The complexity of feminism and representation in Hulu's "The Other Black Girl"

The Other Black Girl is a 2023 series based on the 2021 book of the same name by Zakiya Dalila Harris. It explores black representation in the workplace as well as the complexities of it through the story of Nella Rogers (Sinclair Daniel) intertwined with others. She is an assistant and becomes an editor. On the way, she learns the value and misfortune of representation at Wagner Books. Nella is inspired by Kendra Rae Phillips (Cassi Maddox) who is the only black person and black woman pictured in the "hall of white people". She worked at Wagner as the editor in 1988 and inspired Nella, especially with her work on "Burning Heart" with her best friend, Diana Gordon(Shakirah DeMesier). She wants to be able to edit books and tell stories someday so that "a nerdy, little Black girl who didn't grow up with kids who looked like her could imagine a bigger world" to "feel less alone". Nella worked as Vera Parini's (Bellamy Young) assistant and Vera valued her. However, their relationship turned sour as they continuously clashed about her opinion of Shartricia, a black female character in Colin Franklin's (Brian Baumgartner) book. Shartricia is the only black character within the crack epidemic and she is written in a way that includes every harmful stereotype. Nella believes she is unfavourable, especially from a white author. Vera receives her feedback but orders her to keep it hidden because they need to be diplomatic to save the company as his work contributes to a large portion of the company's profits. This represents the silenced and underrepresentation of diverse voices at Wagner where there had been only one black person in an influential position in history.

However, this disturbs Nella and her problem is shared with Hazel-May McCall (Ashleigh Murray) who was recently hired. Both of them share an appreciation for Burning Heart and Vera so she confides in Hazel. After the two attempts at allyship through Sophie's(Kate Owens) piece titled "The Token in the Corporate Machine: Being Black in a White Workplace" and Maisy's (Alyshia Ochse) statements, having someone she sees herself in was comforting to her. This comfort was channelled into joy which was shared by her best friend, Malaika (Brittany Adebumola) and boyfriend, Owen (Hunter Parrish). Nella tells Malaika, "The new Yang is black." Yang (Iris Liu) was a fellow assistant of Asian descent who left before Hazel was hired in her place. Malaika says she had been hoping for this and lit intention candles for it. Nella thinking it's overdue says, "It's like Wagner realized that we're in 2023 and there can no longer just be one of us" which Malaika supports and asks about Hazel. Hazel is adjusting fairly well and gets to know about Nella's efforts at the office as Richard Wagner (Eric McCormack) calls Nella the rising star, saying "she's the glue around here". Hazel is surprised by his personality calling him "surprisingly cool." With the newfound support she got from Hazel, Nella goes against Vera's request to be "diplomatic" by telling Colin her opinions about his stereotypical depiction of Shartricia. However, Hazel does not support her as promised and betrays her by supporting the book's ideas.

Nella thought Hazel was 'so cool' and hoped they could be real friends as well as work friends as she celebrated her arrival with her best friend and boyfriend. This moment of betrayal hurt Nella emotionally and professionally as she put her faith in Hazel's encouragement. She is reprimanded by Vera and is coerced to apologize to Colin before the eventual blowback from the book occurred. After the book was leaked, the Shartricia character caused a great digital uproar as Wagner was deemed racist even though many previously thought so due to their lack of representation. However, the Wagner employees returned to Nella for solutions to the very situation she warned them about. Hazel gains Nella's trust back and despite Malaika's warning is still close to Nella. Nella includes her in the project for a re-release of Burning Heart with Diana Gordon (Garcelle Beauvais) and they try to be more familiar with each other despite Shani's (Karina Willis) attempt of warning her. Hazel works to get closer to Nella as well and she invites her to a hair party she was hosting. Nella and Malaika join Hazel and her friends to celebrate the beauty of hair which is important in the black community. There they encounter Malaika's ex-girlfriend, Ruby (Briana Starks) who was very different from how Malaika knew her. She was more polished and knowledgable than she knew her to be and Ruby attributed it all to her proximity to Hazel. Ruby says that Hazel is really about "protecting black women" and gave her so much to become who she wanted to be. Malaika realized Ruby was dressed like Hazel just like Nella was and searched for her.

During this party, Hazel's friends praise Nella and due to her discomfort she asks why they were being nice to her but they make their stance on support of women known as they say they should all be nice to each other. They let her know that she's not part of their sisterhood until they touch her hair. When she is hesitant, they turn things on her saying it's okay if she doesn't trust Hazel yet before Nella allows it. Malaika stops Hazel and discourages Nella from using the unknown chemicals by discussing her natural hair journey. The importance of hair in the black community is portrayed in this scene as they use it as a sign of trust. Hair-making is often linked to a dear memory of a respectable figure taking the time to change one's appearance and discuss therefore building trust with one another. Utilizing this medium to betray a person serves as a deep breach of trust in relationships. Despite Malaika's discomfort with the cult-like ladies, Nella felt a sense of peaceful welcome. She explains to Malaika that she could never be herself all the time like Malaika, who works in a predominantly black workplace can be. She is from Connecticut and often feels as if she weren't black enough like Hazel who is from Harlem but Malaika consoles her and tells her she could always be herself around her. She agrees to Malaika's plan to search around but if she finds nothing she will stop talking about them. Nella finds a file on several ladies including herself for transformations. She is scared as they are also marked as voluntary and involuntary but more so because Malaika's suspicions were valid. They escape with the help of Owen and speculate about the possible plans behind the documents in the file.

