Psychological Tones in Amazon Prime’s ‘THEM’

Amazon Prime’s new series THEM was released on April 9 and has had social media in an uproar because of its excellent acting and exhilarating plot.

THEM starts off with an African American woman named Lucky Emory, played by Deborah Ayorinde, who is being verbally harassed by a Caucasian woman who attempts to take her newborn son. After the incident, Lucky and her husband Henry, as well as their daughters decide to move from North Carolina to East Compton, CA. Their new neighborhood is an all white suburban area, and the neighbors do not approve of the new family in town. The Emory family refuses to let their neighbors scare them away as their neighbors are not the only people they need to worry about.

The show takes place in the 1950s. Therefore, there is still racial tension between blacks and whites. The show’s theme centers around the mental and emotional stress that comes along with dealing with racial discrimination. To add to the thrill, the show also has a supernatural creature that adds to the tormenting of the Emory family. The supernatural creature was placed by the writers of THEM to symbolize the fear and hardships that the characters have to deal with. The Emory family has to learn how to cope in their new environment by deciding if they were going to choose between fighting back with violence or ignoring the hate.

In a show that involves racial tension and discrimination they normally center it strictly around violence. However, THEM shows the emotional and psychological stress that occurs when dealing with such a difficult situation. The show even shows the impact the situation can have on children by giving the children their own storylines and hardships they must deal with regarding the move and a supernatural creature. When shows display more than one perspective of a difficult situation by telling it through different characters from different ages, it allows the audience to see multiple sides of the story, especially when the acting was as phenomenal as it was in this show.

Now that THEM has become popular on Amazon Prime and has been constantly talked about on social media, fans are hoping that there is a season two on the way, especially since the show did not end happily. There are still questions that were left unanswered. THEM is not your average 1950s racial discrimination plot because it leaves viewers thrilled until the last second.