Maia and the new normal of dating

NOTE: Here at TIL Magazine, we don't take delight in tearing down people's hard work however mediocre because we know how hard it is to birth an idea. Instead, we focus mainly on the themes of the body of work and their relevance to our everyday life.

Maia was released on Prime Video in May 2024 approximately two years after its original release in 2022. Although Echobu Michael and Garuba Emil (both writers) gave it their best shot, the story lost its touch with reality somewhere in-between. 

So the plot of the story puts in our face the travails of a young woman who has just broken up with her boyfriend on the grounds that she is responsible for his sudden misfortune. Therefafter, we see her trying to restart that part of her existence by going on a date with another and ending up in bed with him that same night. Of course he gets his own portion of misfortune subsequently and the circle continues. Now here is the disconnect. 

Maia, the young woman who is perceived to have been cursed is not supposed to be portrayed as a loose lady that ends up in bed with every single person she goes out on a date with. The portrayal instead just validates the new normal lifestyle of many young people involving in indiscriminate sex even with strangers. They call it one night stand in the dating realm. Also we can't shrug off the fact that the writers try to keep it glued with her visits to spiritual places in search of deliverance and her resort to sex after each date. The only time they are able to make us feel the weight of her worries is when she goes to pour out her heart before the altar of God on a faithful day and when she finally meets Uzee Gyan. 

Somewhere in-between there too, there is a misrepresentation of the Christian faith where Uzee directly asks for sex since they both want to be together. But it won't be if the idea is to portray the mishmash and mediocrity of today's Christian practices engaged in by one too many confused individuals.

I know the movie tries to recalibrate the mind as a powerful tool of change but it falls way behind the mark not because of execution but because of the blind spots in the development of the plot. Now let's face it. Maia indeed has been cursed through the pronouncement of a powerful "witch". And from that time on, she begins to experience emotional failure. Except we want to lie or deceive ourselves, unlike negative impressions, curses don't just go away by changing one's perception. They are embedded in more spiritual mystics that respond only to intentional prayers and faith: not mere declarations and affirmations.

We know there will always be a blind spot no doubt but not doing due diligence might just downtone or misinform completely.