I really like how you tied in the trope of female suffering in with this film, it wasn't something I really connected after watching it. But now it is glaringly obvious. Romanticizing struggles is so common nowadays, not just in film but in music and other media. I don't think it is exclusively harmful to consumers but a lot of times this can lead to people normalizing depression and other mental illnesses just to fit into current cultural discourse. Enjoyed this video!
Thank you! And yeah, I feel like a lot of people have come away from the movie with wildly contrasting thoughts about what it's trying to communicate, which can sometimes be a good thing! But in this case I felt like it was more of a combo of unclear messaging on the filmmakers' parts and an overreliance on tired tropes about women's suffering :/
I really enjoyed this video! I loved the movie but it’s nice to look at it from a critical lens! I was under the impression that Cassie’s reckless endangerment was more out of survivor’s guilt. Guilt that she wasn’t there to save Nina and guilt that she didn’t do enough to prevent Nina’s suicide. Cassie luring in and lecturing ‘nice guys’ was a way of apologizing to Nina’s ghost. And I thought a lot of about the lack of flashbacks: The way I saw it, the movie deliberately did that to show the trauma of gendered violence effecting the victim’s family as well as the victim. It definitively would have helped to show how Nina’s family were coping with her assault and suicide. I hope that makes sense!
Yeah for sure! And I agree that I would've liked to see more of Nina's family, it would've made her life/story felt more grounded for me. Thank you for sharing your thoughts!
loved the video! I remember seeing the trailer and thinking it was about her murdering people but when I heard that nothing like that happened and she ended up dying in the end I got really confused. I think they definitely marketed the movie oddly
I was OBSESSED with the trailer when it first dropped and I still feel like the people who put that together deserve some kind of award or something (the remix of Toxic was iconic) Also thank you! 💖
I saw that the director said that the ending involving police was written for the production company. I think she wanted it to end with Cassie dying and the guys just moving on. So I think her idea was just violent revenge is not the way out. That’s why Cassie was killed when she got violent and not before when she just talked to her subjects. But I also see how it just ended up adding up to the list of women suffering. I hope her second film gets better now that she let out this story that might come from pain and anger.
Oooh thank you for this actually! I just looked it up and I see that her original plan was for the movie to end after they burned her body. It's disappointing that she ended up changing it because that would have still said more about r*pe culture than what the movie DID end up saying -- which was basically "the system DOES work when you try hard enough ❤" 💀
@@cherrybepsi yup :c seeing how there's still a lot of scared comapanies when it comes to giving money to female directors, I guess she played it safe with them to get more chances after that but it sucks that it ended up not working in favor of the story which should be protected by the director. At the same time it makes me think how male director can show whatever they want in their movies even if it doesn't contribute to the story and it's sad that females director still can't get that same treatment :(
I feel bad for saying this, and I haven’t seen the movie yet so I can’t really make a judgement on the quality of the writing or directorial style, but I feel like the academy needed a movie that capitalized on the # me too movement to lavish with nominations and recognition in order to atone for their sins (Harvey Weinstein played awards season like a fiddle for years, meanwhile his rampant sexual abuse was an open secret in Hollywood) and Promising Young woman fit the bill. Could the movie be more refined and nuanced? Perhaps. But it was a scathing indictment of rape culture that the academy definitely used as a performative way of saying “Look at us nominating this movie and this female director! We’ve really changed.”
Something that I thought tackled sexual assault on campuses pretty well was the very underrated MTV show Sweet/Vicious (though admittedly I haven't seen it since it aired in like 2015, it might not be as good as I remember)
I second this! I loved Sweet/Vicious, I even have a S/V tattoo. There are some plot holes because they only got the one season, but there’s going to be a comic book soon!
loved this video as always!! i feel like this movie was marketed as being as like a cathartic revenge movie and although i havent actually seen it, by all accounts thats just not what it is. which is okay, but i wish they had changed the marketing bc then i feel like everyone had a different idea of what the film was trying to be from what it actually is, if that makes sense.
