Diksha Sundriyal
Netflix’s crime thriller movie, ‘Straw,’ follows a very difficult day in the life of a single mother, Janiyah Wiltkinson. Taking place over the course of one day, the Tyler Perry-directed film focuses on a series of highly unfortunate events that make things worse with each passing minute for the protagonist. Even though she tries not to fall apart, the lack of basic empathy from the people around her aggravates the situation such that she ends up inside a bank, with a gun, holding several people hostage, while the cops are outside, trying to get her to surrender. Just when it seems things couldn’t get worse, another blow strikes her, and the way she can’t catch a break paints a painful, but unfortunately, real picture of what a lot of people have to go through in life. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Straw is Fictional, But Inspired by Real Women Struggling to Keep Their Families Afloat
‘Straw’ is an entirely fictional story written by Tyler Perry. The idea for the script came to him while pondering the worsening financial state of people and how the struggle to survive pushes them to their limits. Growing up, Perry saw many single mothers working day and night to provide for their families while still falling short sometimes. This made him realise that often, we don’t know what people are going through in their personal lives and how worse things are for them.
He also saw that a lot of people are living under the pressure that never seems to let up. Their problems keep compounding unceasingly, and the only way they can live through it all is if they have a good support system to hold them in place. The ones lucky enough to have the people who love and care for them often survive the brunt of their worst days. And yet, there are many others who do not have the privilege of such support systems, which leads them to break down eventually. Perry wanted to explore what happens when such a person finally snaps.
He created the fictional Janiyah Wiltkinson to delve into the story of a person who lacks support and blows up on the worst day of her life. At the same time, he wanted to focus on other women who could relate to Janiyah’s struggles. For this, he created characters like the bank manager, Nicole, and the police officer, Kay Raymond. Through them, he wanted to present the women on a very different level in personal and professional life, as compared to the protagonist, and how empathy from these strangers changes things for her.
Taraji P. Henson Brought Her Own Experience to Enrich the Character
When Tyler Perry started writing ‘Straw,’ he had no one but Taraji P. Henson in mind for the role of Janiyah Wiltkinson. When the Academy Award-nominated actress was presented with the script, she immediately sympathised with the character and knew that she had to take on the challenge of presenting Janiyah’s struggles and breakdown realistically. Being a single mother who also had to struggle through the early years of her career, she found a connection with the role. She tapped into the memories of the battles that she had to fight for herself and her children.
Henson was also drawn to Janiyah because she wanted to be the voice of someone who is tragically voiceless in today’s world. She saw the character as someone who doesn’t feel seen by anyone and is pushed down by people because she isn’t able to stand up for herself, leading her to be pushed towards her breaking point, one step at a time. The ‘Hidden Figures’ actress admitted that embodying Janiyah scared her a little.
However, it also made her want to do justice to the character in the hopes that someone like her watching the film would feel seen and know that they are not alone in their fights. The filmmakers hope that the audience takes away the lesson of empathy above everything else, and treat the people around them with more care and compassion, knowing that a single act of kindness from a stranger can, sometimes, save a person from completely falling apart.
Read More: Straw Ending Explained: Is Aria Dead?
