"Well, That Escalated Quickly!"

Hi! This is Clara, and in this blog post I will be reviewing Franchesca Ramsey’s autobiography, Well, That Escalated Quickly. Franchesca Ramsey is an actress, comedian and videoblogger, and is the host of an MTV show called Decoded. Well, That Escalated Quickly is her first book, and it was published in May of 2018.

I stumbled across this book in the Uni library after watching a video of hers about reverse racism in Subbie English class. The short video was informative and well thought out, so I was interested to see her thoughts and memories in a full length, customized book.

Well, That Escalated Quickly follows the story of Ramsey starting from right before she was thrown into the limelight after releasing a video called “Sh*t White Girls Say… to Black Girls” in 2012. Prior to the video release, Ramsey worked a regular job and was not at all famous. She had dealt with inappropriate comments, actions, and behavior towards her based on her race her entire life. Ramsey became fed up after a video entitled “Sh*t Black Girls Say” that she felt was offensive and stereotypical went viral, with barely any negative reaction to it. This caused her to create a parody video that shed light on offhanded racist comments that people often said to her, without even realizing how unacceptable their statements were.

The autobiography describes Ramsey’s struggles with the attention from her video forcing her into an activist role, while also showing her triumphs in her mission to combine comedy and activism to spur education and acceptance in society. However, about half of the book is a guide to being a successful activist or how to face ignorance and bigotry. While I appreciate Ramsey including this advice, I also feel like the title of the book does not give an accurate representation of what is actually inside. Though some of the tips and pointers were informative, a lot of it seemed to be highly specific instructions for individuals planning to go into activism. This made it harder to be engaged in the second half of the book.

However, in the sections where Ramsey talks about her own personal experiences, she deftly explains her feelings on activism, online relationships, haters, internet “call outs,” and interracial marriages. She clearly aims to get her point across while not saying or phrasing anything offensively. She incorporates humor into the book, which lightens the mood, and makes it easier to understand her mindset. Her accounts of her past experiences are vivid and clear, so the reader can clearly understand what she felt during her journey through fame. Ramsey was also not afraid to own up to mistakes she thinks she has made, and how she fixed them and learned from them. This made her appear as more of a reliable narrator, because it was clear she was not defending herself or twisting situations to avoid blame.

Though I mostly approve of this book and appreciate what it’s trying to convey, I have a couple issues with it. One of them is located in the section of the book that talks about phrases, TV shows, and songs that Ramsey believes are offensive and should be phased out. I agree that there are definitely some examples from all of these subjects that are offensive and not appropriate to use/listen to/watch, however, the ones she chose perplexed me, as I had trouble understanding why they were so offensive that they had to be destroyed. For example, she critiques a few lyrics from “Blind Man” by Xavier Omär that read; “I can love you with my eyes closed/ I don’t lose sight of your beauty/ ‘Cause your heart is fine gold, baby/ Imma take time with your mind.” Ramsey argues that Xavier’s emphasis on the inner beauty of his partner is offensive, as well as the entire premise of the song being distasteful towards blind people. At this point in the book, I lost her a little bit. While I understand that individuals should not be judged by their looks to determine their value, I feel like this song is agreeing with that constructive outlook, as the lyrics refer to the person’s heart and mind as their real beauty. There were many other phrases and songs, and TV shows that she mentioned that I had trouble with understanding their offensiveness. I may be mistaken and her analysis of these examples may be perfectly valid, however I think she should make it much clearer for exactly why she wants to take the extreme action of banning content.