Chewing Gum
Michaela Coel
2015
Sex and Art
Michaela Coel is a poet, singer and writer. She adapted her own play Chewing Gum Dreams into a series of 20-minute episodes about Tracey, a naive young woman from a London suburb who wants to have her first sexual experience.
In 2020, Michaela Coel is directing her second series I May Destroy You, a self-fiction about sexual consent.
Chewing gum is a crazy and hilarious series; its director is a genius who has created a universe that is both poetic and crude. Like her main character, she comes from an ultra-religious family and sex was a big taboo. This accentuated her curiosity.
The awkward and embarrassing sex scenes are very – VERY – original and made me feel good. And I desperately need to see this on screen, as cinematic images of sex are mostly idealized. Michaela Cole goes against the flow by showing sex… not sexy, in funny and absurd scenes. Iris