Left alone, Hazel and her followers' real personalities are revealed as they apologize to Hazel for their failure. However, Hazel announces that they have a new sister and Shani is shown. After her abduction by them, Shani is transformed into a latte-bringing and silk-pressing-wearing person. Shani was a co-worker of Hazel's while she was in Boston under a different name. Just like Nella, she thought the presence of another black lady was wonderful and overdue but their friendship turned sour after Hazel tried to give Shani "CBD for the soul". Her unacceptance was deemed compromising and dealt with immediately. She lost her job, her home, and her money as she was left with nothing. This was Hazel's first mission. Hazel failed to get her to take the grease but she was more unhappy about the aftermath of the failure on Shani's life. Upset, Hazel decides to leave. Chantal is Hazel's real name. She initially joined the sisterhood after attending a Harvard event that Diana spoke at. Chantal is the breadwinner of her family and did not go to college for credibility regardless of her ability which rendered her job application useless. Her father died, her mother is paralyzed, and her sibling is not working so she is frustrated. She had dreams but felt shackled to her responsibilities so Diana inviting her to attend the meeting was hopeful and important to her.

The formation of the sisterhood by Diana was sensible when considering Diana's determination. She fought to create opportunities for herself and benefitted from Kendra's opportunities as well. This was evident in how she called and talked to Richard about Kendra's work before saying that she writes. Kendra confirmed her ability and asked if she could come for lunch. Kendra asked if she came to see her or Richard and she said they both won by going to lunch with him to discuss. At the meeting, Diana asks them what they want, says she believes in them, and massages their scalp with this grease concoction. Chantal believed she shouldn't want more and that people are worse off but she's worked so hard and she wants to feel worthy, accepted and free. She said she felt she was never going to make it but she just wanted to, "feel…worthy. I wanna feel accepted and I wanna feel free. I think we all should want that. We should all have that." Similar to how Nella told Malaika that she felt like a weight had been lifted off her when she was with the creepy sisterhood, Hazel felt the same. This allowed Chantal to be herself like Nella felt and welcomed her dreams and emotions. However, Chantal questioned some things. She itched and wanted to take the wig off but was interrupted by Diana's visit. Diana praised her for how well she had done elevating herself. She asked Diana if there were any side effects of the grease as she described her excessive scratching. She also felt her memory was being affected as she said she "had to look up what BLM was today". Diana tells her it's probably new and says she told her it would be hard the first time. The utilization of harmful chemicals with unknown effects is harmful but Chantal's desperation leads her to continue blindly believing in the instructions of Diana. Diana is taking advantage of Chantal's brokenness to further her mission while avoiding her mental and physical worries. It represents the often exploitative nature of several movements and organizations.

Despite Chantal's unhappiness about Shani, she returned to Diana to avoid her stagnant situation at home. She goes on several more missions and at some point is promised that her next mission will be her last allowing her to keep everything from that version of her life. Chantal or Hazel's last target is Nella. Diana encouraged Hazel about the benefit of their mission to put people like themselves in places of power for equality in several situations of society. Nella realizes this and Malaika says that "the system always wins." She realized that Richard was recruiting and placing docile black women across the country. However, she didn't realize that Diana was his partner and they had many more plans before Kendra (April Parker Jones) returned to save her despite her 30-year absence. Malaika encourages Nella to stop their mass spread instead of running away like Kendra Rae who knew what they had been doing because she was the first test subject and knew Diana's relationship with Richard. Nella is encouraged to stop and get the grease by Hazel. Hazel tells her that, "Compromising doesn't have to mean giving up your goals. You just have to play the game because it is the only way that we can win in a system that is stacked against us." This supports the belief that black people can not win a rigged game in a society shaped to be of great disadvantage to black people. It allows the possibility of a compromise and even relaxation while trying to achieve certain goals. Hazel adds that the grease "just makes it so it doesn't hurt so much." She expresses the importance of some form of mental relaxation while dealing with the daily expectations of determination to achieve one's goals. However, Nella decides to fool Diana, Richard and Hazel while planning a correction from within Wagner Books. The initial eerie nature of the series seems pointless once it is revealed that Kendra Rae Phillips is still alive. There is no explanation for the ghost-like haunting Nella endured for a while. Before Yang left she told her, "Don't let this place suck the life out of you." Nella goes through several emotions in a short period while seeing the negative effect of desiring representation through the sisterhood group formed by Diana creating involuntary cases. Nella had told Diana that pain is beneficial as well but Diana wants people to worry less and have representatives in several places. It doesn't sound like a bad plan but their method is forced.

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