“We Need to Talk About Cosby” is a revealing four-part documentary series by writer and director W. Kamau Bell that explores how comedian and actor Bill Cosby went from “America’s Dad” to America’s alleged sexual predator grandpa.
The Showtime docuseries is filmed in talking head style, which is when someone talks to the camera or closely off to the side in an interview setting, according to the American Society of Cinematographers.
The American Society of Cinematographers is an organization with a mission of advancing the arts and sciences of cinematography according to its website.
Bell’s series tries to answer the question, “Who is Bill Cosby?”
How does one begin to describe him? In the series, some people responded with various “ehhh” and “arghh” noises while contemplating an accurate description.
Bell said in the docuseries that many people declined to speak about Cosby but some “intelligent, brave and funny folks said yes.”
Several people in the docuseries, including Bell, said the reason it was difficult for people to speak about Cosby was because the African American comedian, actor and producer, played a major role in the development of a more positive portrayal of Black people on television even though he was later convicted of sexual assault.
The show illustrates how truly amazing Cosby was as an entertainer who served as representation for Black families in the ‘80s to early ‘90s. He was the entertainment star who played the iconic, fictional character of Cliff Huxtable on “The Cosby Show.”
“You could watch him and enjoy him as a cool educated Black man,” Renée Graham, associate editor for the Boston Globe said in the docuseries. “You didn’t see other Black people on TV.”
The show starts by providing background information regarding Cosby’s contributions to the Black community including fighting for Black stunt performers instead of white stuntmen doing blackface.
The series was a little slow and a little unprofessional but it’s also what made it feel more like a conversation than a documentary.
“We Need to Talk about Cosby” is a well done and unbiased story that balances Cosby’s iconic career and barrier-breaking accomplishments with the reality of his life as a sexual predator.
In 2018 Cosby was convicted of drugging and sexually assaulting a woman but was later cleared on June 30, 2021, according to a June 30, 2021 New York Times article.
During the end of the first episode, ex-playboy bunny Vicki Carbe, or “Victoria Valentino,” recalls a time Cosby gave her pills to “make us all feel better.” There’s nothing but silence and her words, no cutaway, no music, just emotion.
The docuseries depicts a blender of emotions, constantly flowing from nostalgia to creepiness and hilarity to devastation.
Viewers are exposed to how “America’s Dad” wasn’t the nice funny guy he portrayed himself to be.
Marc Lamont Hill, a professor at Temple University, said in the series that Cosby gave viewers a very clear pattern of his disgusting behavior.
In a 1991 interview with Larry King, Cosby said that Spanish Fly, a substance used to drug women, was “a thing that all boys will still be searching for.” Cosby went into heavy detail about taking a drop equal to the size of the head of a pin and putting it in a girl’s drink.
“If I just go by what Bill Cosby tells me, I know he’s a creep,” Lamont Hill said.
Bell said at the end of the docuseries that he almost gave up on the series because he wanted to maintain the memories of Bill Cosby he had as a kid. And he can, if he watches the TV characters Cosby played instead of focusing on who he was as a person. The question is can you, and should you, separate an entertainer from their work?
A fan can look at someone’s pop culture influence while also noting they aren’t a good human. In this case, Cosby was a predator, a narcissist, a creep and the list continues.
Cosby’s characters were an influence on the Black community and a form of security for people growing up in the ‘70s and ‘80s.
“We Need to Talk About Cosby” addresses the reality. Growing up means facing reality. You start to find your own code of ethics and find out your parents could be wrong. What happens when the stars you idolized aren’t the human beings you thought they were?
This question isn’t going away. There will continue to be stories of public figures ruining their reputations all on their own.
Kevin Spacey, an actor who left an indelible mark on stage, screen and cinema, now sits in Hollywood purgatory because he was accused of multiple instances of sexual misconduct.
Spacey is in a number of praised films like “American Beauty”, “Baby Driver”, and Netflix’s series “House of Cards.” Can we separate this work in cinema from his accusations?
The “We Need to Talk About Cosby” series ended by pointing out that this dilemma still exists in society today.
“The Cosby Show” interviewee and victim, Lili Bernard said at the end of the docuseries that “it’s not just Bill Cosby, its misogyny, its hatred towards women, its generations of this.”
If you were one of the people saying you didn’t know, now you know.
The four-episode docuseries is out now streaming on Showtime.
