“Sordid”, “perverted”, “shameful” male fantasy: The Idol promises to be a concentrate of sexist violence

This Monday, May 22, Sam Levinson’s new series had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, giving us the opportunity to discover the first critical fallout. AND, spoilers : we were right to worry.

Slutshaming, trauma porn, fetishizing toxic relationships… Because we fear the worst with The Idol

There were many reasons for fear the worst from the creator ofEuphoriaknown for his obsession with showing off suffering and the naked bodies of its young actresses. This time it’s the turn of the character played by Lily-Rose Depp at the center of our concerns : in The idolthe 23-year-old actress plays Jocelyn, a fallen pop star who has suffered major trauma depression nervous. While she tries at all costs to revive her career, the young woman quickly falls into the tedros claws (embodied by The weekend) owner of a nightclub with a troubled past…

We would have liked that, behind its superstar duo, The idol takes on the mission of denounce a Hollywood industry undermined by abusive power relations, sexist dynamics. We would have liked to discover a series that takes time to develop a complex female charactertorn between a mental health weakened by an environment toxicpossession of one’s own sexuality it’s big ambitions artistic and professional…

If this show was envy, the trailer for the series already told us what it looked like Utopian. The first images rather suggest this The idol is a concentrate ofhypersexualization of his young actress almost systematically nakedFrom sexual stereotypes and of fetishization of toxic relationships.

But in view of the first critical fallout, everything suggests so Sam Levinson is worse than feared.

” A sordid male fantasy “: Sam Levinson learned nothing from Euphoria

For varietythe conclusion is clear: flirting with the « soft porn »The idol they prefer to accumulate cliché instead of almost nudity of her female character a form FromStrengthening. The outlet claims that under the guise of overcoming the shame associated with the nudity of some female pop stars, Sam Levinson “going too far to the other side” and becomes “eccentric whenever Jocelyn and Tedros are togetherAnd “.

Same story a Vanity Fairwho calls Sam Levinson a “voyeur, resolutely watching young actresses in various states of excitement or despair”.

Perfectly against the grain of a progressive representation, the series would use the suffering of the female character as a showunder the pretext that this “strengthen their character”according to Variety. This eminently sexist, problematic stereotype and passedthe creator of the series seems to make a few Jocelyn’s only characteristic. “It shouldn’t take humiliation and suffering to make Jocelyne better strong “.

Qualify as ” who is ashamed » the treatment of the female character, variety finally explain it “Levinson’s worldview seems corrupt” , which prevents the emergence of any critical approach towards a toxic couple or a star system that crushes individuals, starting with young women. In the end, The idol It would be a « sordid male fantasy »concludes the media.

All for this: The Idol isn’t even transgressive

If we had all the goodwill in the world, we could try to convince ourselves of this The idol pushes to surprise viewers, take them where most shows don’t take them.

Unfortunately, according to critics, even here, Sam Levinson series fails. In this regard, the critic of Vanity Fair is surprised at the heat of show. Despite the series “strives to shock and exalt us” remains sadly “standards”. Everything points to a lot more when it releases on Prime Video on June 5th a commercial series calibrated to create controversy rather than face an explosion of sensations, new dramatic and aesthetic emotionslike the first episodes ofEuphoria :

Don’t go into the first two episodes with the idea that you’ll see something surprising and transgressive. Maybe these things will happen in later episodes, but so far The Idol is too Top 40 to rock society.

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