Shrill Loud brings to the screen Irish writer Cecilia Ahern’s 2018 short story collection. The book was written in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, during the rise of the #MeToo movement, and in response to the demand for a new time when a woman must (finally!) be at the center of the story.
And while the series (and Ahern’s literary brain) didn’t have the expected high degree of storytelling, and the idea of the show seemed almost harmless, the project managed to reflect different aspects of his life. modern women. But is it successful? Let’s understand.
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Show writers Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch have been working as a well-coordinated team for several years. A few years ago, they released their successful Netflix project, Shine, about the hard life of female wrestlers in the ’80s. Now the authors are interested in modernity and how difficult it is for women of the 21st century to live, to build a career and family life. The name “Shrill Loud” (“Roar” in the original) determines the main theme of all stories – the female voice, which is still not provided with adequate platforms for expressions.
Despite the mission, the series doesn’t seem like a loud and clear manifesto, a new word in the genre, or a major statement on the topic of the day. The first season turned out to be very unstable: half of the 8 announced episodes look interesting and original in their design. The rest of the series loses a lot against their background.
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The series begins with an episode about a black writer who arrives in Los Angeles at the invitation of local filmmakers. They want to film the best-selling book, but at the first meeting in the office, the protagonist realizes that the movie bosses (white men) stop hearing and after a while stop seeing the guest guest. Of course, this is a true display of how often women can get confused in an accentuated male space, how hard it is to stand up for yourself and fight the fear that your voice will be the quietest in the room.
The message is relevant and even applied somewhat Jordan Peele (“Get Out,” “We”), but in fact the phrase itself comes out blurry and slow because the front technique used is the least path. creative resistance There is no other layer of meaning for the spectator other than what lies on the surface.
In the next episode, character Nicole Kidman (who also co-produces the series) takes care of her elderly mother, who suffers from progressive dementia. Suddenly, the heroine, fleeing from reality to her past memories, begins to eat photos from her family album. The escapism from the eaten pictures doesn’t last long, but the escaping moment looks too magnificent and pleasant to deprive yourself of the pleasure of prolonging the old moment of happiness. This is more a family drama (short outline) about broken bridges between loved ones taken from us by time and illness, rather than an eating disorder thriller.
In the third series, we are talking about a trophy wife, a beautiful model brought up from childhood in the vein of “choose the second between smart and beautiful.” As a result, the matured woman marries an eccentric businessman who prepares a special shelf for her in the living room. It is assumed that the heroine should sit there every day and please the eye of her husband and inspire him to great business achievements.
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Flahive and Mensch deliberately exaggerate Ahern’s already unusual stories and add nonsense and satire to them. But the most interesting episodes are the ones where the humor fades into the background. For example, a series about a young mother (Cynthia Erivo) in the body horror genre has to go to work right after the birth of her second child. The guilt that rises in him literally begins to eat away at his body. Or an episode with Merritt Weaver (“Incredible,” “Run”), where her hero suddenly starts dating … a duck talking to him in a nice male baritone. Gradually, the strange relationship between man and bird loses its splendor when it is revealed that even a duck can become a domestic abuser.
All these unthinkable intrigues, although reflecting the burning problems of women, do not attract more. If this is a manifesto, what is it about? If it is an important statement, how is it formulated? Obviously, the creators of the show tried to strengthen the project with strong acting, but for the most part, the potential of the advertised artists was not used – they have nowhere to turn, because the form dominates the content, and the 30-minute runtime does not give the stories any room to accelerate. Although author and activist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, 9, in her TED talk We Should All Be Feminists, proved that half an hour is all it takes for a powerful manifesto that could shake the world.
AppleTV+
There are obviously questionable plots in the season. For example, the story of a 60-year-old heroine trapped in a failed marriage. By chance, he learns that the unlucky spouse can be delivered under a warranty and a new spouse can be received in return. These crazy changes of husbands do not bring her the desired happiness, and a neighbor takes her boring ex under her wing, for whom she is the man of her dreams.
The resulting jealousy and the opportunity to look at the old from a new perspective cause the woman to give up trying to rebuild her life and return to her starting point – she is reunited with her husband who has never changed. Yes, imperfect, but his own. A strange and controversial message for a series with professional optics. The fact that the story only reinforces the common fear of “I can’t get any better” and “why would I want more?” turned out to be in position.
Because of this ambiguity, the stinginess of meanings, and the primitiveness of artistic techniques, The Piercing Voice does not seem like a new word or a valuable expression about the world of women. Are the voices of the heroes and the stories behind them really loud? Tough. On the contrary, they silently whisper about the already obvious consequences: not particularly new and not entirely original.
Source: Gazeta
Barbara Dickson is a seasoned writer for “Social Bites”. She keeps readers informed on the latest news and trends, providing in-depth coverage and analysis on a variety of topics.