[[link removed]]

PORTSIDE CULTURE

HOW HBO’S INDUSTRY EXPLORES THE UNSATISFACTORY ROLE-PLAYING THAT
WORKPLACES DEMAND OF BLACK WOMEN  
[[link removed]]


 

Gloria Oladipo
September 8, 2024
The Guardian
[[link removed]]


*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

_ The firestorm financial drama offers an incisive look into this
phenomenon, and into race, more broadly _

Myha’la as Stern in HBO’s Industry. , Photograph: Nick
Strasburg/BBC/Bad Wolf Productions/HBO

 

_This article contains spoilers for multiple seasons of Industry._

In her 2020 essay
[[link removed]] When
Black Women Go From Office Pet to Office Threat, the writer Erika
Stallings broke down the pipeline that many Black women go through at
the corporate level.

First lauded as miracle hires, or “office pets”, Black women,
Stallings argues, are treated in a “child-like” fashion, as their
bosses assume to know what’s best for them and assert what
appropriate behavior is. Black women can quickly find themselves
debased and scrutinized as “threats”, she writes, especially after
hypercompetence or when they manage to secure positions of power.

“Pets often experience feelings of tokenism, invisibility, pressure
to assimilate, mistreatment, and being overprotected by colleagues,”
Stallings wrote. “When Black women resist their status as pets, they
find themselves transforming into a threat … [experiencing]
microaggressions or punishment for challenging the status quo of the
workplace.”

American democracy is in peril. And racism will be the sledgehammer
that destroys it
[[link removed]]

Kimberlé W Crenshaw
[[link removed]]

Read more
[[link removed]]

Industry, the firestorm HBO
[[link removed]] financial drama now in its
third season, offers an incisive look into this phenomenon, and into
race, more broadly, in the modern-day workplace. The show’s
protagonist, Harper Stern, shifts at various points between “pet”
and “threat” throughout her career, in her vacillating attempts to
stay ahead in the precarious financial world. But Industry argues that
even when Black people “win” in white workplaces – when they
embrace their status as “pets” or appeal to gatekeepers by working
“twice as hard” (only to be rejected as “threats”) – they
still lose. The show argues that there is never really a way for Stern
as a Black woman (or anyone really) to “win” at capitalism, not
without shelling out some part of themselves.

Several television shows
[[link removed]] in
recent memory have attempted to portray being Black at work: dealing
with microaggressions from white co-workers, navigating pay
disparities. Nella from The Other Black Girl
[[link removed]] and
Molly and Issa from Insecure all tried to amend their workplaces. They
rejected the notion that getting a seat at the table is enough, either
questioning the table’s validity or at least trying to make more
room for others. Industry, on the other hand, makes a point to show
that some Black protagonists are just comfortable with a cushier
chair.

At the series’ start, Stern (played by Myha’la) is a hungry, young
graduate at Pierpoint, a London investment bank. She is one of two
Black people in her cohort, and the only Black American woman. Through
a blend of shrewdness, smarts and calculated fraternizing (see:
recreational drugs), Stern manages to secure a permanent position. She
blasts through the firm’s ranks, an Icarian overachiever, by being
ruthless, underhanded, constantly proving herself to be the firm’s
best investment. Stern fully embraces her “threat” status. Despite
several fumbles at work, she stays afloat by being a bold risk-taker,
an attribute her white co-workers don’t have. Her wings are clipped
only when she is fired by HR for falsifying a college transcript. Eric
Tao (Ken Leung), Stern’s Asian American manager, blows her secret
after becoming increasingly intimidated by her success.

At her next job, Stern becomes a chameleon. She crafts a distinctly
new identity after her traumatic dismissal from Pierpoint, a workplace
she has given up long hours and her moral compass for. Set adrift
post-firing, she attempts to wedge her way into the “office pet”
role, which doesn’t quite fit her flair of ambition. Now working as
a lowly assistant at the “ethical” investment fund FutureDawn,
Stern speaks in a softer, more casual tone versus her usual sharpness.
She wears cream wool sweater vests instead of structured blazers,
making her appear more demure. When a white co-worker chastises Stern
for her failure to recycle a disposable coffee cup, she offers a
cordial apology where the old Harper would have offered a sarcastic
put-down.

Harper undergoes the unsatisfactory kind of role-playing that
workplaces demand of Black women. But what’s most interesting is her
desire to stay in the game. Despite repeated rejections and
degradations, Harper is eager to remain in finance, attempting to best
the system through the various fronts she puts on.

In that vein, Industry also examines the strict conditions under which
Harper’s ambition can survive and thrive. At Pierpoint, Stern’s
sly and unsparing mentality wins her adoration, but ultimately leads
to her downfall. Her attempts to “play the game” at FutureDawn, to
etch out legitimate routes of success, are met with tight-lipped
smiles and head shakes. Her pleas to be included in the company’s
investment choices are shot down, emphasizing her ultimate status as
an outsider.

Stern makes some headway when she accepts the macro-aggressions lobbed
at her, proving to others that she is above political correctness. For
instance, at a climate conference in Aspen, Otto (Roger Barclay), the
epitome of “white man capitalist”, questions how Stern got
invited.

“Why do you assume I’m not influential enough to make the list?”
Stern asks.

“Because you’re a diminutive woman,” Otto replies.

When another white man, an “ally”, argues that climate change
would be resolved if women were in charge, Stern barbs back: “I
prefer the kind of feminism where women can be cunts.”

In this moment, she has gained temporary respect for placating
Otto’s sexism. But Stern goes even further, embracing her audacious
nature to woo potential investors. After failing to secure funding for
a startup hedge fund, she reveals a confidential plan in front of her
current boss and former Pierpoint colleagues, including Tao, a petty
revenge play that works in her favor. Stern has once again burned
bridges, this time with FutureDawn, but she has also succeeded at her
goal and established herself as a legitimate competitor and peer.

Industry understands that Stern, as a Black woman, will always be in a
vulnerable position. Yes, she has secured a temporary landing of
triumph, but there is still the anxiety that at any point her victory
could be washed away. She previously thought she had found bonafide
success at Pierpoint, only to be summarily dismissed for her lack of
credentials. Now she feels that her acumen has paid off, but even that
has a provisional tinge. After all, she is winning a game – of
success, of white approval – that is also playing her.

* Industry
[[link removed]]
* HBO
[[link removed]]
* financial sector
[[link removed]]
* banking
[[link removed]]
* race
[[link removed]]
* class
[[link removed]]
* Black Women
[[link removed]]

*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

 

 

 

INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT

 

 

Submit via web
[[link removed]]

Submit via email
Frequently asked questions
[[link removed]]
Manage subscription
[[link removed]]
Visit portside.org
[[link removed]]

Twitter [[link removed]]

Facebook [[link removed]]

 



########################################################################

[link removed]

To unsubscribe from the xxxxxx list, click the following link:
[link removed]