[A blunt but mostly entertaining adaptation of Zakiya Dalila
Harris’s bestseller The Other Black Girl explores the complexities
of race in the office ]
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PORTSIDE CULTURE

THE OTHER BLACK GIRL REVIEW – WORKPLACE THRILLER MIXES SATIRE WITH
SILLINESS  
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Gloria Oladipo
September 13, 2023
The Guardian
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_ A blunt but mostly entertaining adaptation of Zakiya Dalila
Harris’s bestseller 'The Other Black Girl' explores the complexities
of race in the office _

A still from The Other Black Girl. , Photograph: Disney undefined

 

“How much longer are you willing to compromise yourself for a
paycheck?”

It’s a question lobbed at Nella, the Black editorial assistant at
the center of Hulu’s series The Other Black Girl. Based on the
bestseller by Zakiya Dalila Harris, The Other Black Girl dissects the
horror of insidious racism in white workplaces. But its mechanisms for
exploring workplace anti-Blackness can feel divorced from a complex
examination.

As the only Black person at Wagner, an all-white publishing house,
Nella (Sinclair Daniel) navigates a specific tightrope. Nella is on
call to answer all questions Black, but mustn’t be too honest. She
is the injection of diversity that white employers salivate over in a
post-2020 world, but cannot be _too _Black (her lotion of choice is
too scented for the white people she works with). The burden of being
the only one, the boulder of that request, is impossible, but so
familiar (to some of us).

But one day, Nella is joined by Hazel (Ashleigh Murray), another Black
girl. Hazel’s presence is a balm to Nella’s double-consciousness
at Wagner, a comrade in the daily attempt to walk in dignity. But
Hazel also brings unease. Her spotty past and incessant ambition raise
red flags among Nella’s tribe, her best friend Malaika and boyfriend
Owen (Brittany Adebumola and Hunter Parrish, a kinetic and hilarious
pairing).

Nella also receives a warning corresponding with Hazel’s arrival: a
note instructing her to “leave Wagner now”. Nella’s professional
aspirations get tangled in trying to understand who Hazel really is
and dissect Wagner’s sordid past involving its only Black editor.

The Other Black Girl is part satirical “white ignorance” comedy,
part horror, a tale of why we code-switch. Devices like flicking,
fluorescent lights, though heavy-handed, foreshadow the terror of
Nella’s circumstances and being Black in white workplaces at large.
There are plenty of silly white people quips, like a white editor
seemingly perplexed at the mention of the rapper Lil Baby. Other
signposts of a white workplace abound: the overly eager white ally,
white bosses dangling carrot sticks of promotions in front of Black
workers (news flash: you will never get it). The adaption competently
defines the panopticon of whiteness facing Black employees everywhere,
splashing in its absurdity.

But the logic of how and why Black employees are forced to tiptoe in
white workplaces gets lost. Wagner fully embraces call-outs from
Hazel, who demands that Nella be publicly credited for her ideas.
Wagner’s CEO immediately fires a white editor who attempts to bury
evidence of racism in a prominent author’s book. In fact, Nella
begins to enjoy the blossoming of her career without any renewed
commitment to code-switching. The painting of Wagner as
self-correcting is confusing and challenges any reason for why Nella
would have to assimilate (the twist revealing how assimilation happens
is, unfortunately, flat).

The horror aspect is also, at times, a bit freewheeling. The
programming of Black women into corporate prodigies spins into action
movie territory, complete with kidnappings by masked people and
interrogations in leaky back rooms. The reason for the widespread
coerced assimilation plot, especially with such violent means, is
muddled. It’s a contrived inflation of stakes when the mere tension
of being Black at work is dramatic enough.

The Other Black Girl’s dive into questions of agency and choice
around assimilation is what makes it rich. Daniel’s embodiment of an
overeager employee is _necessary_, cracking open with inner turmoil
and anxiety. An examination of Hazel’s background, commanding work
by Murray, adds similar dimensions into the paradox of hustle.

At its best, The Other Black Girl provides a needed examination of the
self-sacrifices involved with being Black and getting ahead. And an
important reminder that skin folk are, in fact, not always kinfolk.

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The Other Black Girl is now available on Hulu in the US and on Disney+
elsewhere

* the other black girl
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* race
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* Black Women
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* code switching
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