Little American Review: A good foundation is the whole problem

Claim after the new Apple TV Plus series Little America interesting: Creators have come out to adapt to the true stories of American immigrants on TV. As the need for media diversity continues to be a hot topic – both before and after the camera, and in the voting bodies of the awards – Little America looks like an easy victory for Apple, in terms of producing relevant content and telling stories that have never been given space before. Executive-produced spouses and The Big Sick Co-authors Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon no Master of noneAlan Yang, among other things, this series discusses eight different stories about people from different backgrounds in eight parts of America. And yet, in all that range of human vision, it feels extremely futile.

It is not that stories (fictional fiction) do share details. They are surprisingly different, from a story about a young Indian boy who treats his parents from being chased to another about a French woman who wanders on her return to silent meditation. The connective tissue between the episodes is the most unpleasant shared. The problem comes directly from the show's objectives: Said Nanjiani The creative group "did not want to present a political show with a specific agenda." Although he acknowledged that any story about immigration would be political, he said he believed making the story of the aliens more about these themes would "take" the focus away from the human story and put it in the American political system. And we didn't want that. ”

A group of children sit around a woman standing in Little America — The scene that appears *Little America*The first episode, "The Manager."

As a result, Little America The mud, and its politics are directly tied to their "good" message. The same The morning show, The Apple TV Plus & # 39; s collection is a fight, written to appeal to as many people as possible by the neutrality it has – the show panders to conservatives and liberals alike, and even the Matt Lauer stand-in is made redundant. It's frustrating to get into The morning show; it's disappointing in the middle Little America. "Foreigners, they are like us!" It's a good message for thought, but it works, especially now, as aliens they are treated like animals by the American government, it is easy and cheap.

Writing to The Verge, a journalist Joshua Rivera criticized Rian Johnson & # 39; s The knives using "a trope that ultimately harms people whose ambition aims to intensify: the idea of & # 39; a good immigrant, & # 39; the last thing is that immigrants and people of color deserve to be treated manually because they liked received their personality, not because they are human. “Something is almost the same Little America, except for the purpose of the & # 39; s excellent series. Almost all of its stories follow the formula of hard-earned wealth, and to some extent, consensus, which is the way to victory in America.

This is a modern version of the American dream: Work hard enough, and America can be yours. But surprisingly, Little America it looks like it was designed by viewers who are already considered "American," e.g., the white audience. Removing a wealthy name-family from The knives, this is a show of the Thrombeys of the world – the kinds of people who consider themselves free, but see the right to remain unregulated in America as something to be gained, and think of other cultures as “good race. "One of the most bizarre episodes," Baker, "sees a St. Louis woman struggling to sell her cookies – until she begins to carry them in a basket on her head, when locals start finding her" sweet "and start shopping for her. the magic of Africa. ") The episode emphasizes this as a moment of triumph, rather than expressing concern over how international cultures can be integrated.

two children kissing their mother's cheeks as the camera takes a photo in Little America

In the crowd, a Middle Eastern man smiles, covered in purple, in Little America

Three episodes of the series & # 39; eight are able to tell deep stories, two because they are in clear political, and one because they relate to the storytelling format. “Grand Prize Winners” and “Son” openly point to China’s political plans (an American woman having trouble communicating with her two children while releasing memories of her parents being sold to a childless couple under one China policy) and Syria (a man fleeing his family and applying for asylum in the US after after his father found out he was gay). These issues do not suffer because they criticize international politics and how it affects the people. Instead, they actually make for more detailed characters by backing their journey against a defined layer rather than "work hard and you can overcome the prejudices of others."

"Silence," meanwhile, is as exciting as the end of the play-around episode: It explores the backdrop of meditation where attendees are not allowed to speak, making it just a quiet story. This is one episode that focuses on a white alien, a woman who has returned to work for herself. "A lot of people have an idea of what it looks like to be a foreigner, but the fact is, there are far more differences than what those stereotypes allow," said Sian Heder, episode director.

However, it is told that the episode about the white alien is the most playable, as the woman (played by Mélanie Laurent) has a dream come true with her escaping members. And unlike the other episodes, which are focused on overcoming adversity, there is no uniform barrier to working toward acceptance. There is a real function, that the returning members all have tasks to perform, but that has nothing to do with the returning members receiving the central character. His struggle is simply to say that peace is about equality, not that America rejects him. What eventually happened proved that he spoke only French, it had no real impact on his relations with other meditators.

A white woman sitting on an orange top holds a capuchin monkey in the Little America — Mélanie Laurent and the monkey.

By making "The Silence" brighter compared to other episodes, Little America it plays on the same idea trying to chase it. Anyone can be an immigrant, but whites or white immigrants do not have to prove they deserve compassion. It sounds unintentional when “The Silence” emphasizes that point; this episode becomes like a comedy for anyone who protested that white people are having a hard time entering America. It feels neglected by Optics in the same way that the series doesn't care what it looks like when a black character sells only his goods by inventing a "strange" image to impress white customers.

Unless you have a healthy slide for new shows, the Apple TV Plus remains a platform without solid ownership. As it tries to attract all viewers, crossing its rivals, and similar shows The morning show and Little America they are part of the problem. They have promising locations, but when they are meant to entice as few people as possible, they become strangers. The basic problem with Little America that the stories they tell are unequal in today's politics, and intentionally departing from important points and ultimately distorting their outcome.

Already a devastating notion has emerged that only certain immigrants should be allowed to enter the U.S. based on the "supposed merit," and present immigration issues only as those findings are added to the fire. Apple TV Plus has a lot of money and big names behind its program, though Dickinson it looks like the end of an outstanding show, allowing its creator to continue to introduce Emily Dickinson to the new generation. The show doesn't play safe (Wiz Khalifa is playing death!), Which makes it very difficult. Little America it can follow a sequence, as can the entire Apple TV Plus system.

Disclosure: Little America is based on factual stories published by Epic Magazine, a subsidiary of Vox Media, which is Polygon's parent company.