‘Nashville’ still doesn’t know what to do with black people
WHEN ‘Nashville’ premiered on CMT in January, the former ABC drama picked up where last season’s cliffhanger left off. Country star Juliette Barnes ( Hayden Panettiere) had been in a plane crash and it looked bad. But the Season 5 premiere revealed that Juliette survived, thanks to a passerby who kept her calm until paramedics arrived.
“I was saved by an angel,” Juliette later recalls. “She came and sang to me. She kept me alive.” The mysterious stranger who saved Juliette’s life is a black woman named Hallie, and Juliette spends the next couple of episodes desperately trying to track her down. Juliette’s near- death storyline is pretty standard-issue for a primetime soap, but Hallie is a representation of one of the show’s biggest flaws: ‘Nashville’ has never really known what to do with black people.
Hallie ( played by Grammy Award-winning musician Rhiannon Giddens) embodies a common trope known as the “magical negro.” Spike Lee has used variations of the term to criticize films including ‘ The Green Mile’ and ‘ The Legend of Bagger Vance’. The term is used to describe black characters — usually of the spiritual or mystical variety — who exist largely (or solely) to help white protagonists.
That seems to be where ‘Nashville’ is headed with Hallie, who is humble and religious. When Juliette finally finds her, she’s in church — belting out a solo so powerful that Juliette overhears it from across the street. Juliette continues to refer to her as an angel, which makes Hallie visibly uncomfortable. And after Juliette sees Hallie struggling to start her car, she buys her a new one. Hallie refuses to accept the gift. She does, however, counsel Juliette, who feels guilty about surviving the crash in light of her reputation as a selfish diva in the country music world. “I think someone was giving you a chance to change,” Hallie tells her, encouraging her to pray. Hallie wasn’t seen or mentioned in this week’s episode at all, though Juliette did stop by her predominantly black church, where Hallie’s pastor told her that “there’s no one way” to pray and to “just say what you feel.” Hallie isn’t the f irs t character of this kind on ‘Nashville’. One Season 3 episode found another singer, Scarlett (C lare Bowen), getting songwriting assistance from a local homeless man named Terry ( Mykelti Williamson). Scarlett brings him a sandwich after hearing him yell about pizza through the window of her cushy songwriting room. He calls her “little pixie” and tells her, flamboyantly, that he yells “’cause sometimes I need to remind the universe that I’m heeeeeeere!” Pitchfork dubbed the storyline one of the season’s lowest points, calling it a “horrendous ‘ magical negro’ self- discovery non-plot.”
It’s disappointing to see ‘Nashville’ resort to a trope that ultimately reflects slaveryera stereotypes. The show is generally enjoyable to watch — with a devoted fanbase that balked when ABC declined to renew it for a fifth season, despite solid ratings. CMT rescued ‘Nashville’, hiring veteran TV producers Marshall Herskovitz and Ed Zwick to helm new episodes of the drama, which has since become the most-watched original series in the network’s history.
‘Nashville’ offers a realistic, if melodramatic, depiction of the country music scene, but the show’s racial tone deafness undermines its authenticity. And the issue goes beyond characters like Hallie and Terry. ‘Nashville’ has almost completely ignored racial tension in country music - an oversight that seems especially glaring in light of the controversy surrounding Beyonce’s appearance at last year’s CMA Awards. By comparison, ‘Nashville’ has tactfully confronted sexism in the country music industry, as well as homophobia. Will Lexington (Chris Carmack) , the once closeted singer who struggled to accept his sexuality in earlier seasons , has evolved over the show’s five seasons. Recent episodes have found him grappling with backlash after coming out, and navigating his first serious relationship with a man.
In Season 2, Scarlett’s longtime writing partner and on- off boyfriend, Gunnar ( Sam Palladio), dated her longtime friend Zoey (Chaley Rose), who ended up getting scorned by her BFF and Gunnar. The show never really discussed the fact that Zoey was black — and that’s entirely fair — but it was hard to overlook the awkward dialogue that ensued when she straightened her naturally curly hair to audition as a backup singer. “Your hair looks nice and different,” Gunnar sputtered. “Oh, wow, your hair,” Scarlett said several scenes later. “Uh, it’s so glamorous.”
Last week’s episode introduced a new black character — Clayton, a street musician who sparked a connection with Maddie, the teenage daughter of country music veteran Rayna Jaymes. Jones told Entertainment Tonight that his character has “a checkered past” and the season trailer foreshadows dark developments. “I’m not a normal person,” he tells Maddie in the clip, which then flashes to him lying on the ground with a bloodied face. It’s not yet clear where the show is going with the Clayton-Maddie relationship, but it doesn’t inspire confidence that one of the show’s few black characters seems to have a violent backstory.
Hallie’s storyline doesn’t appear to be complete yet either, which means that ‘Nashville’ has an opportunity to flesh out her story beyond being a saviour for Juliette. Here’s hoping they take it.