Jason Momoa’s New Show Serves As a Reminder entertainment Journalism needs disabled critics
Last week, I stumbled upon a story from 9to5 Mac’s Marcus Mendes about a forthcoming new drama coming to Apple TV+ this summer, at the beginning of August. The series, called Chief Of War chronicles the events of the unification of the Hawaiian islands. The drama stars Jason Momoa in the lead role as Ka’iana. Notably, Chief Of War marks his second time receiving top billing in a guy-kicking-ass Apple TV+ property.
Momoa, of course, played the main character, Boba Voss, in See. The show, about a post-apocalyptic civilization in which everybody has no eyesight, was one of the original titles when TV+ launched in November 2019 and ran for 3 seasons. News of Chief Of War grabbed my attention because of Momoa’s involvement with See, which, in turn, reminded me of its reception. Rotten Tomatoes gives it 63% rating, which admittedly isn’t that great. Likewise, Daniel Fienberg at The Hollywood Reporter said the show lacked “enough depth or vision” in his review while Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com said See “[suffers] from a tone that can’t push through the world-building to give us characters or a story to care about.” The message is clear: most pundits, including influential people in the media like critics, widely panned See.
Nearly 3 years later, I’m still pissed about the reception to See. And I’m not the only one: Joe Strechay, a Blind film consultant, told me during a 2021 interview he was “disappointed” by the critical response to the show. (Strechay also worked on the acclaimed 2023 Netflix limited series All The Light We Cannot See, which I covered too.)
I acknowledge it’s a nuanced position. As an entertainment vehicle, it’s obvious no one is obligated to like a show’s conceit; it’s perfectly valid to find something—See very much included—boring or, as Tallerico called it, “a slog.” People like what they like. The lingering bitterness over the reaction to See is less about the show as art and more about the show as representation. To wit, See remains close to my heart in large part because of the ways in which it amplifies awareness of the Blind and low vision community, as well as how it smashes through the societal stereotypes of people like me. Blindness is at the core of the show, not taking a backseat in the storyline in a tokenized way. While Momoa himself is sighted, there were many Blind and low vision people who worked on See, both on screen and behind it, and that matters a whole lot in terms of disability representation. In an industry—Hollywood—where disabled people historically have been pitied and portrayed as hapless and helpless, lauded only when we “overcome” our own bodies, that See puts blindness at the forefront is not insignificant and deserves not to be downplayed merely because it’s part of an ostensibly shitty show. The aforementioned critics may be fine journalists, but they lack the perspective necessary to appreciate the substantiality of what Apple pioneered with See. That the company took from its massive war chest to help fund production is very much another manifestation of its commitment to accessibility—applied to the big screen instead of the screens in people’s pockets, on their wrists, or on their desks.
As I said, it’s perfectly fine to not like See for its entertainment value—but it’s not okay to dismiss it while also being dismissive of the aforementioned representational gains. My friend Kristen Lopez, who covers Hollywood as an entertainment reporter, has lamented this concept in context of yet one more Apple TV+ title in Deaf President Now. As she writes, Deaf or disabled critics are nowhere to be found covering the newly-released documentary. Yours truly, of course, is one exception earlier this month.
“This is something that happens far too often when the few disabled-centric movies Hollywood deigns to give us come out,” Lopez said on her The Film Maven publication, hosted on Substack. “Most outlets, especially trade-based ones, don’t have Deaf or disabled writers on staff, and with freelance budgets all but non-existent these days it’s far easier to just task a hearing/abled journalist on staff with it. But what makes everything more upsetting is hearing from Deaf and disabled entertainment journos who have tried to get ahead of the game and actively pitch covering these films.”
It’s cool not to like See—or Deaf President Now—but you should respect the game.
