Archive Talks: I May Destroy You: On Women and Anger
In-person: Professor Kathleen McHugh, Department of English and the Department of Film, Television and Digital Media.
Post-#MeToo, films and television shows — many written and directed by women — have redefined female anger not as sickness or evil, but as, in the words of Audre Lorde, “a source of information and energy” that has the potential to access “the living contexts of other women.” Professor Kathleen McHugh’s latest research on women and anger explores the topic through Michaela Coel’s groundbreaking series I May Destroy You, which, McHugh argues, channels Coel’s anger as both trauma response and creative force. The result: a bold, complex portrait of survival, consent and artistic self-possession. Professor McHugh will give a brief talk, followed by a screening and on-stage conversation.
I May Destroy You (2020)
Michaela Coel’s I May Destroy You is a radical, genre-defying exploration of trauma, consent and creative survival in the post-#MeToo era. Inspired by Coel’s own experience of assault, the series follows Arabella, a rising writer whose rape during a night out shatters her sense of reality. In Episode 1, Arabella vanishes into the night, only to wake with no memory and a wound on her forehead. Episode 9 explores how her growing online presence alienates those closest to her. The finale imagines alternate confrontations with her rapist before Arabella ultimately reclaims her narrative. Formally daring and emotionally fearless, Coel’s series resists tidy resolutions, instead offering a bold meditation on self-preservation and the messy, nonlinear work of healing.
Episode 1: “Eyes Eyes Eyes Eyes”
Digital video, color, 30 min. Max. Director: Sam Miller. Screenwriters: Michaela Coel, Sherie Myers, Stephanie Yamson. With: Michaela Coel, Weruche Opia, Paapa Essiedu, Marouane Zotti, Stephen Wight.
Episode 9: “Social Media Is a Great Way to Connect”
Digital video, color, 32 min. Max. Director: Sam Miller. Screenwriters: Michaela Coel, Sherie Myers, Stephanie Yamson. With: Michaela Coel, Weruche Opia, Paapa Essiedu, Stephen Wight.
Episode 12: “Ego Death”
Digital video, color, 34 min. Max. Directors: Michaela Coel, Sam Miller. Screenwriters: Michaela Coel, Sherie Myers, Stephanie Yamson. With: Michaela Coel, Weruche Opia, Paapa Essiedu, Lewis Reeves.
The UCLA Film & Television Archive is a division of UCLA Library, and presents its public programs in the Billy Wilder Theater at the Hammer, among other venues. For more information about the Archive, visit cinema.ucla.edu.
ATTENDING THIS PROGRAM?
Ticketing: Admission to Archive screenings at the Hammer is free. Your seat will be assigned to you when you pick up your ticket at the box office. Seats are assigned on a first come, first served basis. Box office opens one hour before the event. Questions should be directed to the Archive at programming@cinema.ucla.edu or 310-206-8013.
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