'Black Twitter' review: Insightful film shows how users built community of memes, movements
The commentators discussing Black Twitter on the Hulu documentary include cultural critic Van Lathan (from left), comedian W. Kamau Bell and journalist Jemele Hill.
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“In the same way that we took scraps and leftovers and made soul food, and in the same way that we took our lamentations and made gospel music, we took … Twitter and we made it a storytelling forum.” — Journalist and professor Dr. Meredith Clark in “Black Twitter: A People’s History.”
Even before director Prentice Penny’s three-part Hulu documentary series “Black Twitter: A People’s History” makes its debut, some commenters on Black Twitter have been questioning the purpose of a documentary about Black Twitter — and then there's commentary about that.
As Angelina Velasquez noted in an article for Revolt, one @Virtuous14 tweeted, “Black Twitter arguing over whether that Black Twitter documentary is gonna include all the right people and topics is the most Black Twitter thing ever,” while director Penny (the showrunner for “Insecure” and a veteran sitcom writer) chimed in with, “I’d like to think after 20 years after holding the culture down, y’all would trust I got #blacktwitterhulu best interest in mind. But lowkey, I also love Black Twitter mad hesitant and petty 'bout it, too! LOL!”
Something tells me that once “Black Twitter: A People’s History” premieres on Thursday, we’re going to see a whole new round of comments on Black Twitter — and those comments will be as insightful and hilarious and thought-provoking as the series itself, which is based on a Wired magazine article by Jason Parham titled “A People’s History of Black Twitter.”
Couple things here. Yes, Twitter is now officially known as “X,” but none of the myriad journalists, influencers, TV personalities, comedians, scholars, etc., interviewed for the series are calling it “X.” Also, Black Twitter is not an official organization, or a URL, or an app, or some kind of Twitter subgroup. It’s an organically created community consisting of the famous, the semi-famous and (perhaps most important) “ordinary” people who are actually quite extraordinary, all using the platform to create memes and movements, to crack jokes and to crack down on intolerance, to be there for one another.
Director Penny and his team skillfully blend dozens of interviews with a treasure trove of archival footage and some perfectly placed clips from TV shows and movies to create a fascinating document of Black Twitter, which continues to evolve, adapt and adjust with the times. Most documentaries look back at events, whether recent or in the distant past; “Black Twitter” is a historical record but also a mirror to present times.
With a host of brilliant and witty interviewees including comedian and director Kamau Bell, former Obama administration official Brad Jenkins, cultural critic Van Lathan, author and journalist Jemele Hill, creative consultant April Reign, researcher and scholar Shamika Klassen and many, many others providing commentary and context along the way, “Black Twitter” starts with a look back at the early years of Twitter and the creations of hashtags such as #YouKnowYoureBlackWhen, e.g, “You know you’re Black when you can go to a cookout late and still be early,” and, “You’re know you’re Black when NOBODY is allowed into the living room.”
As Black Twitter gained momentum, white people such as your friendly neighborhood critic looked on with interest; as Parham hilariously notes, “White folks talk about Black Twitter likes it’s Wakanda.” He’s not wrong.
We’re reminded of how a heated debate about Kobe Bryant led to the famous slogan, “Meet me in Temecula,” how the TV show “Scandal” blew up on Twitter and led to thousands of clever Tweets, and how the Twitter user Zola became famous and inspired a movie with her legendary, 148-tweet thread about a wild road trip. Meanwhile, celebrities such as Kevin Durant, Snoop Dogg and Questlove would engage with fans on Twitter, giving Black Twitter a real sense of a shared community, a virtual neighborhood where all had a voice.
Episodes 2 and 3 take on a more serious tone, as Twitter becomes an important platform for calling out the “Karens” of the world, and the launching point for movements, including #BlackLivesMatter, a hashtag that was created on Facebook following the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting of Trayvon Martin and accelerated on Twitter in August of 2014 after the fatal shooting of Michael Brown by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, and the #OscarsSoWhite movement.
We’re also reminded that even in the most tragic and heartbreaking of times, as with the COVID-19 pandemic, Black Twitter can be a place not only for comfort but for fantastic (and comforting) comedic discourse. Even the Jan. 6 insurrection spawned some hilarious commentary, and a hashtag noting the race of the vast majority of protesters: #ComeGetYourWhiteCousin.
With Elon Musk now owning “X” and one of the most important presidential elections in our country’s history just months away, Black Twitter continues to be a vital voice. Not that it’s one big collective voice, of course; that’s the point, and that’s what makes it so great.