00:00Hey Naturally Curly World, I'm April. Welcome to Watch and Go, the show where we review movies and shows that we've seen while we wash our hair.
00:07Today I'm going to be reviewing Black Girl in a Big Dress, a really cute YouTube series by the creator of the same name,
00:13who is a black girl just wishing to live in an ideal Victorian fairy tale.
00:20I can't say I relate, but that's what makes the show so good.
00:30Today I'm going to be trying out the Cantu Apple Cider Vinegar Root Rinse.
00:45Since I've got these blonde box braids in right now, I hope you all noticed that I made the effort to match my wardrobe to my hair today.
00:53Lucky you.
00:54Then we're going to finish up with some conditioner.
00:56I'm going to use this Jamaican Black Castor Oil Conditioner from Reclaim.
01:00After that, I'm going to grab two of my favorites, this Central 17 Hair Growth Oil.
01:06And you guys already know about my love for Miel's Moisturizing Avocado Milk.
01:11This is going to be what I finish off with.
01:13And then just to keep my hair smelling all nice and Christmassy, we're going to use the Frank Juice.
01:19She only wants me for my Frank Juice.
01:21So, Black Girl in a Big Dress is about a subject near and dear to my heart of being a black girl navigating stuff that's quote unquote for white people.
01:33In Adrienne's case, she really likes Victorian dress.
01:37She loves the fashion.
01:39She loves the tea parties.
01:41She loves just the gentility and sense of nobility that permeates the era.
01:46I'm personally a fan of corsets and petticoats.
01:50Can't say I'm a huge fan of the Victorian era itself because of the whole imperialism thing.
01:56I'm like Caribbeanly obliged to hate the English.
02:00I'm sorry you guys.
02:01I'm not that sorry.
02:02The opening episode has her at a great garden party and there we're introduced to her love interest, Lord Fitzhugh.
02:11She's head over heels for this guy and I can't blame her.
02:14I love a dude in a cravat.
02:16But because they're adhering to Victorian norms, it's a very like, what would you call it?
02:23I think you would call it a slow burn.
02:25It's just like the definition of a hot Victorian affair is literally just a glance held too long.
02:33That's the kind of stuff that gets you like thrown out of Oxford.
02:37She's like, I'm afraid you looked at her a little too long and we can't have that sort of randiness in our institution.
02:44We're also introduced to her cousin who is a more, I don't want to say a stereotypical black girl, but she has more common interests.
02:55She's into hip hop and she's a really cool caterer who insists that Adrian is doing stuff that is only for white girls.
03:03And considering how hard the British Empire worked to get its culture literally everywhere on earth, I'd say at this point it's kind of for all of us.
03:14As we walk through her world, we see how awesomely awkward she is.
03:21And the Victorian era really suits a person that's awkward because you're supposed to say things without saying them.
03:27They literally had the language of flowers and the language of like fan gestures.
03:33So it's a lot less overt than our society is.
03:37And she seems to think that it's an environment in which she would thrive because it's so much like a fairy tale, even though in real life it wasn't.
03:45But since all we have are the pictures of those, you know, the fancy dresses, the finger sandwiches, the high teas.
03:51She wants to live that idealized life.
03:53And I get that.
03:54I really do.
03:55I'm going to go rinse this out, condition my hair, and I'll be back with some more for you.
04:01Alright, I'm all rinsed off.
04:03I do LOC instead of LCO.
04:05So the water from my rinse is already going to be my L.
04:08We're going to start with my hair oil now.
04:10The thing I like best about Black Girl in a Big Dress is that it runs on the theme of subverting expectations, which I always think is cool.
04:20A lot of Adrienne's expectations are subverted with both her disillusionment with kind of the societal mores of our modern world, especially as far as dating goes.
04:33And people's expectations are subverted surrounding her as a Black woman who is an Anglophile, like a Victorian Anglophile.
04:44A lot of people think that she's both being childish for playing dress up, which you're never too old for, by the way.
04:53A lot of people think it's weird, again, because she's Black, both from, you know, the Black community thinking, okay, well, this is for white women.
05:01And then people on the other side of the line thinking, oh, well, there weren't any Black people in Victorian England.
05:07Why are you like this?
05:09First of all, yes, there were.
05:11Black people were not just invented in 1980 with the ready narrative.
05:16We've actually kind of been everywhere, most especially cosmopolitan cities like London.
05:22Even Shakespeare wrote about Black people.
05:24He would have known Black people in England.
05:27If she were alive in that time, she very well could have been a noblewoman, you know, living the high life herself.
05:33In what was my favorite episode, she's interviewed by a woman doing a podcast.
05:37And instead of focusing on Adrienne's actual life and her interests, she wants to know, she's like, well, you were Black.
05:47How have you suffered?
05:49And Adrienne's just like, well, my gated community sometimes wasn't all it was cracked up to be.
05:55And the podcast reporter just leaves because it wasn't a down enough story.
06:00The show also brings up a lot of, a lot of questions about, you know, what it means to be valid in your interests as a Black woman.
06:08And as somebody who, you know, listened to a lot of Marilyn Manson growing up, I've been wearing Black lipstick since before it was cool, hipster cred.
06:17As somebody who was really weird in high school and is really weird now, this show really spoke to me because your race doesn't have to determine your interests.
06:26That's been one of the ongoing themes of my personal life.
06:30If you have a dream, you don't have to settle for less than that dream.
06:34If you want a fairy tale, you go get your fairy tale.
06:38You can do magical all by yourself if you have to.
06:41All in all, I would rate this show a smashing five out of five stars.
06:46I really can't wait to see more of it.
06:48For a show that's in a mini-sode format, I think the longest episode is maybe eight minutes long.
06:54Agent really packs a lot in there.
06:57In fact, more things happen in a small episode than I've seen happen in entire seasons of regularly formatted shows, so kudos to her.
07:03I would definitely recommend that you all go give it a watch.
07:06You can find this series on YouTube now at Black Girl in a Big Dress's channel.
07:10I'm hoping to see it continue.
07:11Alright guys, if you've seen this, what do you think about Black Girl in a Big Dress?
07:15Let us know in the comments below.
07:17We do watch and goes every Wednesday, so don't forget to like, share, and subscribe.
07:22We'll be back here next week with something equally fabulous.
07:25Probably a little less fabulous.
07:27Bye!
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