The Emilia Perez Backlash Explained In Under 15 Minutes

The Take Film TV Movie

Go to http://hellofresh.com/thetake10fm to get up to 10 free meals and a free high protein item for life! | Analyzing why people are angry about the film Emilia Pérez, where some feel the...

Transcript

00:00Awards darling Amelia Perez has been getting a lot of attention since it made a splash at cam,

00:05but in addition to all of the accolades, including 13 Oscar nominations, the film has been mired in

00:10controversy its entire run. Surprisingly, it hasn't just been the type of backlash everyone

00:15might have expected, though there has unfortunately been some of that as well. So what really has so

00:21many people who should be the target audience upset with the film? Let's unpack all of that

00:26and how it's part of a much bigger problem in Hollywood. Amelia Perez follows the titular

00:31character, played by Carla Sofia Gascon, as she undergoes a gender-affirming surgery to fake her

00:37own death and escape her past as a cartel boss, Zoe Saldana as her lawyer Rita, and Selena Gomez as

00:43her ex-wife and mother of her children Jessie. The film has been heralded as barrier-breaking,

00:47and in many ways it has been. Gascon was the first ever trans actress to win the Best Actress Award

00:53when it can, for example. But while it does feature some strong performances and engaging

00:57moments, as more people outside of the film industry bubble began to have the opportunity

01:02to watch it, more and more cracks started to be pointed out. Lots of jokes have been made

01:07about things like the bad music, particularly the poor lyricism online.

01:17But the film has much deeper issues, too. While no one really expects any film,

01:21especially a musical, to be a one-to-one representation of reality or anything,

01:26Amelia Perez has been getting a lot of flack because it seems more interested in using the

01:30real-life issues it frames its story with for the aesthetic more than as a vehicle for any real

01:35introspection or discovery. Amelia's gender-affirming surgery, for example, seems to come with a

01:41completely new personality, which might have been an attempt at showing how finally being accepted

01:46as one's true self can open them up to kindness and new possibilities, but in the film instead comes

01:52across as just playing into more stereotypes around how women are just so emotional and kind

01:57and just want to help. The film attempts to use Amelia's own struggles to smooth over the depth of

02:03pain she's brought into the world as the vicious leader of a cartel. There's nothing wrong with a film

02:08looking to explore the emotional depths of a bad person, but this film seems to intend to make the

02:13case that, while sure she was responsible for countless crimes and likely untold deaths,

02:18she's magically changed now, so let's just forgive all of that.

02:22Amelia Hansford noted in her review,

02:25Amelia Perez is primarily a film about being reborn, and it tries to use the idea of transitioning

02:30to convey that through her transition, Amelia's trying to repent for the sins she committed in

02:36her time as a cartel boss. The issue with this is that transition isn't a moral decision,

02:41and the act of transitioning alone doesn't somehow absolve you of your past self.

02:46The film even attempts to make the case that she was somehow unaware of the depth and breadth of

02:51the carnage wrought on the country by the cartels, while being in charge of a cartel.

02:57It also walks the line of the trope that trans women are still partially men on the inside,

03:02that that masculine energy is still hiding inside of them waiting to come out,

03:06particularly in a disturbing scene near the end where Amelia reverts to her original deeper

03:11voice when she becomes violent. The film desires to use Amelia's transition as a larger metaphor,

03:18but it doesn't seem to want to really engage with the situation on a level deep enough to allow

03:22real insight, and so ends up trading in stereotypes instead.

03:27This is a problem too with its depiction of the film's location, Mexico.

03:39Amelia Perez is filled with stereotypes about Mexican people and culture,

03:43to the point of inspiring a parody by Mexican creatives which we'll unpack in a moment.

03:47The film seems much more interested in the surface-level trappings of an outsider's idea

03:51of Mexican culture than anything else, and that apparently wasn't an accident.

03:56Writer-director Jacques Gaudillard even openly admitted to not really doing any research on

04:01Mexico before writing the film.

04:03And the film was shot almost entirely in France with a non-Mexican cast and crew.

04:22While the film is ostensibly about a crime boss attempting to repent for the sins of her past,

04:27because the film is in such a rush to blow past the darker sides of this to get to the

04:31redemption part of the arc, it ends up glossing over a lot of real pain and struggle.

