If there is more incomprehensibly over-rated filmmaker at work right now, I’d have to think a long time to come up with a name. Potentially til the end of time itself.
I love love love this. I miss the old days. The mystery of celebrity. Christ, even the press tour of that awful Mr and Mrs Smith film where Brad and Angie stood ten feet away with 'nothing to see here' looks on their faces. All this PR crap just puts me off watching. Mind you I turned off Saltburn after ten minutes because I want a story rather than a meme. But I'm Gen X and ancient so what do I know?
TEN minutes? Who has a spare 9.5 minutes to throw on that infernal pyre of raging celluloid horseshit. That’s like third of a rewatch of La Jetteé gone to waste.
I fucking love Mr and Mrs Smith. Back when movies could be fun. Instead of all the depressing angst driven movies where everybody is having an existential crisis that they only seen to want to make today.
As a fellow Gen Xer I have similar feelings about rock bands when all you knew was the myth gleaned from liner notes, sacred mystery like the Dead Sea Scrolls aglow within the vinyl sleeve
I've not been following the "WUTHERING HEIGHTS" press tour- or any film press tours, for that matter, because clearly, I am the anomaly who picks which films to watch based more on the people behind the camera than in front of it (I am terrible for the film's financial ecosystem)- so this was a nice eye-opener. Or maybe sad eye-opener. Also reminds me of the press tour for A STAR IS BORN when Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga really leaned into the "Are they together or not?" ambiguity- since it pre-dates the ANYTHING BUT YOU press tour, I wonder if they got it from that.
But are we the audience also to blame if we are eating this up? Because if performative desire is putting butts in seats, it's hard to completely blame the marketing departments from using a playbook that works and giving us what we want. For all of Emerald Fennell's creative flaws, I'm at least thankful that a studio took a gamble on her vision versus favoring the umpteenth soulless live-action remake/sequel/prequel/reboot/legacy sequel/crossover/spin-off, or something equally uninspired. If performative desire helps "WUTHERING HEIGHTS" become profitable, that probably says a lot about us.
But another fun read as always, and definitely something to chew on.
I COMPLETELY erased the Cooper/Gaga press tour from my mind but you're right -- it is definitely in line with this pattern here. And yes I hear you! I guess my points on this are:
- I actually think the whole 'fake romance/obsession' thing between Robbie/Elordi is not putting butts in the seats as in...there's no really speculation around it. It's so vanilla and cringe no one is even entertaining it. At least with Sweeney/Powell I remember this being a hot topic with people going to see the film to 'check out' the chemistry for themselves. Wuthering Heights is going to be a great box office success for other reasons: individual star power, book adaptation from cult author, Fennell, Charli XCX, the genre itself...but this stunt is a bit pathetic because it lacks heat. Which is why I recommended they should have gone the other way for the funsies and pretend they hate each other instead 😂
- But ultimately, you're right. It does say a lot about ourselves which is what I conclude the essay with: our world is so sanitized, and we've also taught young audiences to be such, where we've decided we'd rather be the audience than the lover.
Oh I 100% agree with your essay AND your comment! I find it hard to believe that Robbie and Elordi wouldn't know how to act, uhm, lustily (is that the word?) on the press tour. Which, yeah, makes the stunt pathetic. The pretend-hate publicity tour would be much more fun.
I've been re-reading some of the old interviews with The Beatles and their refreshing candor and lack of celebrity poise still makes for entertaining reading. I mean, you can't read this and not be amused:
INTERVIEWER: A recent article in Time magazine put down pop music and referred to ‘Day Tripper‘ as being about a prostitute and ‘Norwegian Wood’ was about a lesbian. I want to know what your intent was when you wrote them and what your feeling is about Time‘s criticism of the music that is being written today.
PAUL MCCARTNEY: We were just trying to write songs about prostitutes and lesbians, you know.
Maybe we should just bring back fun to press tours instead of all the seriousness or faux-desire.
Also: "Our world is so sanitized, and we've also taught young audiences to be such, where we've decided we'd rather be the audience than the lover" is such a good sentence.
"She traffics in surfaces so slick and shock so loud you almost forget there’s no real intellectual plumbing beneath. She wants credit for transgression without doing the work of it."
