issa rae: ‘insecure’ is not made ‘for dudes’ or ‘white people’

As Insecure winds down its critically-acclaimed second season (don’t worry, a third has already been green-lit by HBO), it has become a living testament for producing and supporting art that is by and for marginalized communities—the same communities we have been fallaciously taught entertainment must extend beyond and into the mainstream if it is to succeed.

What makes Insecure so great is that it is unapologetically about Black women, and doesn’t seem interested in explaining this community’s inside jokes in hopes of appealing to a universal audience. If Black women have lived centuries connecting to the stories of everyone else, everyone else can figure out how to connect to the stories of Black women too. Or, if they can’t figure out how to connect, maybe Black women connecting to themselves for once is enough to constitute success.

According to the show’s creator, Issa Rae, this bold specificity is by design. “In creating and writing the show, this is not for dudes,” Rae told The RollingStone in a recent interview. “It’s not for white people. It’s the show that I imagined for my family and friends.”

What’s amazing is that a Black woman’s imagination still holds so much space that non-Black, non-women can resonate deeply with the characters and stories despite. “The fact that dudes have latched onto this character is such a compliment, because we’re mostly women writing these male characters,” Rae continued.

It’s almost as if centering the margins includes everyone in imagining a different world. Hmmm…

Read the full interview here.