In Mariama Diallo's debut feature 'Master,' three Black women navigate subtle and overt racism at Ancaster College, an elite Northeastern college as old as the country itself.
,” a “spooky drama” about Black women navigating the politics at a tony New England college, was a way of excising the microaggressions and racism she’d suppressed during her undergraduate years at Yale.
The film splits its narrative between the perspectives of Gail and Jasmine Moore , an optimistic freshman who quickly finds herself the target of subtle and not-so-subtle racism coming at her from all angles: her fellow students, school staff and even the ghost of a Salem-era witch rumored to make students suicidal.
She wrote Hall a letter outlining why she’d be perfect for the role and sent it over with a copy of the script. Hall’s agents responded three days later to set up a meeting. “I thought the way she was able to tackle themes like race in the horror genre with the backdrop of elite academia was really smart and timely and very well done,” said the actor. “Mariama is so smart. She had such a vision for her film.
Since Gail could only plausibly come into contact with Jasmine a few times over the course of the film, Diallo’s Animal Kingdom producers Joshua Astrachan and Brad Becker-Parton leaned on her to incorporate more of the character’s experiences and inner world. “Every draft they’d be asking for more Jasmine,” she said.
Like Jasmine, Gail’s way of dealing with the difficulties of her situation are to avoid them by adopting a nonconfrontational attitude. This way of coping comes in sharp relief to outspoken professor Liv Beckman , Gail’s friend who is currently up for tenure. “Part of her identity is invested in being a success and in proving not just to herself but to a larger society, ‘Hey, Black women can be masters, we can do this,’” said Hall. “She put a lot into her education, into an academic life, into achievement. It probably took a long time to become a master: being tenured, writing published works. It’s not an easy journey.”
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