Trial by Media

 Trial By Media is a crime documentary series recently released on Netflix, in each episode it tackles how media coverage and the effects of televising a criminal trial are these effects are mostly negative. 

The jurors decide the verdict and they are presumed to be objective but staying unbiased and unaffected is not an easy task when there are external forces at play such as additional information about the case being released in media that is not discussed in courts or shown as evidence and smear campaigns directed at the defendant to weakens their defense and attack the defense’s character. The Jury comes to the verdict guilty or not, based on which side tells the better story at times the evidence might suggest guilt but the prosecutor discredits the evidence by appealing to emotions and simplifying the story. 

There are 6 episodes in total all covering different televised trials , but episode 5 in particular “Big Dan’s” struck a chord in me the most this episode revolved around the first televised rape case Portuguese immigrants were put to trial for aggravated rape. Television channels such as CNN broadcasted the whole trial, the judge thought it would render positive results in informing the public of the American Criminal Justice system but viewers watched it as if it was an soap opera, and everybody had an opinion about it. The cross-examination of the victim was unscrupulous, after the televised trial many rape victims were afraid of reporting their rape to the police and getting their assailant prosecuted because of how brutal the cross-examination of the victim was. The victim’s identity was leaked through the press, she was the victim but people treated like she was guilty some people even suggested that she should also be punished and persecuted, because of the heavy press coverage many rape victims feared that the same would happen to them that they would be scrutinized and blamed as well if they chose to go to trial. The jury decided on a guilty verdict however Portuguese american immigrants rallied and protested making the argument that it’s not a crime and she was asking for it. I think people really need to be educated on what consent means and stands for making such comments such as “she is also guilty” just supports the rape culture, people attacking the victim instead of condemning the actions of the assailants is senseless, unreasonable and absurd. Cheryl Araujo died 2 years after the trial and her death was not even mentioned in the media I think she was brave for coming out and telling her story it’s such a tragedy how her life ended. 

Ariana Grande & Justin Bieber - Stuck with U (Official Video)

 Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber collaborated releasing this song to raise money for the First Responder Children's Foundation. This song is about unity and inclusiveness how we are all in this together and we need to stick with each other and support each other in order to get through these challenging times. The music video comprises of videos people have sent the artists of how they spend their quarantine dancing to the song’s instrumental music I think this is a great way of including their fans in the making of the movie and reinforcing the overall message of the song which is we are all in this together.

Ariana added on her own account: "Please use this instrumental & send us videos of u being your beautiful selves, dancing with your loved ones, pets, whatever / whoever brings u comfort during this quarantine (even if it's just u alone. that's beautiful too.)" 

The music video includes a lot of different people from different ages, same sex couples, hetereosexual couples, people who are dancing by themselves and their pets celebrating friendship, family and love in all aspects cinematography wise there’s full screen scenes of people signing and dancing but also some scenes are put together to resemble the apperance of a video chat screen because due to the pandemic a lot of people are socializing via video chat . The music video also features cameos by famous people like Mila Kunis, Ashton Kutcher, Michael Buble , Elizabeth Gillies, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kendall and Kylie Jenner as well as the artists themselves in their homes.

It’s for a good cause and the music video is uplifting, I enjoyed it!!

Call Me By Your Name

 Call me by your name is coming of age romantic comedy that takes place in 1983 italy , this movie was recommended to me by a friend, after watching the movie I found out that the movie’s screenplay was based on a best selling book and it won an Oscar for best adaptation. I’m not very familiar with same-sex romantic movies and cannot comment on how realistic the romantic portrayal was in the movie but I enjoyed  Timothée Chalamet’s acting in particular, I think he conveyed a 17 year old boy who is exploring his sexuality. 

 The mis-en-scene in the closing credits of the movie was perfectly executed; camera focuses on his face: he is crying with tears down his eyes but the background is blurry , the viewer can still see people walking in the background this mis-en-scene communicates that life goes on but Elio feels like everything is frozen because of the heartbreak.  The parents of Elio treat him as an adult and give him the freedom to explore his sexuality. After realizing that his son is sad because Oliver left, the father has an open conversation about emotions and love tells his son that what they had was very special and he should not resist the pain but give into it because having emotions is better than having none this scene encapsulate how supportive Elio’s parents are they don't dismay their sons emotions and treat him as an equal.

