It’s time we stopped loving the fetish films of questionable men. We have politely tolerated violent objectification of women’s bodies in the media, swerved past foot cameos from a pedophile in our favorite childhood Nickelodeon shows and much more, all in the name of theatre and art. And now, as we gather to watch a show built on the abuse and humiliation of women without any meaningful message, we have the opportunity to look critically at the media being presented to us.
“Euphoria” is an American psychological teen drama television series created and directed by Sam Levinson for HBO. Recently, on May 31, the show’s finale episode came out. The story follows Rue, our main character, and the lives of the characters around her, which explore love, addiction, friendship and identity in a world full of temptation and uncertainty.
The third and final season came with a lot of controversy surrounding plot lines, directing choices and aesthetic changes, most notably switching from a glittering suburban tone to a Western one (possibly an ode to Quentin Tarantino). As expected to come with a sudden switch in tone and characterization in a show’s final season, many fans now argue that the show has left its “peak.”
Including raw, exposing and uncomfortable scenes in a show can be done tastefully, where it contributes to the plot and characters through a harsh but realistic lens, bringing to light problems people face in their lives that aren’t often shown to the public for “propriety’s sake.” But shows have to walk a fine line between raw and realistic, with shows seemingly having more and more scenes where it feels like the producer is trying to gain entertainment value in showing the characters being treated horribly, and putting explicit scenes that only serve to trigger people.
An example of a TV show falling into the latter category that has been talked about extensively in the past is “13 Reasons Why.” “13 Reasons Why” was a fictional book adaptation that follows the aftermath of the suicide of 17-year-old Hannah Baker. The show included a graphic portrayal of Hannah Baker’s suicide for the sake of showing the audience “the horrific reality of what suicide entails,” according to Netflix. The show failed at that terribly, and many mental health experts called out the scene and show in general for possibly leading to harmful behavior in its young audiences through a graphic and glamorized portrayal of suicide.
“Euphoria”’s failure to include any positive meaning and outcome for the audience follows a very similar path, where it fails to properly handle the sensitive topics it’s attempting to cover.
For example, one of the leading characters in the show, Cassie, played by Sydney Sweeney, launches a career on OnlyFans. While Levinson definitely takes advantage of this to freely include nudity, one scene sticks out for its disgustingly unabashed portrayal of suggestively pedophilic scenes. Cassie is shown dressed as a baby, diaper and all, while posing provocatively.
Going in with a positive mindset, I assume that this choice was made to show the ugly sides of the porn industry that Cassie has to face. However, there were many ways Levinson could have shown what Cassie had resorted to for extra cash that didn’t involve showing a perfectly cut scene of her body being infantilized. We should not pretend that we are unaware of what Levinson was trying to do by including completely unnecessary scenes that show a visual a pedophile would appreciate.
The aggressively vulgar treatment of its female characters isn’t telling us as the audience anything, except that Levinson enjoys objectifying women.
And this is only one of Season 3’s strange and concerning storylines.
After 2 of the characters in the show are forced to become drug mules, Faye, known for her overfilled lips and tolerance for bigotry, is seen losing control of her bowels, only for a dog to come lick up. The thinly veiled scat fetish in this final season makes the audience lose feeling for the depth and respect of the message about drug addiction that Levinson may be trying to convey. Depressing for the character, but also a pointedly specific choice to include that’s extremely hard for the audience to get past.
Furthermore, a lead character, Maddy, played by Alexa Demie, finally moves on from her role as the crazy ex and wronged girlfriend from previous seasons to an independent hustler with a real career. We have a unique example of a female character whose storyline revolves around more than her body and men, only for that to come crashing down in flames. Her story pivots to a message that even the smartest and most driven female character in the show can be reduced to a victim of men through sex work. It’s not to say that heartbreaking stories of abuse don’t happen, but “Euphoria” seriously has a problem with its portrayal of female characters and their reliance on men who use them for their bodies.
The problem with “Euphoria” is that it was made for a wide public audience who wanted an exciting show to binge; its purpose was not to bring awareness or educate. All the appalling scenes definitely did a good job at shocking the audience with scandal and horror, but they did not create a story about “addiction and its consequences,” as Levinson claims to have achieved. However, that’s not to say one can’t portray the harsh reality of drug addiction just because it’s shocking and scary. For example, “Beautiful Boy” is a terrifying and gut-wrenching movie that does not shy away from including the alarming and scary parts of addiction, all the while presenting an incredible story. It was incredibly good at showing the atrocity of addiction.
Why are we all watching the fetish content of a crazed man and thanking him for it as a revolutionary genius of production? Self-perceived talent is not an excuse to produce misrepresentative and harmful content. Just because Levinson is capable of creating good cinematography does not mean that his message is of any significance. Watching “Euphoria” is like putting on rose colored glasses to look at a pile of garbage.