04:36As Ricardo Gallegos wrote in his review of the film for But Why, though,

04:39Of course, Gaudillard doesn't really care about the violence in Mexico or the victims.

04:44The other foreign directors, he's only interested in using it for shock and dramatic purposes.

04:48This is yet another irresponsible narco-novella.

04:51This one shot by a French crew in France to depict their racist and narrow first world vision

04:56of Mexico.

04:57The true nature and horror of the cartels in the country is meant to be a central feature

05:01of the story, as Amelia leaves her past behind and works with others doing the same to attempt

05:06to find those who have gone missing or been murdered. But it never truly grapples with

05:10the reality of this situation, or what Amelia's place as a cartel boss would have really meant,

05:16Gallegos wrote.

05:17Odiar doesn't delve into the true horrors caused by sicarios.

05:20He doesn't understand the profound suffering narco-culture has caused in the country.

05:25He's not interested in portraying the pain of the Madres Buscadoras.

05:28Instead, he only shows the good side of these former sicarios and narcos who want to do good

05:34for society. Not only is Odiar humanizing these evil deeds, but he's making a spectacle out of

05:40the pain they cause, too. The backlash in Mexico led not only to dismal ticket sales, but also to

05:46a hilarious parody short skewering Amelia Perez for the way it leans so heavily on stereotypes

05:51to so wholly uninterested in the actual culture.

05:55Jean Sacrebleu the Musical, a homage to Amelia Perez, was brought to life by trans-Mexican filmmaker

06:01Camila Aurora, working with screenwriter Hector Guillén.

06:04It turns the lens back around, in this case with an all-Mexican cast and crew making a story about

06:09the most stereotypical French archetypes one can imagine.

06:13Everyone in a striped shirt and mustache with their own little Remy.

06:16The issues around Amelia Perez haven't just been with the film itself, however. A number of

06:34distasteful to straight-up hateful tweets from lead actress Gascon resurfaced. And this wasn't just

06:40stans pulling up one tweet and poor taste from a decade ago to make someone look bad, but a

06:45consistent stream of them spanning over the course of years. While this film has become a lightning

06:51rod for it this awards season, the larger problem Amelia Perez represents actually isn't new at all.

06:57When life gets stressful, even figuring out what you want to eat every night can be so tiring.

07:02Thankfully, HelloFresh is here to make getting dinner done so much easier.

07:06HelloFresh's 15-minute meals are a game-changer. Just three simple steps and ta-da, your meal is

07:12ready to go, helping you eat healthier without the hassle. I've been loving their balsamic glazed

07:18steak tagliata with garlic herb potatoes and Caesar salad. And the creamy chicken sausage

07:24tortellini soup. One of my favorite things about HelloFresh meals is that they give you the real time

07:29it'll take to make the meal straight up so that you can plan accordingly. No 15-minute meal if you

07:34exclude the 15 minutes of prep work situation here. Their meals really are genuinely quick and easy to

07:40make and have a healthy meal ready to eat in no time. We've loved Green Chef in the past, which is

07:45now owned by HelloFresh, and have enjoyed being able to switch between the two brands, and have been

07:50particularly loving HelloFresh recently. If you'd like to try out America's number one meal kit for

07:55yourself and support The Take, get up to 10 free meals and a free high-protein item for life at

08:01hellofresh.com slash thetake10fm. One item per box with active subscription. Free meals applied as

08:08discount on first box. New subscribers only. Varies by plan. That's up to 10 free HelloFresh meals.

08:15Just go to hellofresh.com slash thetake10fm. In Hollywood, as in many other parts of life

08:22unfortunately, there's an idea that marginalized people should just be happy with any representation

08:26at all, even if it's badly done and or done by bad people. And that they shouldn't bring up issues

08:33no matter what, because then society will just go back to allowing them no representation at all.