 The movie also indirectly shows that sexuality is a fluid concept, love is love it doesn't have barriers and real love is  transformative for the people who get to experience it.  The cinematography was also beautiful the movie made me want to spend my summer in Northern Italy, call me by your name is a unpretentious and in my opinion a truly sad love story worth watching.

Leaving Neverland

Leaving Neverland (2019) is a documentary that revolves around Michael Jackson’s child sexual assault allegations. Michael Jackson may have appeared as a kind gentle soul in the public but this documentary shows his shadow side. Prior to watching this 2 part documentary, I was aware of the child sexual allegations but I was under the assumption that the people who made such allegations were after his money , his kindness for children was taken out of context and used against him.

“Innocent until proven guilty” pedophilia and other types of sexual assault from my research is not always overtly aggressive as we might assume it to be, it is a long time process that consists of different stages: first stage is the grooming period where you reel your victim in and make them trust you, it includes covert psychological manipulation abuser makes the victim believe that he/she is the only person who cares about them, drives a verge between the victims and the people they are close to (friends,family) who might a pose threat to the victim and abuser dynamic the victim is isolated as a result and can be easily manipulated and controlled,abusers also use of fear and intimidation so victims feel guilty and ashamed this can result in the victims  not accepting that they were abused and not telling anyone about what’s happening. It is revealed that Michael Jackson followed these stages and methods on young impressionable boys who looked up to him : he infiltrated into their lives befriending their families, gained the trust of their mothers making them believe that it is completely okay for their sons to sleep in the same bed with him because they are friends, took them on luxurious trips made them feel special so they were blindsided to all the abuse and manipulation that was going on.

I believe it is perfectly normal for victims’ of sexual abuse to take a while to come forward and come to terms with such abuse from taking place. The people who say they are victims of Michael Jackson in the documentary reiterate over and over that “they loved him and he loved them, it seemed normal at the time”  in the children’s eyes Michael Jackson did not overtly cause harm to them, he made them feel special and what they were doing was showing their love to each other. Coincidentally in this case, the age of the victims, families of the victims  trusting and never doubting Michael Jackson supporting him in the trials etc. probably made it even harder to accept such abuse took place for the victims.

 Nonetheless if the allegations are true why did Macaulay Culkin repeatedly testify that Michael Jackson is innocent and no sexual abuse ever took place? Macaulay Culkin was really close with Michael Jackson and just as the victims in the documentary he spent many times in the Neverland ranch with him and the other kids and to this day he asserts for Michael Jackson innocence if he was guilty why would he not speak up? I also find it questionable that this documentary involves only two people a lot of children went to the Neverland Ranch why didn’t they come out making the same claims against him? After watching this documentary a part of me still wants to believe that he is not guilty if anybody reading this has any additional information or theories of his innocence feel free to share.

Don't F**k With Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer

“Don't F**k With Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer” is a true crime docuseries that I recently watched on Netflix, it centers around Luka Magnotta who caused controversy and outrage after posting videos of himself torturing kittens on YouTube. There is no denying the acts he committed are horrendous in every way but I think it is important to consider what drove his actions: in the documentary during the interviews with Luka Magnotta’s mother his mother revealed that growing up Luka was bullied at school and was made fun of his appearance he had no friends and his only joy was watching movies with his mother, I think because he was alone and isolated he personalized these movies and internalized the characters such as the femme fatale character in Basic Instinct Catherine Trammel who seduces and kills a man using an ice pick he replicated the same act, reports say that he suffered from paranoid schizophrenia but his diagnosis was not mentioned in the documentary.

Luka Magnotta wanted to become an actor but after a unsuccesfull acting career, he desperately wanted fame and tried other ways to gain it  he tried modeling, later became an pornographic actor and escort. He created fan accounts for himself and leaked fake news to the media such as his association with Karla Homolka one of the most hated people in Canada (Ken and Barbie Killers.) After watching the documentary .To replicate the ice pick killing scene from the movie Basic Instinct: he posted a advertisement on craigslist his victim Lin Jun responded to the advertisement, the two met in his apartment similar to the cat videos Magnotta filmed the torture and posted it on the internet for people to see. He used the Basic Instinct ice pick scene as a blueprint for his murder setup he even painted a screwdriver to make it seem as an icepick. He was arrested in an internet café in Germany looking at his own pictures and what people were saying about him on the internet, if fame did not drive his actions he would be not be caught.