This is a little bit unrelated to the video but I found Cassies and Ryan’s relationship very weird and forced from Cassies side, I didn’t like how persistent he was, to me it felt very pushy and Cassandra clearly wasn’t interested, even when they showed that montage of them being “happy” together it seemed off for Cassandras character
The pushy attitude of Ryan was meant to pepper in the red flags for the audience because even though he may not have physically assaulted anyone, he was 100% complicit. The montage is supposed to evoke the safety that Cassie finally feels with a man and the love that distracts her from the red flags before the rug is pulled out from underneath her (and subsequently, the audience) with the video evidence. The betrayal that she felt is palpable and relatable because we like to believe that the people we care for could never do these kinds of things.
I hadn’t watched this movie so I was pretty shocked when you said that it wasn’t a murder revenge story. Loved your analysis even if I hadn’t watched the movie 💖
I think the things that bothered me most about this movie- even though I did like it!- were that the dialogue was a bit painfully obvious at times, and the revenge against women made me uncomfortable. However, I did have to look inside myself and I kind of decided that the revenge against women, thankfully not literal, only psychological, made me uncomfortable because I wanted women to always be the innocent ones, although this is hardly ever the case. While I still believe that, I also think that the two women and the lawyer serve as “cover your ass” plot points. Examples where they could readily point and say “no, see look! This isn’t a man hating film, the examples are right there!!!” In case they faced an onslaught of Twitter backlash. I think the friend story shouldn’t have happened (it was a bit too brutal for me) and the dean should have been a man so it called out the hypocrisy of men only caring about the safety of their family members. You know, the whole, I-didn’t-respect-women-until-my-daughter thing that men love advertising. And forgiving the lawyer would make much more sense if she was a woman. Those were my main problems because, honestly? I liked the ending 😶 Not to be ~the suffering woman~ but my best friend killed herself and I understand the very real ideology of feeling like you’ll never be whole again because of your grieving. Cassie wanted to die because her life was interrupted as well, though differently. I also took the rainbow nails as a hint that she was in love with Nina too, but we probably don’t have time to unpack all of that haha. Hope any of that made sense. Watch MTV’s Sweet/Vicious if you want a more satisfying rape revenge story although it’s frustrating that it’s only one season. Fingers crossed for the comic to be released soon!
One last thing, hopefully haha. This is marketed as a “revenge fantasy” but I wouldn’t call it a fantasy. A revenge story? Sure! But a fantasy? No. Because it’s so rooted in reality. Because the ethics of what Cassie does to the women is so questionable, because she dies at the end, because the only “realistic” revenge was to go through the cops, the people who had let her down before in this abysmal system. A fantasy would be a bonafide vigilante, but Cassie also falls short of that because she only scares and lectures the men, although I guess you could argue that that’s psychological. I think that’s everyone’s issue with this. It’s too realistic, we wanted a fantasy where women actually win and we didn’t get that. This, the language of suffering women, is what the general public understands better, as opposed to any real revenge fantasy that the public would just write off as man hating.
Yeah I for sure can see an interpretation of the movie being a more pessimistic look at the revenge thriller! My only thing is that in that case, Al shouldn't have gotten put away at the end. It would've been a lot more impactful and chilling if Cassie's murder was kinda just swept under the rug and all involved get to continue with their lives. And love the idea that Cassie was secretly in love with Nina, but I also just love "been bisexual all along" theories 😌❤
@@cherrybepsi that was actually a thought for the original ending of the movie, but Emerald Fennel didn’t want audiences to leave the movie feeling completely hopeless. She also had to look further into the character of Cassie and how everything she did was carefully calculated. She knew that if she was going to embark on the journey of enacting physical revenge on Nina’s rapist, it could very well be her last night. She knew the gravity of the situation and that she might not make it out alive, so she prepared the evidence and scheduled texts.