08:38This has become a very easy way for people who feel that they're above criticism to hand wave away

08:43any that comes their way, saying that critics just don't understand or are just looking for a reason to

08:49complain. We always have to be really skeptical when a few people are elevated and the majority

08:56of people are still struggling. We touched on this briefly in our Anora video, as it pertained to some

09:01sex workers who felt that their own issues with the film were being muffled by outsiders who just

09:05wanted to solely see it as a perfect film without having to grapple with the places where it might fall

09:10short. And with Amelia Pras, it's twofold. Both trans people and Mexican people have had their

09:16perfectly reasonable issues with the film ignored or framed as just hate. Guesscon herself implied

09:21that LGBTQ people with critiques of the film were just stupid. Being LGBTQ, having those labels does

09:27not remove your stupidity, just like heterosexuality does not remove your stupidity. What bothers me is

09:32that the people that say things like that are just sitting down at home doing nothing. If you don't

09:37like it, go out and make your own movie. As with Anora, some who wish to brush off the critiques

09:49without engaging with them have tried to frame them as just people looking to tear down a film

09:53because it's doing well. But in both cases, it's actually a sign of larger issues of play.

09:58Festivals and awards shows preference for rewarding a media that aligns with their already established

10:03stereotypes about marginalized groups. And the fact that many people from those groups aren't

10:07even able to see these films during early festival runs. So much of the early hype is solely from

10:13people who aren't a part of the groups in question. So then later, when they finally do get access and

10:17have critiques, it's able to be framed as, well, no one had a problem with this before. Why are you

10:23being such a hater now? As Glad noted in its review of Amelia Pras, while the film garnered rave reviews

10:28when it premiered at Cannes earlier this year, none of those reviews were written by trans people.

10:34There is an ongoing challenge with high-profile film festivals programming films about trans people,

10:39which are then seen and reviewed by cisgender critics, months before an actual transgender

10:43person can even see the film. Embedded in the be happy with any representation issue is the idea

11:05that having any sort of critique of a representation of a group of which you're a part means that you're

11:10the problem in trying to bring everyone down. We see this sometimes in modern discussions around

11:15feminism, for example, with the idea that feminism just means always agreeing with every woman,

11:20which is very much not the case. And in fact, the opposite is true. The history of feminism and

11:25feminist thought is grounded firmly in critique, having difficult conversations, and putting in the

11:30work to find common ground from which to form a strong coalition. Regardless of the group in

11:36question, there's an idea that we all have to stick together. But this sometimes gets twisted

11:40into a way to protect toxic people. Sticking with people who will willingly throw you under the bus

11:46for their own gain, or just out of straight-up hate, isn't a productive or safe way to go about

11:51things, and certainly not a way forward.

11:53Having positive representation can only succeed in changing the conditions of life for trans people

12:00when it is part of a much broader movement for social change.

12:04At the end of the day, the powerful will always protect their own interests and each other at the

12:08expense of the rest of us. Progressive media can be used to attempt to paper over this for a time,

12:13but the cracks always begin to show. And the fact that if you don't like what we give you,

12:17then you won't get anything at all, is often levied as a threat, makes it clear that what progress

12:22is being made is something that they feel that they should have power over, and the power to take away.

12:28Marginalized people shouldn't have to worry that speaking out about bad representation might mean

12:33they're stuck with zero representation on screen at all. It's also just a bummer that so often the

12:38forms of representation that are allowed major recognition do so often fall into old tropes and

12:44stereotypes. Drew Burnett Gregory wrote for Autostraddle,

12:47I do not think only trans people can tell trans stories, but I'm curious when we will cease to be a

12:53metaphor. I'm curious when cis people who are fascinated enough to make movies about us

12:57will also be fascinated enough to learn anything about us. Every viewer of course gets to decide

13:03for themselves how they feel about the film, and while there are many critics, there are also plenty

13:08of people, including trans people, who enjoyed it. It's just important to step back and take a more

13:13clear look at the situation instead of brushing off everyone within the groups represented in the film

13:17who have problems with that representation as haters. Thankfully, there have been a number of

13:30great trans-led and focused films that have come out this year, like I Saw the TV Glow, Will and Harper,

13:35Close to You, and A Place of Our Own. And if you'd like a more in-depth look at the reality of the

13:40cartel crisis and its impact in Mexico, you can check out the documentary La Libertad del Diablo,

13:45or films like Noche de Fuego and Fauna. And you can watch all of Joan Sacrableu for free on YouTube.

13:51Hopefully, if nothing else, Emilio Perez's success will open doors for more grounded,

13:56fully fleshed-out stories on screen.

13:58We cannot be a better society until we see that better society. I cannot be in the world until I

14:06see that I am in the world. That's the take. Click here to watch the video we think you'll love,

14:11or here to check out a whole playlist of awesome content. Don't forget to subscribe and turn on

14:16notifications.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended