I May Destroy You follows a London-based writer who struggles in the wake of having her drink spiked and coming to suspect she was assaulted. Despite the heavy material, Michaela Cole brings a sharp and darkly funny perspective to the material, unsurprising for anyone who’s had the pleasure of watching her previous show Chewing Gum.
Part of what makes I May Destroy You work so well is how deeply it takes us into Arabella’s POV.
The Subjective Lens
It’s easy to default to thinking of cinematic storytelling as an objective process. You place the camera and then film the events. “The camera cannot lie,” as the pre-Photoshop saying went.
In reality, film and television can be as subjective in execution and presentation as any medium. I May Destroy You does a great job of utilizing this device to bring us inside Arabella’s experience. In the aftermath of the assault, as she begins to enter shock, the show itself starts to dissolve. The camera, editing, and narrative all become elliptical. We, like Arabella, get caught in a wave of sensory overload. Nothing separates the audience from Arabella.
Cole does this because the narrative hinges on a subjective experience. Arabella can’t be sure precisely what’s real or what happened, and neither can we. Form, function, and theme, perfectly aligned.
As with everything, not every narrative calls for such technique. But writers should keep in mind that when the moment is right they can bring the audience inside their character’s experience. You do not need to stay limited to just the facts.