Now Playing loading...

‘P-Valley’ creator Katori Hall says the language in the series honors her Southern roots and her Blackness

by

Jim Spellman/WireImageAhead of Sunday’s season finale of P-Valley, series creator Katori Hall is sharing why she used the show’s unique Southern slang to pay homage to her Black culture.

“I am very much always honoring my Southern roots. I’m always honoring my Blackness,” Hall, a Memphis native, tells ABC Audio. “And so I know we are so innovative when it comes to language.”

Hall says having her cast learn the show’s special Mississippi dialect and its slang helped to amplify the story, as well as its important message. She believes that this in turn allowed viewers to get an authentic taste of the Black experience.

“As a matter of fact, the way the Black folks communicate, there’s a music in the way that we speak to each other. There’s a rhythm. There’s a cadence,” she says. “And so, you almost have to kind of be a musician when you learn Katori Hall lines, because your pitch and your rate and how you oscillate between those two things can change the entire meaning of a whole line.”

The season finale of P-Valley — also starring Brandee EvansShannon ThorntonNicco Annan, and Elarica Johnson — airs Sunday night at 9 p.m. ET on Starz.

By Candice Williams
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.


Comments are closed.