ok i havent watched promising young woman (and i really have no interest to, even if to support a woman writer/director) but i got such bad vibes from it. from the strongest (extremely harsh) punishment being given to two women who arguably have more in common with the protagonist than with the villains, the "redemption" of the bad lawyer, the weird plot point that is that There Was Recorded Footage of the assault that could have been used in court, and the ridiculous trust on the police After the femicide is done... it feels like a misguided movie in a really bad sense, especially if its being used to teach about sexual assault in campus. it feels like if a computer took a bunch of trending topics of the current #metoo crisis and then someone had three days to make a coherent plot out of all of that. add to that an honestly fascinating main character that is bogged down by both bad and few active decisions (that while do create a good character, doesnt feel like the type the movie needs, or at least it seems to appear critical enough of her), and christian imagery (god im so fuckin sick of christian imagery), it does come across as an extremely self righteous, preachy movie with not enough self awareness and sensibility to actually deal with the more realistic consequences of these characters actions. i can see why people turn to this movie and hail it as a feminist masterpiece, both because of being directed and written by a woman and by focusing on a very specific "woman issue". but as always its actually about the execution, and its a pity that it ended up feeling so rushed by what you describe. concepts like the self martyrization of women, the morality of being this sort of weird vigilante acting in place of a dead woman who cant consent to these revenges... tbh it brings to mind, in the other ebd of the spectrum, another "perfectly feminist" movie i was truly looking forward to, The Glorias, a biopic about gloria steinem. and its a perfectly serviceable movie with a lot of effort to make it as inclusive, as thoughtful, as possible. and it has good performances, and good directing, and a good script... its just that its boring. it celebrates these women with no sort of critical eye to themselves, more than a "oh theres so much to do", "we havent done nearly enough", "we need to do good for our daughters", very second-wave sort of thing. and in that, despite being a competent movie, it is boring. everything feels surface level, obvious and redundant, like i felt while listening to the plot of the movie. why was it necessary for there to be two women being punished with the threat of assault? why was it necessary to have two men being good while also having done bad things/looked the other way? why did the main character need to die for justice to be served, especially when it is known, how rarely the death of a woman, especially a sex worker, can end with actual consequences to the killer/perpetrator? idk. its all very sus.
This was an amazing video and summed up a lot of my issues with this movie, so thank you for sharing it! It was so frustrating that there were all of these elements that could have been interesting and could have been explored, but went nowhere. For example, with Madison and the dean, the film could have potentially done something about how classism influences an individual’s treatment as well (like set it up so Nina and Cassie were from working class backgrounds/families vs. the others being from old money). I’m curious about how much the story is impacted by being set in the States, but made by and starring non-Americans. It had this almost detached-ness to it that didn’t work for me. This movie lured me in with a cursed cover of Toxic and then was just really disappointing. After I finished watching it, all I could think was that if I was going to watch a rape revenge movie, I should have re-watched Coralie Fargeat’s Revenge instead. (Also, my little medieval studies loving heart was delighted by the discussion of the aesthetics of suffering. It's a topic near and dear to me.)
I was like where is this going? in regards to the introduction but you connected the dots really well and I do love a well rounded video essay! I didn't watch this movie cause although the promos were really attention grabbing, it really did feel just that, attention grabbing. Idk I had a feeling that this sensitive subject wasn't gonna be handled well as it should, and well thank you for taking the bullet and watching it for us. We thank you for your service
A friend of mine who never saw the movie was watching the video and texted me like "wow the movie is about tuberculosis?" and then 3 minutes later "oh. never mind." 💀💀💀
This was a fantastic video essay and your points about the politics of the movie are super valid. It felt really shitty that she had to die and even then like it didn’t feel like justice for any of the people who did terrible things. I really wanted to see the movie from the trailer and then heard that it was not it and was super disappointing
@@cherrybepsi I agree, it was somewhat empty and confusing but I still kinda liked? Maybe because we don't have a lot of movies talking about these things? not the ending though! Nor mister fake cry attorney. Felt more like weird fairytale... not an educational movie.