Personally, I think the Internet sleuths fueled him to commit more atrocious acts because he liked the attention he received he wanted more, so the severity of his act subsidized in order to gain more time in the spotlight. Luka Magnotta wanted to be the star of his own movie that’s why I assume he sent parts of the corpse to different political parties and schools, he wanted people talking about him, the notoriety and in a sick and twisted way he got what he wanted all news outlets were talking about him, there was group of internet sleuths exclusively dedicating their time to track him down. Luka Magnotta pleaded not guilty to the charges he killed Lin Jun, claiming that a man by the name of  “Manny” was behind everything that he forced him to do it and post it on the internet he had no choice but to comply, nevertheless there was no existence or proof of such person. In addition in the movie Basic Instinct the main character Catherine Trammel’s ex husband is called “Manny”  we can conclude that Luka Magnotta probably got the “Manny” name from the movie.

Luka’s lawyers tried the insanity plea however the Crown prosecutor pointed out that the Lin Jun’s murder was carefully planned and premeditated, a mentally incompetent person would not be able to carry out such an act. In the documentary it is revealed that he was a huge fan of movies such as American Psycho and Basic Instinct and he wanted to be like the characters he saw in the films I foresee he could not separate the movies he idealized so much from reality, the movies he watched growing up was a way for him to escape his problems but later on the movies became his reality, he had no personality of his own he created his persona from the movies he watched and even used the blueprint of the murder he committed from a movie.

Drag Me to Hell

Drag me to Hell is a horror movie directed by Sam Raimi released in 2009. I’ve watched this movie before but after reading some articles of the movie being based around more than what is openly implied a gypsy cursing the woman because she does not give her a loan to get a promotion I decided to re-watch the movie. Christine the main protagonist wants be perceived as perfect the first scene in the movie implies this she is listening to a tape in her car to get rid of her southern accent another significant scene that gives clues to Christine’s struggles is the scene where she stops and stares at the bakery window she looks at the baked goods as she wants to devour them but can’t. There are also other scenes that tell the audience that Christine used to struggle with her weight, when she goes to the gypsy’s house to ask for her help her daughter tells her that it is obvious that she was a fat girl. There is no scene of Christine ingesting food in the movie, when her boyfriend finds her comfort eating ice cream he says “ I thought you were lactose in tolerant” but later in the dinner scene she eats ice cream again, she lies about her eating habits several times in the movie she usually refrains from touching or eating food throughout the movie. I think if the movie’s only aim was to inflict horror and suspense why would the auteur give such clues about the main protagonist’s struggle with weight and food such clues must serve a certain purpose in the movie.

Another important element in the movie is oral fixation. When the gypsy woman confronts her in the parking lot there is a lot of scenes with the old lady trying to bite her when she goes to the gypsy’s house her corpse falls on top of her and she vomits on top of her. In one of the scenes Christine has a nightmare of the gypsy woman vomiting bugs and blood in her face and some parts also go inside her mouth. The dinner scene when Christine goes to meet her boyfriend’s parents she brings harvest cake and cannot eat it she hallucinates an eye inside the cake and when she forces herself to swallow she chokes and a fly comes out of her mouth. Vomiting is related to bulimia and her inability to consume food can also be related to her eating disorder. The eye inside the cake might symbolize that she is being watched, eating the desert would signify gluttony and greed and she should refrain from such sin when she eats it the lamia punishes her. The old gypsy woman and the curse she puts on her “lamia” might be personification of her mental illness bulimia, she cannot escape it and dies in the end as corpse, the old gypsy woman represents her future what she will look like in the future because of this disease she has no teeth bulimia can cause teeth decay and eventually your teeth falling out because of stomach acid caused by excessive vomiting, she pulls out Christine’s hair in many occasions that might be related to hair loss which is also related to bulimia malnourishment causes hair loss. Unhealthy and brittle nails is also a main characteristic of bulimia which the gypsy woman has and the camera focuses on her brittle nails in order to emphasize it.

