Selah and the Spades: How the Series Would've Benefited Young Adult Media

The world was introduced to Selah Summers and Haldwell Academy in April 2020. Selah is the titular character of Selah and the Spades, an independent Young Adult drama that tells the story of how Selah walks a fine line between being feared and being loved. Months before the film’s release, Variety released an article stating that Amazon Studios had bought the rights to the film and planned to develop a series based on the movie. According to the article, the show was supposed to expound on the world of Haldwell Academy, possibly after Selah graduated. Unfortunately, we learned a few years back from Tayarisha Poe (the writer and director) on Twitter that the series isn’t happening. Looking at the current state of Young Adult Entertainment, Amazon should've developed the series. Teen media today lacks authentic minority representation, original content, and has alienated teen audiences. If the Selah and the Spades series existed, there would be more minority representation in teen media, an original show amongst the sea of remakes and reboots, and a show that doesn't alienate teen audiences.

Throughout this essay, I will approach this topic as if the series were a continuation of the movie. The Variety article stated that it would focus on the world of Haldwell, but it was not confirmed if the series would be a continuation or a more fleshed-out version of the movie. One way Young Adult media would've benefited from the Selah and the Spades series is minority representation.

Selah and the Spades was released during the time when society pretended to care about black issues. Tayarisha Poe gave black people, especially teens, representation that was meaningful, intentional, and lacked stereotypes. Selah wasn't a victim of racism or lived in a low-income neighborhood plagued by drugs and gang violence. She was a cheerleader with a prestigious life, and her enemy was herself, a representation of black girls who constantly got in the way of themselves for one reason or another. Also, the two co-leads were black and weren't written as stereotypes and harmful tropes. Even the minor characters were diverse.

Representation is important to black and other communities of color because it allows minority groups to find support and validation. It can also help reduce negative stereotypes and boost self-esteem. The lack of representation can affect how we view ourselves and our culture, leading to people internalizing hatred of their culture and people.

In this current state of Young Adult Media, studios aren't concerned with telling stories authentic to black teens. Black characters are designated to the best friend role, and we often wonder if the writer care enough about the black character to show them outside of the white friends or surround them with other black characters. It seems like studios would rather reboot a film from the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s where they will only hire a token black character instead of giving their audience an authentic black show made by a black creator. The black character in question will either be a one-dimensional best friend, the villain, the disposable minority in a love triangle, or a race-swap that doesn't consider the negative trope or stereotype the character is forced into. They give us these black characters to keep us quiet about the show's lack of diversity, but not enough to provide these characters with good writing. Some YA shows don't even bother casting minorities at all, leading to the #WhereAreTheBlackGirls movement.

#WhereAreTheBlackGirls started on Twitter, addressing the lack of black girls in YA media. For the past year or so, there have been casting announcements without a black or half-black actress in the main cast. A Twitter user named Kay made a thread of the casting announcements, and the Melanated Wise Girl on YouTube made a video about this phenomenon. Grace Duah, an actress who played Shari Barnes in the Gossip Girl reboot, joined the conversation to say that she has trouble booking roles outside of short independent films.

If the Selah and the Spades series had been developed, not only would we have a show with authentic and nuanced minority characters, but there would be roles available for black actresses. We wouldn't have to ask, "Where are the black girls?"

Another way Young Adult Media would've benefited from the Selah and the Spades series is that it would be an original show.

The film was an original creation, something different from the remakes and reboots that have saturated Young Adult media.

Almost every other casting announcement is a remake or reboot of something from the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s for a new generation, even though most of these properties didn't age well to begin with. As I write this essay, it was announced that 10 Things I Hate About You will be rebooted for three series spin-offs. These remakes and reboots are often done to fix the issues with the original series, like how the Gossip Girl and Pretty Little Liars reboots added black characters because the original series lacked diversity.

Constant remakes and reboots happen because of money, which is unsurprising considering that we live in a capitalistic society. Remakes, reboots, and even book adaptations come with ready-made audiences from the fans of the previous works, who will either watch the new rendition just to see how it turns out or hate-watch it to dunk on it. Therefore, creating a remake or reboot sounds more financially responsible than gambling on a new IP, which can lose the production company money.

While I understand the sentiment, I disagree with not releasing original content.

Remakes and reboots were fun when they happened once or twice a year. Now, the industry seems to have become dependent on them, alienating new audiences and writers from telling their stories. A 2023 Teens & Screens study by UCLA's Center for Scholars & Storytellers found that 56% of adolescents wanted more original content instead of constantly producing remakes and reboots.