God I remember seeing the trailer and hearing it sounded interesting and the film really failed to deliver. Some other people said it but I didn't even think to make that connection with the Suffering Victorian Woman and I didn't know all of that about tuberculosis. It reminds me of that post where people say "Wow writers found out about tuberculosis and now that's all any character ever dies from." I guess it is that romantique illness... sdfkjhksdjfk I love how in depth this analysis is I was so excited when I saw you posted something! I keep seeing recommendations for video essays about this movie like 'it's so good' 'casting done right' 'how amazing it is' like... -_- it's great to see and really break down how this film fails b/c you really do leave it feeling so unsure and muddled like... what am I supposed to take from this. It really does feel like a disappointment that we didn't get more from this film :'( I know it's messy overall and perhaps I need to rewatch. But I know Fennel also did some writing (as one of a group i think?) for Killing Eve s2 and I saw some ppl talking about how she seems to want to make Feminist Statements but it really does seem to be lacking like... giving a surface level interesting visual idea or whatever but without thinking through the meaning or just narrative impact. Also I'm interesting in that two sentence horror stories I'll have to have a look... I know a lot of them are hit or miss but I do enjoy those anthology horror shows... have you watched many others, idk if they'd be as campy but like, at least currently coming out there was that one that had Kelly Marie Tran in one of the episodes Monsterland, there was Into the Dark and then also the reboot of the Twilight Zone. I mean there's also like Black Mirror of course, but I also remember there was a show called Dimension 404 which I think I watched some if not all of and heard about because Constance Wu was in one of the episodes? Also in Monsterland there was a really interesting episode with Nicole Beharie that explored ignorance towards sexual assault (ep3 called New Orleans, LA) and then also I haven't seen anyone talk about it, or the show very much but I really loved the Twilight Zone reboot episode s2 ep9 called Try, Try. It's an interesting idea kind of taking on the Groundhog Day concept of wooing a woman but confronting just how creepy it is? I really enjoyed it and I think just confronting that whole 'sweet softboy who says the right thing' idea... Oh also it's more of a series like each season is an anthology thing but I did also enjoy Channel Zero. Well, I guess it's also hit and miss but I do love horror anothology series if you have any more recs kjdfhskjd Idk if you're interested but if you ever wanna do videos talking about any anthology series episodes I'd love to see, I feel like there are kind of some hidden gems or at least like interesting concepts that are less explored in like video essays b/c they're just a short episode of a bigger series but I think they can be so fun?
omg yeah i love anthology shows! and all you had to say was nicole beharie and i was SOLD omw to watch immediately. also a video just focusing on an anthology series episode actually sounds like a great idea bc i would have SO MUCH to say, esp with two sentence horror stories bc even though there are a few that are kinda slow, most of them are genuinely so fun and well done! i think anthology shows do tend to have a bit more creative control to explore unique concepts as well, so they're usually offering a fresh story or perspective that's always fun to see in horror 🥰
The lawyer appologises and then he becomes her helper by using the found video footage in the hopes that he will go for a re-trial that will finally get Nina justice.
Great point! that even with the release of the videos in real life may not help the victims. I remember when a woman was rape and it was film by the rapists. When it was taken to trial the men where still found innocent because the victim didn't fight back enough. Button line rape in the minds of many men rape is not a crime.
I remember seeing the trailer and thinking it looked a revenge fantasy with a fun, bright aesthetic and Cassie would be killing these men so hearing you describe what actually happens was just a constant barrage of huh???? Confusing politics is really the right word. I guess you could say that it’s a critic of ‘rape culture’ as completely separate from men and the patriarchy (even though that doesn’t make sense), which is why men aren’t really punished by the narrative. In the end, it feels to me like the author has a lack of commitment to the ideal they’re trying to espouse. Of course, I didn’t watch the movie and now I really don’t want to so maybe I’m way off mark.
yeah i record on my phone and i'm not sure how fix it so i was just trying to sit super still in this video. i guess it didn't work 😩 i'll see what i can do tho!
i looked it up and it says on their website that for the US at least they print and ship out of Kentucky, but it actually doesn't say where they source their materials from (at least from what i could tell) so i completely understand if you're uncomfortable purchasing! you can still support the artist who made the design by checking out her instagram @soupheathen ! thank you for your interest anyway 🥰💞
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I really like how you tied in the trope of female suffering in with this film, it wasn't something I really connected after watching it. But now it is glaringly obvious. Romanticizing struggles is so common nowadays, not just in film but in music and other media. I don't think it is exclusively harmful to consumers but a lot of times this can lead to people normalizing depression and other mental illnesses just to fit into current cultural discourse. Enjoyed this video!
Thank you! And yeah, I feel like a lot of people have come away from the movie with wildly contrasting thoughts about what it's trying to communicate, which can sometimes be a good thing! But in this case I felt like it was more of a combo of unclear messaging on the filmmakers' parts and an overreliance on tired tropes about women's suffering :/
I really enjoyed this video! I loved the movie but it’s nice to look at it from a critical lens!