Intense eating disorders such as Bulimia end with death the old gypsy woman dies and so does Christine she cannot give her curse lamia to anyone else she cannot escape it, lamia finds her and kills her. Christine might see eating as a sin thinking that she will be a “pork queen” (written on one of her old photos revealing that she was overweight in the past , that she later burns) if she eats in one of the scene where she is running from the lamia and locks herself in her room she sees the shadow of a pig hooves this might connote that she sees herself and how she will be if she consumes food (she will turn into her old self if she eats). Purging or not eating can also cause nosebleeds the movie exaggerates her nosebleed but it’s done for cinematic impact before the nosebleed scene occurs Christine’s stomach growls and she touches her stomach suggesting that she has not consumed food in a while and her stomach is empty. It is important to consider that lamia always attacks when Christine is around food: when she is in the kitchen or when she supposed to eat stopping her from eating.

References

“Crazy Film Theory: Drag Me To Hell Is Really About A Girl With An Eating Disorder.”/Film, 12 June 2009, www.slashfilm.com/is-drag-me-to-hell-really-about-a-girl-with-an-eating-disorder/.

I just want to be in control

Swallow is a psychological thriller film that I watched recently some movie critics have categorized this film as a horror film but I personally did not find any horror movie genre elements in this movie. It is based around Hunter’s struggle for control and doing everything she can do to fill in the perfect housewife prototype she exhibits all the traits in a desired wife: she never talks back to her husband, always yielding to his needs and always compliant. Hunter’s only job is to make her husband and the usual domestic duties that are associated as a female task happy cook, clean, iron his clothes. She has this need to always be perfect for her husband because she believes that she owes her life to him, if he did not pick her to be his wife she would still be working in retail he is her savior so it does not matter what she has to compromise or whether or not she is happy in her marriage. In front of others her husband acts like he cares about her but he only wants somebody who is always docile to his needs. When she runs away her husband tells her “you are not good at anything… I’m the only good thing you have in your life.”

Hunter first swallows the marble ball she feels in control she gets away with it so she is compelled to swallowing more dangerous objects to feel more powerful. Hunter feels in control because she is the one making the choice nobody is telling her or making her do it. The more dangerous the object she swallows the more pleasure she gets from it and the more control she feels, she puts all the objects she swallowed in line in front of her bed so she can see her successful conquests as if they are her prizes. Hunter has no control over her personal life her husband does not treat her as an equal, her mother in laws are also very controlling she also has some of her own personal family issues. Her mother was raped she kept the baby because she was really religious and that baby was Hunter and she had no control over that situation. Hunter is scared of being like her father she also blames herself because she is the result of an unwanted pregnancy in order to compensate for such feelings she does everything to be the perfect wife. In a way by eating dangerous objects Hunter feels both pain and pleasure at the same time she feels pain but maybe she justifies the pain by the satisfaction she feels afterwards.

When Hunter confronts her father she is in a essence confronting her own self through the movie whenever asked about her family she doges the question in therapy it takes her a while to open up but she does not express her true feelings there is a lot of repressed family trauma that she has not confronted that may be the cause of her current problems, she asks why he raped her mother and he answers “ he felt in control, he felt like god but after going to jail he realized how wrong he was” Hunter breaks down and asks her catalyst question “am I like you?” and he answers “it’s not your fault you are not like me.” and Hunter gets her answers and leaves it is not revealed whether or not Hunter’s pica condition ends or continues after this confrontation.

I don't love you anymore. Goodbye.

Human relationships are complex, most of the time it is really hard for two people to be on the same page about something, to be experiencing and feeling the same thing. Most movies that revolve around the male/female dynamic revolve around the false notion that “love conquers all, if the main characters love each other it does not matter what happens (time can pass, arguments can happen) but they will eventually find their way back to each other”. I’ve watched countless romantic comedies that all have the same ending: “ I love you, I Love you too” *closing credits happy music plays in the background* Does that ever happen? I know Nicholas Sparks writes about it but has he actually experienced this? Speaking from experience as a 22 year old female, I have done the jumping in front of buses and other overly dramatic and embarrassing grand gestures of love that Katherine Heigl does in most of her movies and embarrassed myself countless times and it never happened for me each time I left and nobody came chasing and that is okay, I accepted that I’m not Katherine Heigl and my mistakes have led to my own character development.

