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Katharine Hepburn in a photo shoot from Sylvia Scarlett, by Ernest Bachrach.

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Edie Sedgwick, Andy Warhol photobooth, 1965

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METAMORPHOSIS, 2017-2018

Published by Vogue Italia

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jennifer’s body is unrealistic because i would’ve kept making out with my friend

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Chloe Atkins, Girls’ Night Out: Marcia and Sara, Muscle, 1998

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nah because at this point if youre white and your reason behind defunding over abolish is something like “i want to be able to call the police if i am in danger” you’ve already lost the little respect you had from me and i’m not gonna bother listening to a word you have to say. you have already proven to me that you believe YOUR life and safety is more important than that of an entire race of people (and not just Black people, in US at least any non WASP group who is not cis male and het is inherently a target for police). you’ve proven that despite countless of Black people dead at the hands of police, directly or in directly, what concerns you most is how your white life will suffer and lose power if my Black life is a little more protected.

ion speak for everyone but i know that i, a young Black woman, wanna be able to call someone if i’m in danger too. you think i don’t wanna believe there are institutions to keep me safe??? in an ideal world, i believe and know there is an institution with my interests at heart and my life as a priority that is ready to protect me and my peers. BUT THERE ISNT. in fact that institution actively wants and needs me and my peers dead. it has been built that way since it’s creation. with this in mind, it just feels like to me that the reasons white liberals have to be against abolition are so fucking selfish. it’s all about YOUR safety. YOUR property. YOUR white ass life.

Black people absolutely cannot coexist with the police. we end up dead and our killers run free. if you can you know of Emmett, Tamir, Trayvon, Breonna, Rayshard, Stephon, Alton, George, or most recently Daunte, and still be worried about your own life and safety as a white person who benefits from these cases, then you really do not give a fuck about Black people and i wish y’all would stop pretending you do. i really feel like it’s not up to fucking debate anymore. for the sake of Black lives, the police must be abolished.

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The cinema vibe is my favourite, you forget about the world for like 2 hours .

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THIS REVIEW IS GONNA BE PRETTY LONG SO FEEL FREE TO SKIP I have nowhere else to unload/unpack everything I liked and hated about the film, which I feel the need to immediately.

Promising Young Woman was a promising idea given its premise of subverting rape-revenge films, a genre that could definitely use a modernized revitalization given Hollywood's current landscape and movements like #MeToo. I was particularly interested in how it would subvert the genre given that it’s directed by a woman. Whilst I think there are certain strongish elements, it was weak in terms of narrative, characterization, motives and felt like a lukewarm feminist film. Maybe my own expectations of it somewhat holding up to its critically acclaimed reputation hindered my liking as it made it even more disappointing.

The casting was great, making moments feel organic e.g. Cassie's relationship with Ryan, making his appearance in the tape even more shocking. Certain lines of dialogue such as the fact they never even mention the word rape ("we did not, you know...") and "it's every guy's fear to be accused of something like this, wanna guess what every woman's worst fear is?" (or something among the lines of this) is powerful and a clever creative choice. I think moments like these highlight just how ingrained rape culture is, the normalization of locker room chat etc.

This idea of ingrained misogyny and rape culture can also be seen through Maddie McPhee and Dean Walker, both women. They take the side of Al because Nina was drunk, highlighting another key issue within rape culture - no matter what women are always asking for it - she shouldn't have been drunk, it's not his fault. Women have been taught to not wear short and revealing clothing, not walk in alleys at night, not to get drunk/go to parties without friends etc. It's like we are supposed to take responsibility - following this notion of boys being boys.

I love the title of the film, sadly though I think it's one of my favourite things about this (besides the 2-second clip they showed of the iconic 1955 film, The Night Of The Hunter which is never a good sign) as it references the Brock Turner case as he was described as a "promising young man." It throws this notion in the face of the viewers - Cassie and Nina, were promising young women but their futures/goals of working within the medical field were completely shattered by Nina being raped. It also confronts this idea of why are promising young men being protected but not women?This confrontation is one of the film's stronger points in terms of social commentary/what it's saying about these types of cases.

One of the most powerful moments in the film for me was when Cassie watches the sex tape, the audience never sees it but the audio is enough. We see a medium close up of Cassie slowly becoming more and more torn up inside as we hear Al among his friends getting excited by the idea of having sex with Nina. I think a common issue with rape-revenge films like I Spit On Your Grave is how it fetishes the violence and raping and heavily uses the male gaze, making certain points about female empowerment void. I'm glad that the film didn't use this, as it made it an even more emotional moment.

That being said, this film feels like a half baked feminist film, it doesn't subvert the tropes in a particularly interesting or engaging way. I think the choice to of making Nina the one who was raped when she's never seen in the film (besides the odd photos of her) was a weak one. I never felt a connection to her character, something that is extremely crucial given its core messages and themes. It would've made more sense for Cassie to be the one that had these horrific experiences, making her goals and the characters' sympathy/connection with her (and detachment from the male characters) even more concrete and strong.

Cassie's death and the way she punishes the male characters felt extremely weak and disappointing. There was a real opportunity with her encounter with Neale as the film gave us an enigma of the previous man's fate. Instead of punishing them in a way you'd think one would (especially given her past with Nina), she simply scolds them. This feels off considering that the Dean most likely scolded Al in the sense that he shouldn't be at parties but also considering how men are treated for their actions within rape culture. Men are simply given a flick on the wrist for their actions rather than proper repurcussions. The lack of a proper punishment felt like a poor attempt at subverting the genre.

Fennell said in an interview that she wanted a "non-typical or a non-Hollywoood ending" but the ending felt very much like a Hollywood ending. Whilst Cassie does die, she somehow manages to schedule a text to be sent and Al is arrested for her murder (bad guys lose - seems very much like a Hollywood ending). Cassie's death and the way she punishes men is arguably very Hollywood-like - it almost feels afraid to push boundaries with feminism and its messages. Cassie's death made no sense, Al even mentioned how tight the restraints were yet before she could even act out any sort of interesting revenge, she's smothered to death with a pillow. It felt disappointing, the one time she finally got to enact any revenge or when it felt climatic it was immediately stopped.

This is way too long so I'm gonna stop here. Overall, I have a lot of issues with this film (don't even get me started on the white woman perspective/narrative) but I think my one of biggest issues is the way it's been viewed and regarded. Promising Young Woman doesn't add anything new to the table (in my opinion) but feels lackluster, poorly written and like simplified feminism. I was interested to see how a female director would handle such material but I was extremely disappointed in the way it ended.

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Multi-National Poster Art for Brian de Palma’s Carrie (1976)

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oh sister megan we’re really in it now

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Trainspotting (1996) dir. Danny Boyle