I was under the impression that Cassie’s reckless endangerment was more out of survivor’s guilt. Guilt that she wasn’t there to save Nina and guilt that she didn’t do enough to prevent Nina’s suicide. Cassie luring in and lecturing ‘nice guys’ was a way of apologizing to Nina’s ghost. And I thought a lot of about the lack of flashbacks: The way I saw it, the movie deliberately did that to show the trauma of gendered violence effecting the victim’s family as well as the victim. It definitively would have helped to show how Nina’s family were coping with her assault and suicide. I hope that makes sense!
Yeah for sure! And I agree that I would've liked to see more of Nina's family, it would've made her life/story felt more grounded for me. Thank you for sharing your thoughts!
loved the video! I remember seeing the trailer and thinking it was about her murdering people but when I heard that nothing like that happened and she ended up dying in the end I got really confused. I think they definitely marketed the movie oddly
I was OBSESSED with the trailer when it first dropped and I still feel like the people who put that together deserve some kind of award or something (the remix of Toxic was iconic) Also thank you! 💖
A whole new meaning to “little miss tuberculosis”
I saw that the director said that the ending involving police was written for the production company. I think she wanted it to end with Cassie dying and the guys just moving on. So I think her idea was just violent revenge is not the way out. That’s why Cassie was killed when she got violent and not before when she just talked to her subjects.
But I also see how it just ended up adding up to the list of women suffering. I hope her second film gets better now that she let out this story that might come from pain and anger.
Oooh thank you for this actually! I just looked it up and I see that her original plan was for the movie to end after they burned her body. It's disappointing that she ended up changing it because that would have still said more about r*pe culture than what the movie DID end up saying -- which was basically "the system DOES work when you try hard enough ❤" 💀
@@cherrybepsi yup :c seeing how there's still a lot of scared comapanies when it comes to giving money to female directors, I guess she played it safe with them to get more chances after that but it sucks that it ended up not working in favor of the story which should be protected by the director. At the same time it makes me think how male director can show whatever they want in their movies even if it doesn't contribute to the story and it's sad that females director still can't get that same treatment :(
I feel bad for saying this, and I haven’t seen the movie yet so I can’t really make a judgement on the quality of the writing or directorial style, but I feel like the academy needed a movie that capitalized on the # me too movement to lavish with nominations and recognition in order to atone for their sins (Harvey Weinstein played awards season like a fiddle for years, meanwhile his rampant sexual abuse was an open secret in Hollywood) and Promising Young woman fit the bill. Could the movie be more refined and nuanced? Perhaps. But it was a scathing indictment of rape culture that the academy definitely used as a performative way of saying “Look at us nominating this movie and this female director! We’ve really changed.”
Something that I thought tackled sexual assault on campuses pretty well was the very underrated MTV show Sweet/Vicious (though admittedly I haven't seen it since it aired in like 2015, it might not be as good as I remember)
i haven't seen it but i'll check it out! ty 💞
I second this! I loved Sweet/Vicious, I even have a S/V tattoo. There are some plot holes because they only got the one season, but there’s going to be a comic book soon!
it was GOOD ! it didn't depic graphic violence on screen, it gave us the rEVENGE we needed and it explored the aftermath of assault !!!!!! ahh!!!
loved this video as always!! i feel like this movie was marketed as being as like a cathartic revenge movie and although i havent actually seen it, by all accounts thats just not what it is. which is okay, but i wish they had changed the marketing bc then i feel like everyone had a different idea of what the film was trying to be from what it actually is, if that makes sense.
yeah for sure! i think they marketed it as like a "pop punk feminist response" to the me too movement which.....idk how accurate that is lol
This is a little bit unrelated to the video but I found Cassies and Ryan’s relationship very weird and forced from Cassies side, I didn’t like how persistent he was, to me it felt very pushy and Cassandra clearly wasn’t interested, even when they showed that montage of them being “happy” together it seemed off for Cassandras character
Okay yeah I got those vibes too! Especially the whole spitting in the coffee and then drinking it thing it was so weird to me like 😦 in a PANORAMIC??
The pushy attitude of Ryan was meant to pepper in the red flags for the audience because even though he may not have physically assaulted anyone, he was 100% complicit. The montage is supposed to evoke the safety that Cassie finally feels with a man and the love that distracts her from the red flags before the rug is pulled out from underneath her (and subsequently, the audience) with the video evidence. The betrayal that she felt is palpable and relatable because we like to believe that the people we care for could never do these kinds of things.
