Friday, March 5, 2010

Internet Superhero Kai Soremekun Talks CHICK, Part Two

In Part One of our interview with internet superhero Kai Soremekun, the talented writer/producer/star of the Indie Soap Award Winning series CHICK discussed how painful personal experiences inspired her to develop this compelling series. In Part Two, she shares more about the messages behind CHICK and how watching this show can help each and every one of us tap into our own superhero!

We Love Soaps: While watching CHICK there are times I find myself fascinated. I don't know sometimes whether to laugh or cry with this woman.
Kai Soremekun: On one level CHICK is a show where you can just have fun. You can watch this girl who wants to be a superhero do some silly things in pursuit of her dream. But you can see it on deeper levels. We all have a need to find our purpose in life. We all have so much potential, and have things get in our way in everyday life. I want to explore those issues and themes. You can go as deep as you want to go with it or you can just be purely entertained. We’ve just scratched the surface in season one, season two goes much deeper and is going to give viewers a lot more opportunities to interact.

We Love Soaps: I have told you that I am a therapist, I have to say that CHICK for me is psychologically complex in many ways. It is very entertaining and fun, but on a deeper psychological level I see a woman who could be decompensating into mental illness. I have to ask you, in the world of Los Angeles in which CHICK lives, is there really a superhero academy to be found or is she mentally declining?
Kai Soremekun: I don’t mind giving away that she is going to find an academy. She is not declining. I feel like I want to be brave enough to acknowledge that this is sometimes what we go through. They say the only difference between crazy people and people who appear normal is that crazy people talk out loud. It’s really just me, showing what goes on. I appear normal, at least I think I do, but there’s lots of stuff going on. I want to acknowledge that this is the way journey is. Especially when you are going for your dreams, you’re going to appear crazy at some points. It’s part of the process. By the end of Season One I think it will be clear that she’s not diving into the depths of insanity, that there is actually a payoff for her.

We Love Soaps: What in your mind is the definition of the word, “Superhero?”
Kai Soremekun: I feel like the idea of a “superhero” and how it exists in our society is more connected to who we can really be than how much we have explored. I feel like there is so much potential in human beings and we’ve only just scratched the very tip of the surface of what we can do. I think the journey for CHICK is redefining what a “superhero” is. It’s really tied into our potential, and finding your purpose in life. When you meet people or watch people who are really living in purpose, that’s a superhero. Because they are in purpose, they are on purpose, they are honoring it and living it every day. That idea of “superhero” is what I want to explore as opposed to the one we see in comic books and movies.

I want to take the superhero idea and make it real so you can look at her and say, “Dude, I could totally be a superhero too!” I want to explore intuition and all these gifts we have been given as human beings. We are so much more like animals than we want to acknowledge. Animals are so intuitive. And so are we, but we shut it down a lot, and prefer to deal more with logic than intuition, which is insane itself. Like if you really go with intuition when you make decisions, it could appear crazy. It’s usually nonlinear and it’s telling you to do some silly shit in your life. But if you take the chance and really start to get with that, it gets crazy magical quickly. That intuition is a superpower for me, and that’s one of the things we’re going to explore as far as Lisa’s power as a superhero. She’s still holding onto to the stereotypical version of a superhero in Season One.

We Love Soaps: I’ve noticed that so far, Lisa’s idea of a “superhero” is someone who runs around saving people and solving crimes, while struggling with her own inner battles.
Kai Soremekun: There’s a character who is about to show up who is going to knock out her ideas of what a superhero is. I cannot wait for this character to show up. She is going to show up, knock Lisa down to square one, and say, “We’re redefining this whole thing. You can be a superhero, but it’s not going to be what you think it is.” I know sometimes people get drawn to the show because of what they stereotypically are thinking what a superhero is. I don’t think we live up to that. It’s a fear of mine that when it’s not what people expected they may shut it off.

We Love Soaps: Yet even if they turn to CHICK for that initially, what they get is something so much deeper and spiritually enriching.
Kai Soremekun: I agree. I’m trying to be light with it, but I want to go to the deep places with it. Some places are in my own journey right now and I’m thinking, “Dude, I don’t even know if I want to go there.” I feel like it could be so amazing in exploring human potential. I want to be sensitive to the fact that there may be people watching who want to be open to that stuff, but it’s scary. It can be scary to explore your dreams, your desires, your passions, your purpose. There is a lot of fear that goes into exploring these things. I want to create a vehicle where people feel safe enough to go on the journey and it inspires them to want to take those steps in their own life, to look at where they are, and maybe reevaluate. I think you have to be sensitive to that if you want to do these projects, and how you’re going to introduce your audience so they feel safe enough to stay in the game.

We Love Soaps: I think what works so brilliantly is that you are showing Lisa on her journey without saying this is necessarily the path for anyone else. Lisa spends a considerable amount of time and energy trying to find validation and importance from sources outside of herself, not realizing that she has the power within herself if she just knew how to tap into it.
Kai Soremekun: That’s right. You can kind of get isolated when you are trying to do a show. You’re just working 24/7. I literally wonder sometimes, “Does anyone watch this, does anyone get this, am I crazy?” It’s so great to hear when someone is watching something you’ve done and they actually got the ideas and are impacted by them. I totally appreciate that.

We Love Soaps: I think CHICK taps into the viewer’s own unconscious side. It resonates for anyone who has ever intuitively had a sense of being able to become more than who they are now, but not knowing how to express it. What kind of responses have you received from viewers?
Kai Soremekun: Part of the challenge is that we’re an independent outlet here, and I’m not always able to get the word out as much as I would like. But when people watch it, it’s pretty consistent with people liking the show, relating to it in their own lives, and it really seems to connect. I think our frustration now is figuring out to have it seen by more people, and getting a bigger response. I love feedback. I love when people tell us what they think and what they want more of.

I got an e-mail from a woman who had just gotten out of jacked-up relationship. It brought me to tears. You get through that period where you are asking, “What’s the point, what’s the point?” You’re disillusioned about why someone would hurt you and betray you. But she told me, “Then I saw CHICK and I realized I could be a superhero too.” I get messages like that quite often. Those are the best. Then I got a message on Facebook from a woman who said, “I have two chicks in training,” meaning her daughters. That is a huge compliment! Those types of comments make it all worthwhile.

We Love Soaps: You are like their superhero!
Kai Soremekun: It’s giving people permission that it’s okay, this is how it goes. You’re not weird, you’re not crazy, this is life. If you can embrace it, it helps on the journey.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: Please press here for the final part of our interview in which we discuss CHICK'S political relevance, and how current events tie into themes presented in the series. If you haven't already, allow your own superhero to come out by watching CHICK now.

Damon L. Jacobs is a Marriage Family Therapist practicing in New York City, channeling his own inner-superhero as the author of "Absolutely Should-less: The Secret to Living the Stress-Free Life You Deserve". He is re-imagining a world without "shoulds" at www.shouldless.com.

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