WANNABE

An interrogation of movies, TV, and music and their impact through the lens of a Black millennial.

In this debut collection of lively essays, Harris, co-host of NPR’s “Pop Culture Happy Hour,” ranges from topics such as how to critique Black art and the cultish behavior of superfans, aka stans, to how parenthood and the desire to have children are depicted on-screen. The author shows how pop culture narrowly depicts Black and brown people and lays out the entertainment industry’s uneven transformation to more equitable representation. The strongest essays are the personal ones, such as “I’m a Cool Girl,” which shows how Harris took her cues on dating from romantic comedies such as Sleepless in Seattle and She’s Gotta Have It, featuring the powerful protagonist Nola. “I’m drawn to her,” writes the author, “because she’s emanating domination and superiority, wielding the quintessential Brooklyn artist life in the kind of vast, chic, exposed-brick Fort Greene loft that no twenty-something could afford today without self-identifying as a trust-fund baby, influencer, or both.” Later, Harris speaks to how she was often the only Black girl in her friend group and how she just “wanted desperately to blend in and bury the inescapable self-awareness of being The Only One at a time in my life when existing as anyone already really, really sucks to begin with.” In some of the more academic essays, the author cites numerous studies, articles, and opinion pieces, which can feel like padding in an already-slim book. Furthermore, since pop culture contains many genres and is always expanding, one wonders whether many of the current TV shows, movies, and songs Harris references will be remembered by readers in five years. Still, this collection offers a thoughtful and incisive discussion on how pop culture, whether intentional or not, influences the way we move in the world.

A vibrant, well-researched view on how current pop culture both reflects and informs our society.