Lord have mercy. Sophie signed and delivered again
This whole WH press thing was just so embarrassing omg! No offense to Margot but she’s not got “it” as in raw sexual magnetism, so the strategy never made sense for her “persona”.
Great read. I think the sad, flaccid reality of it all is that “blockbuster” films are always about the bottom line. The industry itself is always about the bottom line. This has changed a lot with the economic landscape in the last few decades and culture itself. Money is worth less, and attention is low, but movies need to be bought and sold.
In truth, I don’t think the audience is a factor in decision making at all, except in how we are being used to make money to keep the industry afloat amid the hubris of making inflated big budget projects. Parasocial marketing is becoming increasingly lucrative, and the lack of imagination is not a byproduct of audience sympathies, but rather a tried and true method of industry bosses using the ol’ dusty playbook to keep people hooked in.
I’m an Australian so I get it, Margot and Jacob are the pick of the litter exports and even a seasoned darling like Margot, understands the rocky landscape of her role in Hollywood. You gotta play the game. There is a lot at stake for someone who bets big on the gambling floor.
But money and reputation is on the line, relevancy is on the line. It’s a cut throat industry that’s selling us a “vision” while teetering on the edge. It’s more of a microcosm of the simulacrum we currently live in. We’re being spoon fed a way of consuming, while simultaneously understanding that something doesn’t feel right.
We no longer create for creation’s sake. We create for market share. Romance is branded. Art is monetised. Everything costs.
We’ve normalized fake-chemistry press tours, you get all the scandal engagement with none of the mess, it’s just part of the marketing rollout now! A perfect match for Fennell's entire filmography, which is all style and zero substance.
Having been served a YouTube video last week about this exact same performative desire, I am thrilled again to say that I actually enjoyed your writing because it was a) verbose and b) communicated a personal perspective not just a gloomy factual correction. Your writing seems to wrestle with desire as a genuine psychological force not just the ethics or presentation of it in celebrity and film marketing. I would be very curious to see you write more about desire in film
wowww George what a generous comment, thanks so much! Yes, I think this is what I wrestle with here. My background is in film marketing/promotion so I've had to deal with press tours and fabricated nonsense for years (sadly there's no ethics involved!). If I were to write a longer piece of this, it would do some mapping back to internet culture which is more concerned with the performance of sex or looking erotic/naughty/mischievous vs actually being any of these things. I see it with young people a lot and of course, there's a wider research-backed trend of younger people flirting less etc. There are some great think pieces on this like: https://rentfreewithayan.substack.com/p/we-are-all-dehydrated
But yes, great suggestion on writing about desire on film! Let me sit on this 🫶🏻
I’m pretty sure I was reading that since they started their production company in 2014, every movie they’ve produced Margot Robbie has been lead. I Tonya, Barbie, and a few more- all produced by their company. Which is also sus to me but maybe not related?
I think it's common for actors who have their own production companies to produce their own films (from Reese Witherspoon to Jake Gyllenhaal and Brad Pitt) as they know it's the best chance they've got in making it a success. Plus with producer credits, they bring money back to the family and not just Margot 🤣
This article basically describes modern, especially American, culture as a whole. This movie is nowhere on my radar in life, but I loved reading this. “In a world where even love has become a commodity, it seems like we’d rather be the audience than the lover.” That part! This phenomenon is a manifestation of a culture that has become far more interested in watching life rather than experiencing it, which is a byproduct of social media. Every day I’m so grateful that I grew up in a pre-internet era bc this shit is cooked.
I felt a great sense of guilty pleasure reading this. Like Catholic levels of guilt. And I can't explain why - now that's ferocious let me tell you. My favourite bit? The two footnotes at the end. Gold.
Emerald Fennell…how…why?
I blame that other overprivileged flea bag.
And isn’t Margot Robbie the least sexy most beautiful actor ever? Elordi, though, is a very handsome plank of wood.
I adore this comment lol
If there is more incomprehensibly over-rated filmmaker at work right now, I’d have to think a long time to come up with a name. Potentially til the end of time itself.
I fully support this message!
I double support this reply x
But I’m still left asking … do I go see this movie?
Yeah we’re kidding it’s a masterclass banger, buy two tickets so you can watch it again right after the credits
I love love love this. I miss the old days. The mystery of celebrity. Christ, even the press tour of that awful Mr and Mrs Smith film where Brad and Angie stood ten feet away with 'nothing to see here' looks on their faces. All this PR crap just puts me off watching. Mind you I turned off Saltburn after ten minutes because I want a story rather than a meme. But I'm Gen X and ancient so what do I know?
Saltburn absolutely deserves to be turned off after 10 minutes 😂
TEN minutes? Who has a spare 9.5 minutes to throw on that infernal pyre of raging celluloid horseshit. That’s like third of a rewatch of La Jetteé gone to waste.
I fucking love Mr and Mrs Smith. Back when movies could be fun. Instead of all the depressing angst driven movies where everybody is having an existential crisis that they only seen to want to make today.
As a fellow Gen Xer I have similar feelings about rock bands when all you knew was the myth gleaned from liner notes, sacred mystery like the Dead Sea Scrolls aglow within the vinyl sleeve
That title alone deserves mad props!
I've not been following the "WUTHERING HEIGHTS" press tour- or any film press tours, for that matter, because clearly, I am the anomaly who picks which films to watch based more on the people behind the camera than in front of it (I am terrible for the film's financial ecosystem)- so this was a nice eye-opener. Or maybe sad eye-opener. Also reminds me of the press tour for A STAR IS BORN when Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga really leaned into the "Are they together or not?" ambiguity- since it pre-dates the ANYTHING BUT YOU press tour, I wonder if they got it from that.
But are we the audience also to blame if we are eating this up? Because if performative desire is putting butts in seats, it's hard to completely blame the marketing departments from using a playbook that works and giving us what we want. For all of Emerald Fennell's creative flaws, I'm at least thankful that a studio took a gamble on her vision versus favoring the umpteenth soulless live-action remake/sequel/prequel/reboot/legacy sequel/crossover/spin-off, or something equally uninspired. If performative desire helps "WUTHERING HEIGHTS" become profitable, that probably says a lot about us.
But another fun read as always, and definitely something to chew on.
I COMPLETELY erased the Cooper/Gaga press tour from my mind but you're right -- it is definitely in line with this pattern here. And yes I hear you! I guess my points on this are:
- I actually think the whole 'fake romance/obsession' thing between Robbie/Elordi is not putting butts in the seats as in...there's no really speculation around it. It's so vanilla and cringe no one is even entertaining it. At least with Sweeney/Powell I remember this being a hot topic with people going to see the film to 'check out' the chemistry for themselves. Wuthering Heights is going to be a great box office success for other reasons: individual star power, book adaptation from cult author, Fennell, Charli XCX, the genre itself...but this stunt is a bit pathetic because it lacks heat. Which is why I recommended they should have gone the other way for the funsies and pretend they hate each other instead 😂
- But ultimately, you're right. It does say a lot about ourselves which is what I conclude the essay with: our world is so sanitized, and we've also taught young audiences to be such, where we've decided we'd rather be the audience than the lover.
Oh I 100% agree with your essay AND your comment! I find it hard to believe that Robbie and Elordi wouldn't know how to act, uhm, lustily (is that the word?) on the press tour. Which, yeah, makes the stunt pathetic. The pretend-hate publicity tour would be much more fun.
I've been re-reading some of the old interviews with The Beatles and their refreshing candor and lack of celebrity poise still makes for entertaining reading. I mean, you can't read this and not be amused:
INTERVIEWER: A recent article in Time magazine put down pop music and referred to ‘Day Tripper‘ as being about a prostitute and ‘Norwegian Wood’ was about a lesbian. I want to know what your intent was when you wrote them and what your feeling is about Time‘s criticism of the music that is being written today.
PAUL MCCARTNEY: We were just trying to write songs about prostitutes and lesbians, you know.
Maybe we should just bring back fun to press tours instead of all the seriousness or faux-desire.
Also: "Our world is so sanitized, and we've also taught young audiences to be such, where we've decided we'd rather be the audience than the lover" is such a good sentence.
"Temu desire" lolllll thank you for this
Here to serve, Emily 🫡
"She traffics in surfaces so slick and shock so loud you almost forget there’s no real intellectual plumbing beneath. She wants credit for transgression without doing the work of it."
