All American by April Blair
I chose a Tv Show that I recently finished watching, All American. All American is a Tv Show streamed on Netflix and it is about a boy called Spencer James. Spencer James was a student in South Crenshaw high school where he played football. Spencer James was a teenage middle class boy who did not have a lot of resources. Until Billy Baker met him. Billy Baker is a recruiter from Beverly High, it was a more advanced high school with more resources than South Crenshaw. But, there was a problem. Billy Baker was convinced that Spencer was a good player for Beverly High but to play he had to live in Beverly High, where he did not have any family and his mother did not have the resources to move to Beverly. Spencer’S mom was a single mother living with Spencer and her other child Dylan. Billy Baker offered Spencer to move with them in their house so that he could play in Beverly High. The moment Spencer Accepted to move to Beverly with coach Baker, displacement started. Spencer who comes from a humble family where he has to work for anything that he wants. Now that he is living with the Baker’s, they have more commodities for Spencer. For example, where Spencer lived he had to take the Bus to go to school and public transportation. Also, every time Spencer goes out has to keep in mind the public transportation hours so that he does not miss it. As soon as he moved to the Baker’s house, Coach Baker offered Spencer a car so that he does not have to take public transportation. Not only this example, but also in the school. In South Crenshaw the school was not that big and the resources were limited. Now, in Beverly High Spencer has more resources. The displacement occurred not only in terms of the home but also with his football progress. This displacement was good for Spencer because in South Crenshaw he was not seen as the good player he was, and was not given the attention he deserved as a player. Now that he was in Beverly more colleges were looking into him and he was considered in the top #100 best football players of the nation. I chose this tv show because I just finished watching it and it shows that sometimes displacement is necessary to develop yourself. In this case, if Spencer did not move to Beverly when Coach Baker offered, maybe he would have not ended up going to one of the best colleges or would not be able to be recognized as one of the best players of the nation.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIaujmoukqU
Raymelis, I’ve never heard of this show, but you do a good job describing it, and I can definitely see how it fits into the model of “displacement narratives.” One element that your description reminds me of is the idea that the person who has been displaced sort of has to hide his origins from the people in his/her new community – as though they are a secret. Thanks for sharing this.