37 minutes?! We eaten good tonight
LMAO it was originally gonna be over 40 and i managed to cut it down, but it still feels too long 😭
I hadn’t watched this movie so I was pretty shocked when you said that it wasn’t a murder revenge story. Loved your analysis even if I hadn’t watched the movie 💖
I think the things that bothered me most about this movie- even though I did like it!- were that the dialogue was a bit painfully obvious at times, and the revenge against women made me uncomfortable. However, I did have to look inside myself and I kind of decided that the revenge against women, thankfully not literal, only psychological, made me uncomfortable because I wanted women to always be the innocent ones, although this is hardly ever the case. While I still believe that, I also think that the two women and the lawyer serve as “cover your ass” plot points. Examples where they could readily point and say “no, see look! This isn’t a man hating film, the examples are right there!!!” In case they faced an onslaught of Twitter backlash. I think the friend story shouldn’t have happened (it was a bit too brutal for me) and the dean should have been a man so it called out the hypocrisy of men only caring about the safety of their family members. You know, the whole, I-didn’t-respect-women-until-my-daughter thing that men love advertising. And forgiving the lawyer would make much more sense if she was a woman. Those were my main problems because, honestly? I liked the ending 😶 Not to be ~the suffering woman~ but my best friend killed herself and I understand the very real ideology of feeling like you’ll never be whole again because of your grieving. Cassie wanted to die because her life was interrupted as well, though differently. I also took the rainbow nails as a hint that she was in love with Nina too, but we probably don’t have time to unpack all of that haha. Hope any of that made sense. Watch MTV’s Sweet/Vicious if you want a more satisfying rape revenge story although it’s frustrating that it’s only one season. Fingers crossed for the comic to be released soon!
One last thing, hopefully haha. This is marketed as a “revenge fantasy” but I wouldn’t call it a fantasy. A revenge story? Sure! But a fantasy? No. Because it’s so rooted in reality. Because the ethics of what Cassie does to the women is so questionable, because she dies at the end, because the only “realistic” revenge was to go through the cops, the people who had let her down before in this abysmal system. A fantasy would be a bonafide vigilante, but Cassie also falls short of that because she only scares and lectures the men, although I guess you could argue that that’s psychological. I think that’s everyone’s issue with this. It’s too realistic, we wanted a fantasy where women actually win and we didn’t get that. This, the language of suffering women, is what the general public understands better, as opposed to any real revenge fantasy that the public would just write off as man hating.
Yeah I for sure can see an interpretation of the movie being a more pessimistic look at the revenge thriller! My only thing is that in that case, Al shouldn't have gotten put away at the end. It would've been a lot more impactful and chilling if Cassie's murder was kinda just swept under the rug and all involved get to continue with their lives. And love the idea that Cassie was secretly in love with Nina, but I also just love "been bisexual all along" theories 😌❤
@@cherrybepsi that was actually a thought for the original ending of the movie, but Emerald Fennel didn’t want audiences to leave the movie feeling completely hopeless. She also had to look further into the character of Cassie and how everything she did was carefully calculated. She knew that if she was going to embark on the journey of enacting physical revenge on Nina’s rapist, it could very well be her last night. She knew the gravity of the situation and that she might not make it out alive, so she prepared the evidence and scheduled texts.
ok i havent watched promising young woman (and i really have no interest to, even if to support a woman writer/director) but i got such bad vibes from it. from the strongest (extremely harsh) punishment being given to two women who arguably have more in common with the protagonist than with the villains, the "redemption" of the bad lawyer, the weird plot point that is that There Was Recorded Footage of the assault that could have been used in court, and the ridiculous trust on the police After the femicide is done... it feels like a misguided movie in a really bad sense, especially if its being used to teach about sexual assault in campus. it feels like if a computer took a bunch of trending topics of the current #metoo crisis and then someone had three days to make a coherent plot out of all of that. add to that an honestly fascinating main character that is bogged down by both bad and few active decisions (that while do create a good character, doesnt feel like the type the movie needs, or at least it seems to appear critical enough of her), and christian imagery (god im so fuckin sick of christian imagery), it does come across as an extremely self righteous, preachy movie with not enough self awareness and sensibility to actually deal with the more realistic consequences of these characters actions. i can see why people turn to this movie and hail it as a feminist masterpiece, both because of being directed and written by a woman and by focusing on a very specific "woman issue". but as always its actually about the execution, and its a pity that it ended up feeling so rushed by what you describe. concepts like the self martyrization of women, the morality of being this sort of weird vigilante acting in place of a dead woman who cant consent to these revenges...
