QueenieonHuluportrays a Jamaican-British woman dealing with a breakup that quickly spirals into a myriad of emotional issues from her past. In the series,the titular character (Dionne Brown) deals with a handful of variablesthat put layer upon layer of stress on her life, which goes far beyond her relationship issues.Queenie frequently gets lost in her thoughts, and the rhythm of her inner dialogue is super relatable.The exploitation of Queenie’s internal monologue as narration creates a kind of connection that’s more effective than it is in most entertainment.
What Is ‘Queenie’ About?
At 25 years old,Queenie has just broken up with her long-term boyfriend, Tom (Jon Pointing), after a bit of a rough patch. She tries to distract herself from Tom by casually sleeping with other men, but her emotional attachment to Tom is evidently much stronger than her ability to enjoy her stretch of frivolous behavior. Meanwhile, while staying at her grandmother’s house,Queenie dodges the presence of her mother, who abandoned heras a young girl. The women in Queenie’s family had always been highly religious and had built a practice of keeping all their feelings in. But with her mother making her all too uncomfortable and with the men she’s sleeping with treating her body much too aggressively,Queenie breaks her family’s tradition and decides to go to therapy.She goes on to learn just how much her past has been conversing with her present, taking her through the peaks and pitfalls of self-worth.
Queenie’s habit of getting lost in her thoughts is clearly established at the beginning of the series, as demonstrated byher mishap at dinner with Tom’s family. Tom and his family are white, so, as the only Black person at the table, Queenie already felt on edge. But when Tom’s grandmother steered the conversation to the obvious fact that any child Tom and Queenie had togetherwould be mixed, Queenie, who was in her own head, accidentally blurted out, “Hopefully, you’ll be dead and gone long before you even get to meet her.” The response is uncomfortable, but it goes to show how Queenie’s tendency to get lost in her own thoughts impacts her life.
‘Queenie’ Uses Narration Better Than Most Book-To-TV Adaptations
The kind of connection between the narrator and the audience a novel offers is usually brokenwhen translated to the screen. In afilm or TV series narrated from the perspective of its protagonist, sometimes the protagonist’s narration only goes as far as exposition and drops off after the first third of the story, and sometimes the narration is removed altogether, and we don’t actually know how a character is truly perceiving an experience beyond what we read on the actor’s face. In a novel,the narrator’s internal monologue is generally something reserved for the reader and is not to be shared with the rest of the character’s world. This approach makes sense as, in real life, if we don’t say anything, no one but ourselves knows what we’re thinking. However, with stories, understanding a character is crucial, and there aren’t too many methods that do a better job ofcreating a connection between character and audiencethan drawing out shared experiences and responses.
Candice Carty-Williams, both the creator ofQueenieand the author ofthe novel from which the series is adapted, does something that most entertainment avoids.The protagonist-audience connection is maintainedin the series, as we’re allowed to hear Queenie’s pep talks to herself when she enters a space and all the knee-jerk reactions to what is happening around her. Using those kinds ofimmediate thoughts for a narrative voiceovertruly epitomizes telling a story from a character’s perspective.The audience gets the full experience of being in Queenie’s shoes when watching this showbecause not only are we exposed to the situations that Queenie is exposed to, but she’s also mentally responding to them at the same time that we are. As opposed to a character likeSherlock Holmes, whose mental calculations and deductions are exposed to the audience for dramatic setups, Queenie thinks what a normal person ought to in her circumstances, making our sympathy for the character much more accessible.
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The Narration in ‘Queenie’s Is So Real
Queenie’s externalized thought pattern is something many people with an annoyingly loud internal monologue experience. During New Year’s Eve, Queenie resolves thatshe’s cutting herself off from men. But as soon as she sets up her logic for staying inside for the night, her thoughts cut to Tom as she thinks to herself, “But why did Tom text me? He must miss me.” She immediately intercepts her own train of thought by thinking, “NOPE. Doesn’t matter. No more men!” This kind of mental back-and-forth is super relatable, and all movies and shows could use a little more of that device.
Separately, her internal monologue shows up in defense (or just in place) ofher inability to be socially accommodating. But in her determination to ignore the amicable atmosphere, her family seems to be having too good a time downstairs. She immediately responds with the thought, “It’s like they’re laughing even louder than usual just to wind me up.” Such passing, isolated ideas as these are typically only implied in film through nonverbal acting, editing, etc., butinQueenie, you don’t have to guess what the character is thinking because it’s what the audience should be thinking anyway, and that enhances the viewing experience.
Allmovies and TV shows adapted from bookswould do well to take a page out ofQueenie’s book. Involving the audience in a narrator’s internal monologue is a surefire way to create a solid connection between the audience and the character in any story. The “Strong Black Woman” story is one that needs to be heard by more than just other strong Black women, and the exposure of Queenie’s (mostly) unspoken thoughts definitelybears a language we can all understand.
Queenieis available to stream on Hulu in the U.S.
Queenie Jenkins, a Jamaican-British woman in her twenties, juggles her professional life as a journalist with the chaos of her personal life in London. Amidst career pressures and troubled relationships, she grapples with issues of identity, cultural belonging, and mental health. As she navigates the ups and downs of her experiences, Queenie’s story unfolds as a poignant exploration of self-discovery, resilience, and the search for stability in an often overwhelming world.
WATCH ON HULU