Although the Selah and the Spades series would have been based on the movie, it would still be something new and fresh among the sea of remakes and reboots.

The third way Young Adult Entertainment would've benefited from the Selah and the Spades series is that it would cater to teen audiences.

The film showcased two things Gen Z wants to see: more platonic friendships and fewer sex scenes.

In the 2023 Teens & Screens Report from UCLA's CSS Department mentioned earlier, 1500 adolescents between the ages of 10 and 24 were surveyed on their opinions about the state of media. The one thing that stood out in the survey was how Gen Z wanted fewer sex scenes.

While reading articles on this topic, I noticed how the outlets hyper-focused on the part about less sex scenes for their headlines when the responses were also asking for the media to show more platonic friendships and representations of teenagers who aren't hyper-sexual or even thinking about sex. Gen Z is just tired of the same heteronormative storytelling that shows romance more than friendships and the glorification of toxic relationships and gender roles.

Yalda T. Uhis—the founder, director of UCLA's CSS, and co-author of the study—noted that the survey reflected how teens and adolescents would like to see different kinds of relationships in the media. Researchers Stephanie Rivas-Lara and Hiral Kotecha, both Gen Z'ers themselves, recognized that there may be a connection between the loneliness felt during the COVID-19 lockdown and their wanting to see more platonic friendships in media. "Young people are feeling a lack of close friendships, a separation from their community, and a sense that their digital citizen identity has superseded their sense of belonging in the real world."

Platonic friendships are usually featured in adult media like Insecure and Harlem, but they're few and far between in Young Adult media. When we do see them in shows like Grand Army and the Gossip Girl Reboot, the show gets canceled after one or two seasons.

When it comes to sex scenes, Gen Z would like to see less of it, and I think it has to do with how meaningless these scenes can be and that it feels like these adult creators are sexualizing teenagers.

Euphoria is one show I would like to bring up in this conversation. I've never seen Euphoria outside of clips that my Twitter mutual posts and retweets, but I know it has sex scenes. I was surprised to learn this show takes place in high school because I initially thought it was about people in rehab going through the ups and downs of their recovery. During its second season run, articles were released of Sydney Sweeney saying that she asked Sam Levinson, the creator, to cut down her character's topless scenes if they weren't necessary. Fortunately, he obliged and she didn't feel pressured to continue doing those scenes.

Riverdale was also named as a teen show with unnecessary sex scenes that aren't important to the plot and lack sexual education.

When teen shows do this, they seem to appeal to adult audiences who want to see teenagers in salacious situations instead of the teen audience they claim to represent. It's one thing to make a teen show that an adult just happens to enjoy, but it's another to make a teen show for adults. It feels like some teen shows are doing the latter.

When it comes to the sexualization of teen characters, a lot of people argue that "the actors are adults." Yes, the actors are adults and have consented to performing these acts on television. However, the characters are still minors, and it’s uncomfortable watching these characters perform sexual acts in the nude. Sexualizing these characters contributes to the real-life sexualization of minors. While television can't be faulted for the sexualizing of young teens, the constant showcasing and defending of this practice adds to it. Why should they have to see it in the media if they already deal with it in real life?

A counterargument on why removing sex scenes wouldn’t be a good idea has to do with desirability. Sex scenes in media are usually between two heterosexual, relatively fit, able-bodied white people. This excludes fat people, people of color, disabled people, and other marginalized groups from being viewed as desirable. If love and desire for those people aren't shown in the media, it could add to more discrimination against people of marginalized groups as well as lower their confidence.

An example is MelJay (Mel Medarda and Jayce Tallo from Arcane). Members of the Arcane fandom can't fathom the idea of a beautiful black woman being loved on—especially by a character they're attracted to—and they keep trying to designate her to the friend role. Earlier in this essay, I mentioned how minority characters in Young Adult media are often designated to the best friend and supportive role, which society likes to keep them in. When a black character is portrayed as a nuanced person worth loving, fans get angry and do what they can to put them back into that friend role. This is why it's crucial to have representations of black characters that are more than the best friend and the support system or an unmemorable side character.

I don't have an opinion on what the media should do about sex scenes because both sides of the argument have valid points. I'm not a fan of graphic sex scenes, especially if the scene isn't crucial to the plot, but I don't want marginalized people to be viewed as undesirable because the media chooses not to represent them. However, no one should force themselves to sit through graphic sex scenes if it makes them uncomfortable. Everyone should do what's best for their tolerance levels.