Lord have mercy. Sophie signed and delivered again
She's clearly a trigger 😅 (Thank you!!)
This whole WH press thing was just so embarrassing omg! No offense to Margot but she’s not got “it” as in raw sexual magnetism, so the strategy never made sense for her “persona”.
Totally. She's great but she's so off for this and so is Elordi! He looks awkward as hell 😂
this is a thing that needed to star two unbridled 22 yos!
Great read. I think the sad, flaccid reality of it all is that “blockbuster” films are always about the bottom line. The industry itself is always about the bottom line. This has changed a lot with the economic landscape in the last few decades and culture itself. Money is worth less, and attention is low, but movies need to be bought and sold.
In truth, I don’t think the audience is a factor in decision making at all, except in how we are being used to make money to keep the industry afloat amid the hubris of making inflated big budget projects. Parasocial marketing is becoming increasingly lucrative, and the lack of imagination is not a byproduct of audience sympathies, but rather a tried and true method of industry bosses using the ol’ dusty playbook to keep people hooked in.
I’m an Australian so I get it, Margot and Jacob are the pick of the litter exports and even a seasoned darling like Margot, understands the rocky landscape of her role in Hollywood. You gotta play the game. There is a lot at stake for someone who bets big on the gambling floor.
But money and reputation is on the line, relevancy is on the line. It’s a cut throat industry that’s selling us a “vision” while teetering on the edge. It’s more of a microcosm of the simulacrum we currently live in. We’re being spoon fed a way of consuming, while simultaneously understanding that something doesn’t feel right.
We no longer create for creation’s sake. We create for market share. Romance is branded. Art is monetised. Everything costs.
We’ve normalized fake-chemistry press tours, you get all the scandal engagement with none of the mess, it’s just part of the marketing rollout now! A perfect match for Fennell's entire filmography, which is all style and zero substance.
Exactly Bardiya!
♥️ Can’t wait to not pay to watch this film not sober
hahahahaha 😂
Having been served a YouTube video last week about this exact same performative desire, I am thrilled again to say that I actually enjoyed your writing because it was a) verbose and b) communicated a personal perspective not just a gloomy factual correction. Your writing seems to wrestle with desire as a genuine psychological force not just the ethics or presentation of it in celebrity and film marketing. I would be very curious to see you write more about desire in film
wowww George what a generous comment, thanks so much! Yes, I think this is what I wrestle with here. My background is in film marketing/promotion so I've had to deal with press tours and fabricated nonsense for years (sadly there's no ethics involved!). If I were to write a longer piece of this, it would do some mapping back to internet culture which is more concerned with the performance of sex or looking erotic/naughty/mischievous vs actually being any of these things. I see it with young people a lot and of course, there's a wider research-backed trend of younger people flirting less etc. There are some great think pieces on this like: https://rentfreewithayan.substack.com/p/we-are-all-dehydrated
But yes, great suggestion on writing about desire on film! Let me sit on this 🫶🏻
the tom cruise reference made me smile ear to ear
my toxic trait is to sneak those in 😂
I’m pretty sure I was reading that since they started their production company in 2014, every movie they’ve produced Margot Robbie has been lead. I Tonya, Barbie, and a few more- all produced by their company. Which is also sus to me but maybe not related?
I think it's common for actors who have their own production companies to produce their own films (from Reese Witherspoon to Jake Gyllenhaal and Brad Pitt) as they know it's the best chance they've got in making it a success. Plus with producer credits, they bring money back to the family and not just Margot 🤣
Did not know that 👀
This article basically describes modern, especially American, culture as a whole. This movie is nowhere on my radar in life, but I loved reading this. “In a world where even love has become a commodity, it seems like we’d rather be the audience than the lover.” That part! This phenomenon is a manifestation of a culture that has become far more interested in watching life rather than experiencing it, which is a byproduct of social media. Every day I’m so grateful that I grew up in a pre-internet era bc this shit is cooked.
So true!!
margot’s husband is a real life edgar omg
this made me gag
I felt a great sense of guilty pleasure reading this. Like Catholic levels of guilt. And I can't explain why - now that's ferocious let me tell you. My favourite bit? The two footnotes at the end. Gold.
What a comment!! An honor, Niall 🫡