The reasons I should play Frances in the hypothetical movie adaptation of Radio Silence by Alice Oseman
I am also a biracial, half-african girl, who lives with her white mother, and has a distant father
My teenage years were also defined by me sacrificing a lot of my social life and mental health in order to get into an elite university.
Being good at school was a huge, maybe an unhealthily big part of my identity
I often felt that my entire human worth was defined by my grades
And my mum fluctuated between begging me to chill and pressuring me to work harder, in order to avoid the self loathing underachieving (or, what I viewed as underachieving) caused me.
Everything in my life was orchestrated with me getting into an elite university in mind.
I did do extracurriculars I was passioned about, but I did take up a few things that I didn’t really care about, just so it would look good on my transcript.
I was also really good at bullshitting
I had this horrifying moment in my Columbia interview, where she asked me why I wanted to go to Columbia, and all I could think of was “because… that’s what I want.”
(Although I did, and do have really good, deep running reasons of wanting to get into Ivy League, with the tunnel vision I had, they became an absolute value, and a measure of my self-value. They became the dream, instead of a route to get to my dreams.)
AND I JUST RELATE TO FRANCES A LOT OKAY AND LISTENING TO THIS BOOK I’M CONSTANTLY LIKE, “WELL SHIT, CALL ME OUT WHY DONTCHA”
I also did not get in to the schools I was aiming for, after my entire life was dedicated to getting me there. So I know very well how it feels when your entire life comes crashing down around you. And nobody sees what the big deal is. I straight up had a relative, who dismissed me crying hysterically in her guest room by saying “She’ll get over it.” And I’m over here like “I have wasted my entire life preparing for this, and now it has been taken away from me.”
I also enjoy colourful, weird clothing!
I’m also demi! And I know that it’s Aled, not Frances who’s demi but I’m saying that I relate.
I can appreciate (and have) really intense platonic relationships.
I also do art. Illustration is not my strength, but I do a bunch of other stuff.
I also love Welcome to Night Vale
This is already becoming way longer than I intended
Nothing makes me as angry as people patronising me. Especially if they’re male. (”He looked at me like I was stupid - I’m not stupid”, is the most relatable line in Hamilton)
And in general, when I love a thing, I really love it, and can talk about it for hours. I really related to Frances’s rambles on Universe City.
I also often feel (and especially felt in school) that I didn’t fit in, and hated parties.
I am a goody goody. The naughtiest thing I probably did as a teen, was like… using money I got for lunch to by candy as well, without getting permission.
(And the time I jumped out of an airplane even though I was specifically told not to. But I was 18 at the time, so my mum was shit out of luck.)
I’m also not what qualifies as “skinny”.
I have a babyface, so I would easily pass for a 17 yo. A security guy at Heathrow asked me where my parents were last time I was in London.
And most importantly: I’d be really good at it.
So, I guess, like hire me? Show this to Alice Oseman? Tell me when there is a casting call? Okay? Okay. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.