Closer is one of my favorite movies because it is realistic. All of the characters are flawed nobody is innocent all of them cheat all of them lie to each other and most importantly they all make mistakes and their mistakes lead to their own character development. The False notion of “love conquers all” assumes someone can make a mistake but because the other person loves them their actions have no consequences, but all actions have consequences one of my favorite lines from the movie by Alice when she confronts Dan after he tells he’s been cheating is “ As if you had no choice, there’s always a moment you can resist it, I don’t know when your moment was but I’m sure there was one” communicates this perfectly we all have a free will we can choose to leave and choose to stay it’s our responsibility all actions have consequences. Dan cheated out of lust and desire for a woman he thought he couldn’t have, he was greedy one woman’s love was not enough for him he wanted more, this does not make Dan a bad character he does not do this in order to hurt Alice he does this in order to fulfill his own prurience, sometimes when we have a good thing or a good person in our life we self sabotage because we believe we are not worthy of a good thing, it can be argued that Dan sabotaged his own relationship with Alice by cheating because he felt undeserving of Alice’s unconditional love. Dan is not the villain here and the movie does not portray him as a malicious character because he cheated. Similarly, Anna cheats on her husband with Dan but she is not portrayed as a malevolent character either. Anna stays with Larry because she feels safe with him; Alice leaves Dan after coming to terms that she does not love him anymore.

Feelings are inconsistent this makes relationships unpredictable: a certain action does not always yield a positive or desired result. Another important element in the movies is that it show how alienating and self sabotaging telling the truth in relationships can be: we say we want to hear the truth, but in actuality nobody wants to hear it, knowing the truth does not bring people closer together it drifts them apart, sometimes it’s better not knowing sometimes there is no reason to be found.  Undeniably, human nature is greedy and selfish everybody is chasing for the next high and love can become a drug hence saying  “love conquers all” does not take into account that two people can fall out of love. We seek love and validation from people who do not freely give it in Closer Alice freely gives her love to Dan but Dan is not satisfied he also has relations with Anna and in the end of the movie he loses both of the woman.

We all want to believe in the classic romantic narrative “The Notebook” they met when they were 16 and literally grow old together and die together but in reality such event happening is one in a million, you can’t find someone who feels what you feel at the same time in the same intensity and this is not anybody’s fault sadly there is no formula to a happy ending you can fight for someone but they can still choose to leave, in the end Alice liberates herself and the movie’s ending scene is her walking in slow motion in Times Square * Blower’s Daughter- Damien Rice playing in the background* she’s not sad, she’s not bitter at Dan she is happy and content. Closer shows not all romantic movies have to have a normative happy ending sometimes a happy ending can be a young woman finding herself and not identifying her value or her happiness with her relationship.

Aynen Aynen

Personally I do not watch any romantic comedy genre films in Turkish, it’s because I think it does not reflect how relationships really happen in today’s society. Most Turkish soaps on Turkish Television revolve around the same cliché plot : poor girl falls in love with rich business man first they don’t like each other but they eventually end up together, the female character is always timid and the male is the one who always makes initiative  and pursues and chases after the girl while the female character submissively gives in and depicts her traditional gender roles.

“Aynen Aynen” is a short honest and straight to the point mini TV show. It is a more authentic representation and portrayal of Turkish heterosexual relationships, I also find it entertaining and funny because of the dialogue it’s not forced or dramatized it shows how today’s generation really relates to relationships.

The script is no one-dimensional it shows and expresses both the female and male perspective, There are freeze frame scenes in which the scene freezes and the male/female character says what they really think in that situation and their true reaction and perception of the situation. These freeze frame scenes exhibit how most of the time how filtered we act in initial stages of dating to come off as the best version of ourselves instead of sharing our true motives and what we want or feel in order to keep our partner or make them happy. As their relationship develop from season 1-2 as an observer we become aware that the freeze frame scenes get less in quantity because partners become more comfortable telling the truth instead of saying what they think the other person wants to hear.

In the third season Emir cheats on Nil with her roommate and it shows how the breakup process occurs there is also a new male character who is trying to abstain from sexual relations from women because he slept with too many women. To watch this show you need to have a bluTv subscription, which is similar to Netflix, but there are other shows available from streaming such as The Handmaid’s Tale and The Girlfriend Experience.

