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kiri-cuts · 1 year

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A killer Maddie Ziegler moment in “M3gan

If there’s one thing that money-grubbing corporations love, it’s exploiting vulnerable young girls. In “M3gan,” that conclusion is arrived upon via Cady -- a child of indeterminate age with only two defining features: A set of recently deceased parents and an apparently even greater void left by a broken Purrpetual Petz toy (RIP).

The woman who designed said toy also happens to be Cady’s aunt -- another vaguely written character called Gemma. However, what we do know about her is that she is a woman who has chosen robot building over nurturing any motherly instinct, and so is apparently worthy of our scorn.

When Cady is placed in her care, Gemma does what any good monstrous female would -- builds a human-synthetic android to take over care duties so she doesn’t have to (honestly, all the love to her). At one point a social worker even catches the aunt committing the apparently enormous sin of allowing a traumatised orphan to watch cartoons all day. Remove that woman’s uterus immediately!

Luckily, M3gan has a great singing voice and knows how to slut drop like a pro, so Cady -- and her suppressed trauma -- are in safe hands. In one scene, the doll comforts her master by singing Sia’s “Titanium” to her. During another, Gemma proves the value of her pet project during a presentation for investors where Cady is wheeled out into a hidden room, sobbing about her dead parents. M3gan provides her instant comfort by singing to her -- and every corporate hog watching sloshes about in the filthy potential profit pool of it all.

Of course, by the end, M3gan takes her protective duties too far, murdering a variety of unpleasant people -- and one perfectly innocent dog -- in gruesome ways, mostly offscreen. But because she was #BornToSlay, M3gan approaches the film’s most deserved kill with an acrobatic flourish. Like Sia’s one-time adolescent dance partner, Maddie Ziegler, the doll practically swings from the chandeliers as she dispatches with a greedy CEO.

It’s the best part of the movie. And that may be because it fulfills a certain fantasy -- what if all exploited teenybopper girls of past (and present) could enact vengeance on the very people who profited from their talents and servitude? And with the functions they were programmed to deliver? Step up Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Chloe Moretz, and Dakota Fanning. Step up Honey Boo-Boo and the “Dance Moms” debutantes. Step up Britney, Christina, and Amanda Bynes.

Dance like you could kill. Choke em with that sketti. Literally hit them, baby, one more time.

The sequence also stands out for it’s strange simplicity: This is a robot complicit with her programming. Simply doing as she was told. M3gan soaks up the world, and spits out violence. She’s also a reflection of her master’s trauma response -- you can dance through that shit all you want. But at the end of the day, you still have to deal with the perpetual motion bird of your brain dipping it’s beak into the bottomless pool of grief at the bottom of it all. No singsongs or synchronized cartwheels are going to put a dent in that, sadly -- but they can always be used to your advantage. Bulletproof, nothing to lose. Fire away, fire away

In pop culture, young girls understand that better than anyone. From a shockingly young age, they’re programmed with the same functions: Be talented. Be casual. Be cool. Be relatable. Be wholesome. Be sexy. Be edgy. Be demure. Be submissive. Be wild. Be everything. Be nothing. One way or another, they all end up fulfilling their function a little too well and catch heat for it.

Underneath it all is a swelling trauma -- about three pokes short from being popped.

The industry always eats these girls alive -- but it makes sure to turn a profit before it swallows. They are left carrying their bones to the next venture, where undoubtedly they will continue to dance -- of course they will. It’s what they were programmed to do. Party girls don’t get hurt, can’t feel anything ... Swing from the chandeliers.

Cady and M3gan are two sides of the same coin -- presenting diverging modes of girlhood, up against the odds: You can either sit back and accept the cruelty of the world, and let it devour you. Or you can take charge and fight back against those who seek to exploit and destroy you. If you’ve experienced the spectacular challenges posed by both options, then you’ll know it’s not even a simple decision to make.

So, I guess really, all that I’m trying to say is that I’m glad that little girl had a murderous android doll looking out for her. Good riddance to the lot of them -- except for that poor, innocent dog

#m3gan #sia #maddie ziegler #britney spears #amanda bynes #mary kate and ashley #christina aguilera #film essay #film essays #horror #horror essays #horror analysis

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