a long rant about the culture on the pitt twitter, the early season 2 discourse, and the state of the pitt fandom in general.
it genuinely saddens me that a show like the pitt, one that's so needed right now in a country that's currently quite literally systematically reversing course on every progressive reform that's been made for decades and decades, is being torn to shreds regularly on social media by people who ignore all of the things it's doing right. it's never woke enough, it never addresses everything perfectly, no one can sit down and watch more than one episode before jumping online to complain about all the ways they feel like the show has already fucked up, or complain about the ways they're so sure it will fuck up in the weeks to come.
part of the reason why twitter has become so unbearable to me lately is because there are a few accounts on there that absolutely hate this show. they hate it, they think everyone involved in making it is evil, they take every possible opportunity to speak critically about it, they only amplify negative press, and for some reason they continue watching the show.
whether that's to feel morally superior to the people that enjoy it, to hate "ethically" by having full knowledge of what's happening, or (most likely) because consuming it weekly it gives them additional fuel for their complaints, they keep watching. they insist they want nothing to do with this show and it's constantly disappointing them, but they remain some of the loudest people in the entire fandom.
i have no issue with media i enjoy being criticized, and i don't feel guilty for enjoying the work of quote-unquote problematic artists. the issue for me is when it crosses into the realm of what feels like a hate campaign. some of the accusations i've seen leveled at noah wyle, at john wells, at the writers of this show in general are deeply, incredibly over-the-top.
using tracy ifeachor's departure from the show (something we know absolutely nothing about the circumstances of) to accuse the people making the show of being racist and anti-black; alleging that this show was made so that the people at the top could continue years of abuse of their power (something that quite literally no one has claimed); claiming a behind-the-scenes conspiracy to use women of color in order to get people interested in the show and then systematically write them off...
i'm barely even scratching the surface.
to get into the amount of absolutely baseless and insane claims that have circulated would take weeks, and i've genuinely given up hope of ever being able to dismantle all of them. i saw a tweet yesterday that called noah wyle "the most racist man alive." i've seen quote-unquote "fans" of this show writing practical dissertations that read like they hope the women of color on this set are being mistreated so they have additional evidence for their twitter threads. i've seen people saying they "can't wait for the documentary about all of this to come out", and i read that and think... all of what?
the way the pitt was cast means so much amazing, young, diverse undiscovered talent got to be put in the spotlight (people who don't work in the industry may not realize, but it is unbelievably rare for a show to invest so much faith and time and material in new talent). the writer's room includes several women of color whose skill allow the show to feel like it's actually representative of the demographics of the people that make up the healthcare industry. the pitt was the first production to finalize a union contract with their production assistants, a historically underpaid and overworked on-set position. because of the show's format, it employees the same background actors across the entire season, giving background talent months of consistent paid work. so many people involved in the production have raved about the set feeling non-hierarchical, feeling like being part of a theatre troupe, feeling like a place where they're supported both personally and in the work.
and outside of any of that, there's the work of the show itself. i don't believe any art should be above critique even (and especially) if it's portraying current events and systemic issues, but the pitt has made a measurable impact outside of its viewership. healthcare workers say this show has made it easier for their families to understand the work that they do and the way that it stays with them. people have attested that it's opened up conversations for them about things like end-of-life planning and organ donation (a study by USC found individuals were 27% more likely to seek out information about becoming an organ donor after watching this show, and that the impact was particularly great among black audiences, who are historically overrepresented on transplant lists and underrepresented in terms of donors). noah wyle and his mother joined nurses to speak to congress this summer about mental health support for healthcare workers. some of the protocols that were portrayed during the mass-casualty event in season 1 are now being implemented in actual hospital emergency rooms.
at its heart, this is a show about imperfect people doing their best, made by imperfect people doing their best. i desperately, desperately wish for all of us to recognize that none of us are perfect either. none of us are without bias, none of us are free of mistakes, none of us have always acted in ways we're proud of. i see that reflected in the doctors and nurses and patients on this show, and i wish i could see it reflected more often in this fandom as well.
i've been dogpiled plenty on twitter in the past few months for expressing the above, and i'm not naive enough to think that that's not going to happen here as well. i've been called every name in the book, insulted in turns of phrase i've quite literally never heard before in my life, and sent actual death threats. i'm sure the people that have been harassing me relentlessly for months will have an absolute field day with this post as well, but i am at my core a lawyer's daughter who was raised to argue at the dinner table and i don't want to let the the loudest, meanest people control the experience of being a fan of this show.
i think the pitt is important. i think it's important for television and it's important for hollywood and it has the potential to be important for the country, and i would like to see it continue to succeed, and hopefully find an audience that's less obsessed with turning the entire fandom into a war zone & more open to understanding.
You are invited to a very special Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness Answer Time with Benedict Cumberbatch and Elizabeth Olsen on May 5th at 12pm PT/3pm ET.
Submit your questions here, and prepare to be spellbound.
Benedict Cumberbatch and Sophie Hunter at the 37th Santa Barbara International Film Festival → March 9 2022
“I can’t do this job without my wife Sophie, my best friend. She’s the real pole constantly pushing me. We don’t usually use that metaphor, sorry. But, seriously, what you’ve given me as a friend, as a lover, as mother of our beautiful, beautiful boys, as a partner in crime on this creative journey that we’re both taking, you as a director, me as an actor, it’s just beyond words. I can’t thank you enough for being here tonight as you are always at these moments, to support me. I love you so, so much.”
- Benedict Cumberbatch to Sophie Hunter when he received his SBIFF Cinema Vanguard Award
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