Amanda Parris is out to change the narrative with ‘Revenge of the Black Best Friend’

Award-winning writer, producer and CBC host Amanda Parris is hoping to change the narrative and shine a light on the clichés and stereotypes applied to Black characters onscreen.

“I know so many talented black actors in Canada, particularly who work in both theatre and film. In theatre, you get to see them do incredible things. There’s such a wide range of roles that I’ve seen so many incredible Black actors play, but then when you see them on the television side they’d often be in these very limited, one-note roles,” said Parris.

Her sharp yet hilarious new satirical series, “Revenge of the Black Best Friend,” shows how Black actors continue to navigate stereotypes in the film and television industry — for instance, always the sassy Black best friend or the Black actor who dies first in a horror movie.

The inspiration for the CBC Gem web series, which she created, co-wrote and co-produced, was not a light-bulb moment for Parris but something she realized while rewatching her favourite 1990s movies. “I went through a little binge of watching a lot of teen movies and shows that I grew up with in the ’90s. As I was watching them, I saw the Black characters that I had remembered as having a more prominent place — probably because I needed somebody to relate to — and it just seemed like they were very marginalized in the story.

“I was like, ‘Oh, man, this sucks!’ especially when it came to seeing actors that you later on saw the breadth of what they could do, but in this moment they were really marginalized and tokenized. That kind of stuck with me for a while.”

Parris, whose play “Other Side of the Game” won a Governor General’s Award for English-language drama, said the first iteration of the series was imagining a support group for Black actors who were always tokenized.

In episode one, for instance, Canadian actor Andrea Lewis, known for her role in the long-running TV series “Degrassi: The Next Generation,” says she has “a lot of experience being the token raisin in the oatmeal.” “It’s years of voice silencing, talent marginalizing, concerned gaslighting all with a big dose of Canadian politeness that just makes you feel crazy that you’re not grateful for the crumbs.”

“It was important to me and to all the writers who contributed to the show that we make sure that we are not Canadians pointing our fingers at the U.S. and being like, ‘You guys suck at this’ and not looking at our own backyard at what the industry is doing here,” Parris said when asked about that dialogue.

Lewis “spoke publicly about her frustration with the limitations of her role on ‘Degrassi,’ which was part of why I wanted her to be on the show. I wanted someone who in real life has had the courage to speak up, and to name the limits and the missed opportunities in the Canadian industry.”

Parris is grateful for actors who have had that courage. “This show is really my attempt to also acknowledge and affirm the experiences of actors that have been courageous enough to call out these things in an industry that doesn’t always want to hear about what they’ve done wrong. There’s more of a space for that kind of conversation right now. But when Andrea Lewis did it, there wasn’t. There was no conversation around diversity and equity and having these issues talked about.”

“Revenge of the Black Best Friend” also shines a light on tokenized characters in Hollywood despite its Canadian setting. “What we’re talking about transcends any national borders, like it’s something that occurs in the industry in the U.S., in the U.K. and here, but I wanted to make sure that we named here so that we didn’t get to do what Canada loves to do, which is kind of move to the side, like ‘That has nothing to do with us!’”

A short, digestible web series allows for more experimentation and a lot more space for emerging creators who don’t have a lot on their resumés.

“I thought it was a good format for me and for the idea just because I have limited experience and I thought it would be a good space to learn,” said Parris. “I just thought a digital series might be a really cool space where we’re not thinking about commercial breaks, we’re not thinking about an exact time frame that has to be 30 minutes or an hour. I thought it was just nice to have a little bit of that freedom.”

Parris, who will receive the inaugural Changemaker Award at the 2022 Canadian Screen Awards, loves the character of Dr. Toni Shakur, the show’s self-help guru played by Olunike Adeliyi, whose mission is to cancel the entertainment industry’s reliance on token Black characters. Parris believes Canadian television hasn’t seen a woman like her before.

“I do think that there is potential for this show and this character of Dr. Toni Shakur to move into a more conventional sort of full series iteration. I don’t think the idea has to be contained to the digital series,” Parris said. “I’d love to explore her journey for a little while longer definitely with a larger platform.”

She hopes “Revenge of the Black Best Friend” becomes a conversation starter.

“For those that are the gatekeepers or the people in power, I hope that the question that emerges is, ‘Are we reinforcing these stereotypes in the work that we do? How can we challenge ourselves to push a little bit more and to create something a little bit more interesting?’ Then for those folks that are trying to push against this stuff and are advocating against it, ‘Are we creating weird brands around this activism? And is that problematic as well?’”

Parris also hopes the audience becomes more critical of what they’re watching and the characters they’re looking at, and thinks about the missed opportunities in the stories they’re watching, too.