When Mara Brock Akil was a little girl, she read with Voraciously Judged Blume. With hindsight, she considers her obsession as the beginning of her writer.
So when Akil heard that Blume allowed her work to be translated on the screen, she was ready: “My hand of the little girl just fired:” I want to do that! ” “Said Akil.
She adds that even if the youth of this generation can seek information on the Internet – and sometimes a disinformation – Blume was its own source of confidence.
“The age of information has linked us and we see things that we could not see or know, and Judy was only for us,” explains Akil. “Judy wrote in a place that was really anchored and gave humanity in its own right to young people and their lives. She took their lives seriously. ”
Akil channeled his affection for Blume's work in a New adaptation of the 1975 author's novel “Forever …” which was presented Thursday on Netflix. Focused on two teenagers falling in love, the book contains sex scenes that have placed it on prohibited lists of its creation – and Blume, whose work offers a frank discussion of subjects such as masturbation and menstruation, is not unrelated to the lists of prohibited books, despite the sale of more than 90 million pounds in the world. But as censorship accelerates, Blume has become something of a Hot goods in Hollywood. In addition to the documentary “Judy Blume Forever”, a feature film based on his novel “Are you God?” It's me, Margaret “ Released in 2023, an adaptation of “Summer Sisters” is in development at Hulu and an animated film based on “Superfudge” is in preparation at Disney +.
Michael Cooper Jr. in “Forever”.
(Hilary Bronwyn Gayle / Netflix)
Akil's “Forever”, taking place in 2018 in Los Angeles, Stars Michael Cooper Jr. and Lovie Simone As the teenager leads – although the roles are exchanged by the sex of the novel. In 2020, while Akil developed adaptation, she tried to think of who is the most vulnerable person in society.
“I apply that the black boy is the most vulnerable,” she says. “My muse is my eldest son, and through the portal of him, I have to go to the generation and really start looking at what was going on.”
While working on the project, she realized that there were few representations of boys and young men whose history is anchored in love, rather than relegating love to a lateral intrigue. “Mentally, emotionally, physically – they too deserve to fall in love and to be desired and to bring someone in love with them,” she said. “And for Keisha – her honesty was attractive to her. How often do we really see this level of vulnerability be the main guy? ”
In the real Blume style, Akil has also incorporated a central problem affecting people today – technology.
“The phone is a great character in the show because there is a lot of duality on the phone,” she said.
Throughout the series, the characters use phones to connect and disconnect via blocked messages, lost voice messages and unfinished texts. In the first, the drama revolves around dreaded disappeared ellipsia – this feeling when you can see someone type, then it stops.
Mara Brock Akil.
(Error Emma)
Akil laughs when I lift him: “At all ages, this ellipse will boot your buttocks.”
And when you add sex to the mixture, everything becomes more loaded. “The phone in modern times is an extension of pleasure in sexuality, when used confidently, then it can be armed,” explains Akil. “This can be so damaging for the future of this generation at a time when errors are inherent in their development.”
It is this bright consciousness that errors have not changed, but the consequences have what founds the version of Akil of “Forever”. “There are a lot of real fear and real difficult choices that parents are going through,” says Akil. “And at that time of errors, children can make a mistake and die by exploring drugs or -“
She stops. “I become very emotional about the state of young people and their inability to make a mistake,” she says, “because I think most young people make good choices.”
Akil says that Blume and his family saw the episodes more than once and told the showrunner that she really enjoyed them. Akil remembers the first meeting with Blume.
“I was nervous. I wanted to be seen by her, ”she says. “I walked and she allowed it and then, as, you sit your soul. We had a conversation, and it was intended and magical. I was grateful to have listened to, and it allowed me to come to the table saying: “I know how to translate this. “”.
I ask Akil why she thinks that Blume's work continues to resonate for decades in its original form and generating new projects to attract the next generation of viewers and, hopefully, readers.
“She is relevant because she dared to tell us the truth,” explains Akil. “And the truth is forever.”