Teenagers are going to have sex whether we want them to or not. Sex does come with mental and emotional baggage they may or may not be equipped to handle, but it's unrealistic to pretend that they're not having sex. So, I don't think it's wrong when a teen show decides to explore teenage sexuality, but I do find it weird when creators sexualize teen characters.

Also, we can't ignore how sex-heavy some shows are, like Euphoria, Power, and Game of Thrones (and some of the scenes are uncomfortable to watch because they're not nice to women). They’re soft-core porn with mainstream actors and good-ish storytelling.

This topic was discussed in a YouTube video by Khadija Mbowe titled, S*x in Teen programming, how much is TOO much? I highly recommend this video to anyone who wants another perspective on teen sexuality in media.

The Selah and The Spades series could've been a teen show that deals with teen issues without graphic sex scenes. The movie showcased a platonic bond between teenagers with scenes of Selah, Paloma, and Maxxie playing in the fields. Also, Selah is shown to have no (or low) interest in sex, so I imagine there would've been another character like that in the show.

The final way Young Adult Entertainment would've benefited from the Selah and the Spades series is that it would've been filmed from a black woman's perspective.

Since the film was written and directed by a Black woman, the female character was portrayed in a way that did not cater to the male gaze.

The Male Gaze, according to Wikipedia, is defined as a masculine, heterosexual perspective that presents and represents women as objects of desire and pleasure for the heterosexual male viewer. TV Tropes describe it as a form of gaze arising from the assumption that the audience mainly comprises straight males. According to Examples Web, the male gaze theory examines how visual media often reflect a male perspective, shaping societal views on femininity and power. This concept influences the portrayal of women across various platforms, from film to advertising. And Project Censored noted how most of these production companies are led by white men, so there's a bit of the white gaze in media as well.

Laura Mulvey published Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema, an essay discussing how mainstream media in the 1970s objectified women through the lens of a heterosexual male. I tried to read Mulvey's essay, but her complex language made it difficult for me to understand her points. However, I watched a ten-minute video of her breaking down her essay. YouTuber Khadija Mbowe explained the essay more clearly in their video, The Feminine Urge to Internalize the Male Gaze, unpacking desirability.

Under the male gaze, women are only seen as something to be sexualized and objectified. Women in heterosexual sex scenes are often more nude than the man because she's not seen as a person with autonomy. Even women in charge of these media companies are usually pressured to maintain the male gaze, especially when the male workers under them don't respect them.

Like the film, the series would've had nuanced female characters who are more than just objects of desire for the male characters and audiences. While the media is doing better by allowing more women behind the camera to tell their stories, it would be nice to see more of that reflected in Young Adult Entertainment.

Writing this essay has made me realize how special Selah and the Spades was and why I have a profound love for it five years later. The movie was an original story of a black girl who is her own enemy told by a black woman with a diverse cast. Selah was both her story's hero and villain, giving her a nuanced portrayal. There were no graphic sex scenes, no male gaze, and it was a teen movie that actually kept teen audiences in mind. With all of that, I don't understand why Amazon didn't develop the series. We should've gotten it.

Somewhere in an alternate universe, the Selah and the Spades series is on its fifth (possibly final) season with an upcoming college and/or new class spin-off in development. I just mourn that we didn’t get it in this universe.

Works cited:

Amazon Studios Buys ‘Selah and the Spades.’ Will Develop Original Series by Brent Lang

Why Representation Matters and Why It’s Still Not Enough by Kevin Leo Yabut Nadal, PH.D.

S*x in Teen programming, how much is TOO much? by Khadija Mbowe

UCLA Center for Scholars & Storytellers Teens & Screens 2023

Sex has a place in teen shows. Sexualization of teenagers doesn’t. from The Queen’s Universtiy Journal

Looking for ‘nomance’: Study finds teens wants less sex in their TV and movies by Chloe Veltman

‘Nomance’: Shows with sex scenes growing more unpopular with Gen Z, according to new study by Doc Louallen

Gen Z is turned off by onscreen sex, wants no-mance over romance, a new study finds by Emily St. Martin

Gen Z Teens Want Less Sex on Screen, According to New UCLA Study by Jaden Thompson

Sydney Sweeney Asked Euphoria Creator to Reduce Her Topless Scenes by Adam Bentz

Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema by Laura Mulvey

Freud, Hollywood and the male gaze from The British Academy

The Feminine urge to Internalize the Male Gaze, unpacking desirability by Khadija Mbowe

Male Gaze from TV Tropes

Understanding the Male Gaze and How It Objectifies Women by Sarah Vanbuskirk

Male Gaze Theory: Key Examples in Media from Example Web

Male Gaze and its Impact on Gender Portrayals in Media from Project Censored