Oscar Award-winning actress Viola Davis has responded to social media users’ decision to boycott The Woman King after they claimed it didn’t address slavery.
According to Variety, Davis defended the film, saying “most of the story is fictionalized.”
“You’re not going to win an argument on Twitter. We entered the story where the kingdom was in flux, at a crossroads,” she said about the boycott. “They were looking to find some way to keep their civilization and kingdom alive. It wasn’t until the late 1800s that they were decimated. Most of the story is fictionalized. It has to be.”
#BoycottWomanKing hashtag recently made rounds on the internet, as many Twitter users felt the film didn’t show the Dahomey Kingdom’s involvement with slavery. The Woman King, which officially hit theaters on Sept. 16, is a historical epic about the Agojie–a group of female warriors who reportedly protected the West African kingdom of Dahomey during the 1800s. In it, Davis plays the role of a heroic female general named Nanisca. Her husband, Julius Tennon–the movie’s producer–added that “we have to take license” when it comes to movies such as The Woman King.
“We are now what we call’ edu-tainment.’ It’s history, but we have to take license,” he said. “We have to entertain people. If we just told a history lesson, which we very well could have, that would be a documentary. [But], unfortunately, people wouldn’t be in the theaters doing the same thing we saw this weekend. If people want to learn more, they can investigate more.”
The actress then chimed in, expressing how she felt about the Agojie women’s stories.
“Part of the story that hit me as an artist was these women were unwanted. They were recruited between the ages of eight and 14,” she said. “They were the women who were not considered desirable. No one wanted to marry them. They were unruly. They were recruited by the King to fight for the kingdom of Dahomey. They were not allowed to marry or have children. The ones who refused the call were beheaded. That’s also a part of the story. People really are being emotionally shifted. I saw a TikTok video today of women in a bathroom of an AMC theater, and I don’t think they knew each other. They were all chanting and ruminating. That cannot be quantified by words.”