tbh it brings to mind, in the other ebd of the spectrum, another "perfectly feminist" movie i was truly looking forward to, The Glorias, a biopic about gloria steinem. and its a perfectly serviceable movie with a lot of effort to make it as inclusive, as thoughtful, as possible. and it has good performances, and good directing, and a good script... its just that its boring. it celebrates these women with no sort of critical eye to themselves, more than a "oh theres so much to do", "we havent done nearly enough", "we need to do good for our daughters", very second-wave sort of thing. and in that, despite being a competent movie, it is boring. everything feels surface level, obvious and redundant, like i felt while listening to the plot of the movie. why was it necessary for there to be two women being punished with the threat of assault? why was it necessary to have two men being good while also having done bad things/looked the other way? why did the main character need to die for justice to be served, especially when it is known, how rarely the death of a woman, especially a sex worker, can end with actual consequences to the killer/perpetrator?
idk. its all very sus.
This was an amazing video and summed up a lot of my issues with this movie, so thank you for sharing it! It was so frustrating that there were all of these elements that could have been interesting and could have been explored, but went nowhere. For example, with Madison and the dean, the film could have potentially done something about how classism influences an individual’s treatment as well (like set it up so Nina and Cassie were from working class backgrounds/families vs. the others being from old money). I’m curious about how much the story is impacted by being set in the States, but made by and starring non-Americans. It had this almost detached-ness to it that didn’t work for me.
This movie lured me in with a cursed cover of Toxic and then was just really disappointing. After I finished watching it, all I could think was that if I was going to watch a rape revenge movie, I should have re-watched Coralie Fargeat’s Revenge instead. (Also, my little medieval studies loving heart was delighted by the discussion of the aesthetics of suffering. It's a topic near and dear to me.)
Loved your title: "When Men Cry" because people seem to care more about men hardships and not about women hardships.
discovered your videos today
I was like where is this going? in regards to the introduction but you connected the dots really well and I do love a well rounded video essay! I didn't watch this movie cause although the promos were really attention grabbing, it really did feel just that, attention grabbing. Idk I had a feeling that this sensitive subject wasn't gonna be handled well as it should, and well thank you for taking the bullet and watching it for us. We thank you for your service
A friend of mine who never saw the movie was watching the video and texted me like "wow the movie is about tuberculosis?" and then 3 minutes later "oh. never mind." 💀💀💀
@@cherrybepsi 💀💀💀 truly
You had us in the first half.jpeg
This was a fantastic video essay and your points about the politics of the movie are super valid. It felt really shitty that she had to die and even then like it didn’t feel like justice for any of the people who did terrible things. I really wanted to see the movie from the trailer and then heard that it was not it and was super disappointing
Why is every female basket case always named Cassie???
YESSS THANK YOU!! I haven't even started watching, just. Thank you.
omg pls thank YOU I hope you enjoy the vid!
@@cherrybepsi I agree, it was somewhat empty and confusing but I still kinda liked? Maybe because we don't have a lot of movies talking about these things? not the ending though! Nor mister fake cry attorney. Felt more like weird fairytale... not an educational movie.
God I remember seeing the trailer and hearing it sounded interesting and the film really failed to deliver. Some other people said it but I didn't even think to make that connection with the Suffering Victorian Woman and I didn't know all of that about tuberculosis. It reminds me of that post where people say "Wow writers found out about tuberculosis and now that's all any character ever dies from." I guess it is that romantique illness... sdfkjhksdjfk I love how in depth this analysis is I was so excited when I saw you posted something!
I keep seeing recommendations for video essays about this movie like 'it's so good' 'casting done right' 'how amazing it is' like... -_- it's great to see and really break down how this film fails b/c you really do leave it feeling so unsure and muddled like... what am I supposed to take from this. It really does feel like a disappointment that we didn't get more from this film :'( I know it's messy overall and perhaps I need to rewatch. But I know Fennel also did some writing (as one of a group i think?) for Killing Eve s2 and I saw some ppl talking about how she seems to want to make Feminist Statements but it really does seem to be lacking like... giving a surface level interesting visual idea or whatever but without thinking through the meaning or just narrative impact.
