Sensitivities, context behind title change to Total Control.

Possible Spoiler.

It was Rachel Griffiths who came up with the idea for Total Control and the original (working) tile, Black B*tch.

In an interview with World Screen she talks about its conception and the reasoning behind the title change by ABC.

“I had the seed of an idea, but it’s a bit like saying I have an idea for a superhero who has spider powers! I had a title and pitch, if you like, about our superheroine, an Indigenous senator who is helicoptered in and brings down the government. But the extremely complex fleshing out was not mine. In my original thinking, there was no female PM, so [my character] didn’t exist. I had 5 percent of a germination of an idea!

“I pitched the title and a very brief logline to Darren [Dale, at Blackfella Films]. They had been working on their own Indigenous-led political project. Unusually, and similarly to me, they wanted to do it without satire. So many political shows in Australia are either satire or biopics. I guess not many people are interested in the drama of the political sphere.

“Both Miranda Dear [Blackfella’s head of drama] and Darren were committed to the idea that that could be very fertile ground. What my pitch did for them was shift it to the female and raise the relevancy for them. In my original scheming, subconsciously there was something about that title that came out of a sense that women are so often given language and interrogated or held to standards that are about undermining their legitimacy. So Boris Johnson is the legitimate heir to the Prime Ministership but Theresa May, who had a great sense of diligence and worked very hard to bring her colleagues with her, is seen as illegitimate. Mostly because she is female and somewhat swotty. She can’t prance about with an entitled air! We’re exploring those things. I read a really good piece talking about a radical flavour of the anti-parliamentarianism that is flaring up.”

Asked about the title change from Black B*tch to Total Control, Griffiths said, “A national broadcaster has extra sensitivities, especially in an age when it is constantly under attack for being a competitor to for-profit networks who take umbrage about its existence.

“But also, we are engaging in quite a few outdoor campaigns and appreciate that that title may be difficult to contextualise in an outdoor advertising environment.

“There’s a lot of talk about it being a title of reclamation. For me, it’s less reclamation and really a title designed to make white people feel uncomfortable and be aware. If white people are uncomfortable with the title, imagine how women of colour feel when that is what they are called. So in no way are we trying to normalise it. And in the context of the show, it’s only hurtful.”

You can read more at World Screen.

Total Control airs 8:30pm Sunday October 13 on ABC.