Horse Girl “To be at odds with one's own mind is just a terrifying prospect.” Alison Brie

There is not a lot movies that depict mental illness realistically on film/television, most films show mental illnesses such as depression and/or schizophrenia from the observers point of view: how out of touch, delusional and destructive the one who suffers from such illness acts without sharing the perspective of the one who experiences everything: their experience, their train of thought and how real everything feels. Horse Girl does this it shows the main character spiral out of touch and reality slowly fading and escaping to her self-constructed reality.

Everybody wants to escape their own reality, the main character occupies herself with binge watching her favorite crime show, knitting and visiting her childhood horse, although from the outside she looks like a socially well functioning women who lives with her roommate, has a job, goes to zumba class in actuality she is socially awkward and spends most of her time alone. I think she does this in order to keep herself busy to avoid dealing with her trauma: the fact that she lost her mother to suicide and her grandmother had a history of experiencing the same things she feels she experiences: loss of time and hallucinations that feel very real to her but no one else sees or understands.

After her connection with reality dissipates completely and she is certain that she is a clone and there is an alien invasion she has a mental breakdown and gets hospitalized, the movie shows in an abstract way how real everything she feels and sees even though nobody believes her the audience also goes back and forth on whether or not there is a real conspiracy theory going on that she is a part of or if everything is constructed in her own mind.

Although depression is common, what the main character suffers from psychotic depression is not as common. Psychotic depression is when the individual disconnects from her current reality due to excessive trauma, emotional distress and pain and constructs her own reality; hallucinations and delusions can become so impenetrable that it takes over reality completely.

The dialogue in the movie is mostly improvised that also makes the scenes and the characters more believable, the main actress Alison Brie who I am a fan of from TV series Community co-wrote the script and expressed how much she related to the character because she also has a family history with mental illness and was scared she would have it too nonetheless because she has a good support system she dealt with her issues but the main character in horse girl has no strong support system maybe that’s why she did not want to live in her own reality and created her own.

Fatboy Slim - Praise You

 Praise you is a song by a British musician Fatboy Slim. Spike Jonze is the director of the music video, he also stars in the video as the main dancer that guides the other dancers in the group and he has his own personal break dance sequence towards the end of the video. The music video is shot as guerrilla filmmaking with a low budget and no props are used, it is shot outside a movie theater in LA without any permit or permission to use the premises. This makes the music video standout from the typical music videos which are usually high budget and quality. In the music video the song plays in the background but the main emphasis is on the fictional dance group that comprises of different genders,ages coming together and uniting by performing a dance sequence that resembles a flash mob.

 Fatboy Slim used sample of  "Camille Yarbrough Take Yo' Praise", Camille Yarbrough was a civil rights activist and her song is about celebrating all races and loving human kind the music video also reflects this to a certain extent: dancers are celebrating each, accepting each others quirks and the crowd is cheering them on creates a joyful atmosphere.The audience reception of the music video was positive and the music video won many awards mainly because it differed from an regular/typical music video people are accustomed to. My personal criticism on the music video is that sample  "Camille Yarbrough Take Yo' Praise" contains racial political elements and gives the message that all races should be celebrated yet the fictional dance group is comprised of only white dancers, Spike Jonze could have chosen a member from a different ethic group/race to also represent the African community.

 The song was also used as an political tool by British Prime Minister Tony Blair "I have to praise you like I should" , Fatboy Slim was angry at the Labour party for using his song to sell their own political agenda and made a statement that he does not support Tony Blair nor his beliefs. US politician Al Gore also used "praise you" while he was campaigning for president in 2000 but Cook was not angry towards US politician Al Gore because he is a democrat and he trusts Al Gore more than he trusts Tony Blair. Fatboy Slim is a strong opposer to the war in Iraq which Tony Blair supports. Labour also played Fatboy's hit Praise You as Mr Blair took the stage at conference in 1999. Tony Blair responded to Fatboy Slim by making the argument that as the PM he has the right to use any song he wants for campaigning.

sources: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-322217/Fatboys-fury-Blair-hijacks-song.html

Sensuality. Our basis of being concrete about the world. It is lustful relationship to things that exist.

Mark Rothko, from Mark Rothko From the Inside Out by Christopher Rothko (Yale University Press, 2015)