By Leyya Sattar and Roshni Goyate

We’re weeks into lockdown and have probably exhausted all of our Netflix to-watch lists. But worry not, we’re here to share some of our own recommendations over the next few weeks with the #TOBrecommends series. 

And because we’re The Other Box, these will be specifically diverse and inclusive recommendations. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve seen everyday racism and xenophobia being perpetuated by world leaders like the US President who for weeks insisted on calling coronavirus the ‘Chinese virus’. We see inequalities being perpetuated along the lines of race, age, disability and class through who has access to healthcare and testing. It feels more important than ever to seek out diverse perspectives and experiences. We want to move away from harmful stereotypes and share some marginalised stories that people, no matter what their background, will find relatable. So we’ve scoured Netflix for movies and shows that tell diverse and inclusive stories. 

We’re kicking off with comedy shows. Because we all could do with a little humour and light relief when we’re facing the biggest global pandemic of our lifetimes. And oftentimes, humour – done well – has an incredible way of delivering hard truths in a way that everyone can just get it. 

Leyya’s Picks

Ali Wong: Hard Knock Wife and Baby Cobra

Okay, I couldn’t choose between Ali Wong’s two Netflix standup comedy specials Baby Cobra and Hard Knock Wife so I’m recommending both. Ali Wong presents a boundary-pushing performance unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. She performs both times heavily pregnant, delivering an hour of hilarious as well as brutal honesty. She addresses topics from: sex, race, marriage, ageing, pregnancy and parenthood and her experience with infertility and miscarriage. I can’t tell you how refreshing it is to hear and see an Asian-American female narrative take centre stage – a rarity in not just the comedy world but throughout mainstream film, TV and media.

Jane The Virgin

Jane the Virgin is a sweet romantic comedy series set in Miami and based on Latin-American telenovelas. The show centres the story on an intergenerational matriarchal family, the Villanueva’s: Jane, her mother Xiomara and her grandmother Alba who speaks Spanish throughout (which was great for me who’s practising the language!). It’s full of outrageous, larger-than-life storylines framed by a Latin-lover narrator Anthony Mendez who I can guarantee will make you smile throughout.

The story begins with Jane, who’s a virgin being artificially inseminated by her gynaecologist – who turns out to be her baby daddy’s sister. But as the story unfolds it looks at pregnancy, motherhood, women’s health, love, family, religion, politics, immigration and undocumented workers all through a Latinx lens.

The show isn’t without it’s controversy with Gina Rodriguez, who plays the lead character Jane, coming under scrutiny for making a series of anti-black statements when advocating for greater Latinx diversity and representation. Her ignorance is far too common, especially when discussing diversity and shows how complex and nuanced the topic is. Latinx representation is important to discuss, but not at the expense of Black people. Sofia Quintero describes it best in her tweet below:

The Good Place

This show is a quirky fantasy comedy TV series which explores themes of philosophy, ethics, morality and the meaning of life. The series is set in the ‘afterlife’ where humans are either sent to the ‘Good Place’ or the ‘Bad Place’ after death, based on a numerical score board of how good they were when they were alive. If you end up in the Good Place, your every wish and desire would be provided by an AI robot named Janet. And if you end up in the bad place, you can expect an eternity of torture. 

We meet the main characters in The Good Place, Eleanor Shellstrop the ‘Arizona dirtbag’ played by Kristen Bell, British Pakistani socialite Tahani played by Jameela Jamil; Jason who is a Filipino-American man-child played by Manny Jacinto and Chidi the Ethics Professor (and chronic overthinker) whose heritage is Nigerian, played by William Jackson Harper. And finally, my favourite character Michael the angel-architect of the neighbourhood, played by TV veteran Ted Danson.

One of my favourite thing about the show is how it effortlessly proves you can have exaggerated, and ridiculous characters without having to resort to stereotypes or outdated tropes. The cast is diverse, and so multifaceted full of depth and charm (although I have to admit it took me a while to warm to Jameela’s character Tahani who’s presented as a very rich, posh socialite name dropping celebrities at every chance). However saying that, when she first came on the screen I was so happy to see some British Pakistani representation!

Again, the diversity isn’t perfect in terms of intersectional representation, but it’s more than what we usually get and is a great start. This show is so charming, and entertaining and I am sad it’s over. But also happy you get to enjoy it too so make sure you watch!

Roshni’s picks

Kim’s Convenience

Kims Convenience is a show that depicts the Korean Canadian Kim family who run a convenience store in the Moss Park neighbourhood of Toronto: parents "Appa" and "Umma" – Korean for "dad" and "mum" – along with their daughter Janet and estranged son Jung. Even though I’m not Korean or Canadian, there’s something about Kim’s Convenience that just feels like home. Maybe because despite the diversity of immigrant and diasporic experience around the world, there are things that are somehow universal. Kim’s Convenience does an amazing job of balancing that universality with authenticity beautifully with relatable characters and scenarios.    

While race and immigrant experience may seem the obvious thing for the show to cover, it opens with a fun and nuanced storyline where Appa, after being accused of homophobia, decides to offer a store discount to gay customers during Toronto Pride Week – but he doesn't seem to be very good at determining who qualifies for it. This everyday complexity of real-life continues through four seasons, showing in-depth characters of colour, with sharp dialogue and complex storylines – all while keeping the humour afloat. It’s also extremely watchable. At 30-minutes per episode, I’ve found myself tearing through 6 episodes in one sitting...well, at least I did before my little one became mobile! 

Leslie Jones: Time Machine

A moment of honesty here: it took me ages to find a black female doing standup on Netflix that didn't have problematic elements of transphobia, homophobia or other phobias, made within the last 5 years – if you know of any, we’d love to know! But Leslie Jones is an absolute shining gem of hilarity and honesty. You might recognise her from the recent 2016 remake of Ghostbusters. Her standup show Time Machine draws directly on her experience as a black woman in her 50s who has been doing standup for the best part of three decades.

She takes us through her changing body, her changing attitudes, her changing hopes and dreams through her lived decades. While I’m resistant to older people cussing out younger people, or vice versa, her show unfolds in a spectacularly empathetic, and laugh-a-minute way, ending in her revisiting herself as a 20-something year old in a figurative time-machine. I love her physical humour, her booming voice and her immaculately spiked hair, and I hope you will too! 

What comedy shows have you watched that surprised you with their nuance and inclusivity in storytelling? We’d love to know! Tweet us or comment on our Instagram post @_TheOtherBox