same intonation and such.
Sephy and Callum first lock eyes and re-meet each other when Callum cuts himself and Sephy applies a plaster for him. The plaster, just like the plasters in our universe, are flesh coloured but are a significantly darker shade in order to meet the requirements of the majority.
Not only do these features, evidently, reflect years of habitation and colonisation, they also made me reconsider popular culture, language and even the purpose of plasters.
In order to relate it back even more to our world and society, there was also grime music played during scenes involving Noughts. Grime is a music genre dominated by black artists, thus the placement of this specific music alongside those rejected from popular society should not be seen as mere coincidence.
Stormzy, a grime artist, is also set to feature as a character later in this series which further emphasises the real power and importance of actual representation; by the way, if you’re looking for more on recent-ish British ethnic minority representation (very niche, I know), check out Riz Ahmed’s new album where he addresses being ‘British’.
Contrary to what many critics (such as former Brexit party election candidate Calvin Robinson writing for The Daily Mail) may argue, I do not believe it is a ‘race-baiting and anti-white’ production. It is an, arguably, trivial TV show that happens to have universal appeal as it engages with all aspects of ‘real’ society, even if it is more to do with race and identity. What a viewer should take away from the series is what they have learnt from it, not the actual content itself.
Watch episodes as they come out every Thursday at 9pm on BBC One or binge watch the whole series in one go on BBC iPlayer.
READ MORE LIKE THIS...
READ MORE BY...
Comments