When They Hear Us: Creating the Period-Specific Soundtrack for a Tragedy of Justice
The Netflix four-part miniseries When They See Us, which dropped May 31, was originally called Central Park 5. That working title identifies the overarching plot trajectory: The notorious case of five teenagers of color who were wrongly convicted of raping a white female jogger in New York, and which resulted in the use of the term “wilding” to describe out-of-control gang activity. The revised title better reflects the fate of the young people unjustly ensnared in the criminal justice system by embracing their humanity and not their politicized role. […]