Also I'm interesting in that two sentence horror stories I'll have to have a look... I know a lot of them are hit or miss but I do enjoy those anthology horror shows... have you watched many others, idk if they'd be as campy but like, at least currently coming out there was that one that had Kelly Marie Tran in one of the episodes Monsterland, there was Into the Dark and then also the reboot of the Twilight Zone. I mean there's also like Black Mirror of course, but I also remember there was a show called Dimension 404 which I think I watched some if not all of and heard about because Constance Wu was in one of the episodes? Also in Monsterland there was a really interesting episode with Nicole Beharie that explored ignorance towards sexual assault (ep3 called New Orleans, LA) and then also I haven't seen anyone talk about it, or the show very much but I really loved the Twilight Zone reboot episode s2 ep9 called Try, Try. It's an interesting idea kind of taking on the Groundhog Day concept of wooing a woman but confronting just how creepy it is? I really enjoyed it and I think just confronting that whole 'sweet softboy who says the right thing' idea... Oh also it's more of a series like each season is an anthology thing but I did also enjoy Channel Zero. Well, I guess it's also hit and miss but I do love horror anothology series if you have any more recs kjdfhskjd
Idk if you're interested but if you ever wanna do videos talking about any anthology series episodes I'd love to see, I feel like there are kind of some hidden gems or at least like interesting concepts that are less explored in like video essays b/c they're just a short episode of a bigger series but I think they can be so fun?
omg yeah i love anthology shows! and all you had to say was nicole beharie and i was SOLD omw to watch immediately. also a video just focusing on an anthology series episode actually sounds like a great idea bc i would have SO MUCH to say, esp with two sentence horror stories bc even though there are a few that are kinda slow, most of them are genuinely so fun and well done!
i think anthology shows do tend to have a bit more creative control to explore unique concepts as well, so they're usually offering a fresh story or perspective that's always fun to see in horror 🥰
love this analysis
thank you so much! 💞
The merch is so cute 😭😭 I’m so rarely tempted by logo stuff but the design, esp in emo??? 😭🖤🍒
Yeah Laine (the artist) really went off with the design I'm so obsessed 🥰💖
The movie was mid so many plot holes 🕳️ “The Tale” with Laura Dern was a way better film no Oscar 🤦🏽♂️
The lawyer appologises and then he becomes her helper by using the found video footage in the hopes that he will go for a re-trial that will finally get Nina justice.
Great point! that even with the release of the videos in real life may not help the victims.
I remember when a woman was rape and it was film by the rapists. When it was taken to trial the men where still found innocent because the victim didn't fight back enough. Button line rape in the minds of many men rape is not a crime.
this is the best analysis i've watched! can't wait to watch your other videos!
🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡
I remember seeing the trailer and thinking it looked a revenge fantasy with a fun, bright aesthetic and Cassie would be killing these men so hearing you describe what actually happens was just a constant barrage of huh???? Confusing politics is really the right word. I guess you could say that it’s a critic of ‘rape culture’ as completely separate from men and the patriarchy (even though that doesn’t make sense), which is why men aren’t really punished by the narrative. In the end, it feels to me like the author has a lack of commitment to the ideal they’re trying to espouse. Of course, I didn’t watch the movie and now I really don’t want to so maybe I’m way off mark.
Great analysis, great video as always 👏
i honestly relate a lot to cassie. i tend to put myself into dangerous situations too because of my BPD and SH like that comes in so many forms
Can talk other female revenge movie like lady vengeance, please 🥺
5:15 WHATS THAT SONG CALLED?
BEPIS
great video but the autostabilization is super disorienting
yeah i record on my phone and i'm not sure how fix it so i was just trying to sit super still in this video. i guess it didn't work 😩 i'll see what i can do tho!
I do like the merch, but does anyone know where teespring sources their products?
i looked it up and it says on their website that for the US at least they print and ship out of Kentucky, but it actually doesn't say where they source their materials from (at least from what i could tell) so i completely understand if you're uncomfortable purchasing! you can still support the artist who made the design by checking out her instagram @soupheathen ! thank you for your interest anyway 🥰💞