The Troubles in Northern Ireland was not a dystopia. Dystopia refers to an imagined reality wherein great suffering or injustice takes place. I do not belive any harm was intended by this remark, but i think we must be careful with language which may trivialise the events of the Troubles or indeed any current political turmoil.

The Troubles were real, it was a period of violent political conflict which lasted decades and resulted in 3,532 deaths, upwards of 50,000 total casualties, and to this day we still face the ripple effects of this trauma. The Troubles began in the late 1960s, but Catholics and Protestants didn’t just wake up one day and decide to hate each other, the discrimination and disenfranchisement of Catholic people in Northern Ireland has its roots in the 800 years of colonial imperialism that Ireland has been subjected to. The Troubles officially ended with the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.

The events of the Troubles are not old, in the course of history the wounds are still fresh. The British Army only officially withdrew from Northern Ireland in 2007. Up until 2001 our police force was still called the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC). There are continued reprisals of sectarian violence, in 2019 Lyra McKee was shot and killed during a riot in Derry, an armed gunman was aiming at the police and she was caught in the crossfire. Peace is a tenuous thing in Northern Ireland.

The details relating to the Troubles as depicted in Derry Girls are based on real events of the 1990s. Lisa McGee, the show’s creator and writer, treats some events with humour. As a Derry girl herself who grew up during the Troubles, who is better to highlight the moments of humour and teenage melodrama amid an otherwise overwhelming and pervading darkness?

The whole point of Derry Girls is to capture a moment in time, in many ways it is a love letter, to the city of Derry, to the 90s, to the teenage experience. But as universal as it has proven itself to be, this is still a story of working class Catholic girls (and an English fella) trying to natigate their way to adulthood, they don’t see the soldiers on the street or bomb scares on the TV as abnormal, they have grown up in this world and if they have hope for the future it is a cautious hope. But it’s important to note that Derry Girls does not focus on the future, despite 20 years of retrospect it maintains a keen sense of uncertainty, they do not know what the future holds, all they can do is deal with their problems as they arise, be there for each other, and handle their dramas as best as they can.

Total Solar Eclipse 2020