American Vandal: A Mockumentary Gone Too Far?

 American Vandal, a show created by Netflix, released its second season recently. The show is a "mockumentary" where two high school students, Peter and Sam, try to exonerate people they believe were wrongfully convicted of very lewd crimes (where the 'mock' in mockumentary stems from.)

While the show is captivating and hilarious, it often plays on harmful stereotypes about certain identities. For example, in the first season, about a high school student (Dylan) who was accused of spray painting penises on cars in the teacher parking lot, two out of three of Dylan's friends were people of color. They were seen smoking pot, playing pranks, and acting very nonchalant about school and their futures. These were two out of three people of color featured on the show that season.

This is harmful because the only time people of color are represented in the show, they are portrayed ass lazy, pranksters, and druggies who have no goals or ambitions, a stereotype often associated with black and latinx folks. This is also an example of controlling images, where certain identities are only seen in very specific, harmful ways that are perpetrated in most forms of media.