Netflix’s ‘When They See Us’ is “Biased” and “Slanted!”
These are the two words that Ava DuVernay used to describe her Netflix series, ‘When They See Us.’ The series has been out since June of 2019 and has yet to face much backlash even while it’s creator, Ava DuVernay, has bragged about how “biased” it is. Even still, journalists and show hosts have yet to ask Central Park 5 members or DuVernay questions about many of the discrepancies. Some audiences, as well as journalists, treat the series as if it were the 100% gospel truth. But, Netflix’s ‘When They See Us’ is “Biased” & “Slanted” just like DuVernay said in the interview, and as you will see here.
People typically question the amount of truth that goes into films that are “based on” real events. Documentaries and docuseries get a bit less scrutiny. However, ‘When They See Us’ is not a true story, and is also not a docuseries. DuVernay did base her version of the story on actual events. But, the story was very much her manipulation of the truth in an attempt to push a particular age and race narrative. The Central Park 5 themselves twisted their stories into something that came right out of their imaginations. Ava DuVernay took the story from The Five and manipulated it further. Eventually, it morphed into something almost unrecognizable. The average person isn’t privy to the facts surrounding the real-life events of April 19th, 1989.
You Were Never Supposed to Know The Truth
The reality is much more sinister and likely to make people see the 5 in a different light. For that reason, it is harmful to show the truth. They don’t want anyone to say that Ava DuVernay’s ‘When They See Us’ is fake news. That reality is that The Central Park 5 were in that park that Wednesday night to “beat people up and take bicycles.” Several robberies and assaults occurred at the hands of the thirty or so teenage boys that ran with the five that night. They have admitted to this multiple times before their becoming so popular.
So how is it that Ava DuVernay can tell her audiences that Netflix’s ‘When They See Us’ is “Biased” & “Slanted?” The simple answer is that some people have a fierce desire to prove that the narrative of a racist criminal justice system, isn’t a myth. Because this case checks the one and the only box that “proves” that system has racism so profoundly ingrained within. That box is an interracial crime that left blacks to have the police placing them in prison. That’s it.
