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A scene in last week's episode of Rap Sh!t was so smart and poignant that it was contained in just a few lines. While partying in a Miami club, a young woman named Nelly meets a Postmates delivery person who is tasked with giving her a Plan B pill and then video-chatting her boyfriend to show him that she took it. The show's trademark is the sharp humor that comes from the blink-and-you'll-miss-it time. It's a sign of things to come.
Films, television, and video games should be used to tell the stories of post-Roe life, according to some people. After years of somewhat alarming depictions of abortion in films and TV, the topics of reproductive health care were getting more realistic portrayals. What happened on Rap Sh!t, which was written and produced before the Supreme Court's decision in June, was what these stories should be. Plan B is not the same as abortion, but as restrictions around reproductive care get tighter and tighter, a world where someone can no longer obtain Plan B over the counter feels plausible.
Rap Sh!t won't have a Plan B joke, but the circumstances will be more difficult. Writing plotlines that reflect abortion access is something Hollywood writers are discussing. It is forcing a lot of women to think differently about their role in the world, and that will inevitably be reflected in the writing and the art. A researcher for Abortion Onscreen wrote in the New York Times that it was time for more accurate and engaging stories about reproductive health care. Hollywood needs to tell bigger, bolder stories about abortion.
They will have a hard time getting their work done. Before the Supreme Court decided on abortion, there was pressure to leave out parts of the storyline. Shonda Rhimes once said that she never fought harder for a Scandal episode than she did for the one about Pope.
Many people are trying to find reproductive health care outside of their comfort zone. At the end of July, 411 showrunners, including Rhimes and Rae, sent a letter to the heads of several studios and streaming services demanding that they protect pregnant employees in states where abortion access is limited. As in the tech world, the people behind film and TV shows work all over the country, and they wanted protections for them, like subsidies for travel to obtain abortions, safeguards for their medical privacy, legal protections for those who seek abortions or assist anyone who does, and protocols to ensure their They asked studios to stop donating to anti- abortion candidates. 594 men sent a statement of support.
They received an answer from the higher-ups on Wednesday. It's a bit like that. The letter from the studios didn't say that employees should have access to safe and effective health care. Some of the health plans were already offering reimbursement for travel expenses. The letter didn't mention donations to anti-abortion candidates or political action committees. We are looking forward to working with you to make great content for our audiences around the world.
It is up to them to figure out what that content will look like.
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