My BIG Issue with Don’t Worry Darling

don't worry darling it's a film that came out in 2022 it was a movie that felt like a movie a real go to the feeder film you've probably forgotten it I wanted to it was my intention to never see this film due to how bland the marketing made it seem but a couple friends of mine invited me for a movie night and I agreed due to some Infamous clips of Harry Styles's acting we are hoping for it to be hilariously bad but it ended up just being meth even with everything I'm about to say I can't bring myself to call this film bad because the film doesn't do anything horrible enough to bring out that much negative emotion in me if I were to compare the story to a piece of meat the movie scares are unseasoned and the story's undercooked so hey at least it's time accurate but even if the film itself is mediocre there's a word that clumps on the back of my brain whenever I think of this film it's a painful little annoyance called underdevelopment there are several ideas in this movie that they spend no time exploring the interest seen implications of so today I want to bring this motion picture out of the recesses of your mind that explain how its twists and themes were underutilized and ruined the movie as a whole foreign [Music] the plot of the movie I decided it'd be fun to make it a game let's listen to my friend's play and see how well they do okay so I'm going to give you a plot summary based on what the trailers say and you have to guess what twist in the movie is sounds good the film is about a young couple Alice and Jack it's the 1950s and the nuclear kids have found themselves in the perfect post-world dream life Jack's working at a company developing Progressive materials and Alice is a housewife spending her days doing the cooking and the cleaning along with hanging out with the girlies I mean their friend Margaret lost her kid in the desert after seeing something and is taking meds now but besides that it's Paradise but oh no Alice sees a plane crash outside town and then crazy stuff starts happening it doesn't help that the next day Margaret decides to quit Minecraft early wait yeah she tries telling Jack and her best friend bunny about her situation but they don't seem to believe her Alice suspects the CEO of Jack's company Frank is behind all this now with that basic summary I want you to guess what's going on they put the wives under it [Music] like that it has something to do with like the thing that they're making like I feel like it could be something like potentially science fictiony I think they're in like a matrix of some kind I think it's like the Matrix like plugged into something well it looks like two of our contestants got it right got it they're in a simulation yeah yeah [Music] like it's present day it's just they want that tried Wise House lifestyle it's like the village yeah [Music] it's such an obvious twist and the whole film is focused on Alice trying to figure it out she explores the town looks into Margaret's disappearance confronts Jordan Peterson with Riz but you're sitting there the whole time going she's probably in the Matrix we have to ask ourselves why was this twist used don't worry darling advertises itself as a thriller and a political commentary film with director Olivia Wilde emphasizing the film's themes of power and control over women I am so interested in the idea of exploring um what it really takes to be a revolutionary and who is really brave enough to question A system that serves us I think that's something that's very important in today's society she wants her film to lead to discussions about how women are treated in modern society and the people who stand by while these injustices happen well how are those themes handled in the film The Reason Alice is trapped inside Victory is because Jack put her there in the real world she was a nurse that had to work overtime due to Jack being jobless but he want her to spend more time at home instead of finding a job he becomes a redditor and listens to Chris Pine's podcast in a list of events that aren't made clear to the audience jackets invite the Chris Peterson's cult enforces Alice into the program as well so does the film talk about the control men want over women yes but in a really basic way sexism is bad and insecure men don't like it when they're out succeeded by a woman congratulations any decent person knows that it's not the discussing sexism is the issue is that the film doesn't have any interesting new points to talk about it just rehashes scenarios that you've seen done better in other media that leaves the filler aspect of the film does it deliver on the scares well the problem of the horror elements is that the twist doesn't explain why they even happened don't worry darling's main fear tactic are Supernatural occurrences and dream sequences here's a list of the major frights in the film mysterious earthquakes happen but it only happens twice in like the first 10 minutes while cooking breakfast Alice realizes that the eggs she's using are empty she gets flashes of dancers during the day she sees a plane which looks a lot like the toy Margaret's kid had crashed into the desert the wall in her house almost crushes her Alice's Margaret recreate that scene from mid-summer there was key images on TV Alice wraps her head in plastic wrap her reflection breaks the fourth wall wait why would it do that who's she staring at in a confidently made film these scares would make sense to what's going on so tell me why are mostlys not connected to the fact that Alice is in a simulation the images of the dancers are what Alice has seen in the real world and YouTuber Amanda the Jedi theorized of the plastic wrap and plane was Alice trying to subconsciously herself up but the other events are just spooky things that can be assumed as glitches and while we're on the subject of unanswered questions the film brings up a lot of mysterious circumstances that never explains like how come no one is looking for Alice the girl was a surgeon didn't none of her co-workers wonder where she went did Jack fake an email saying she quit what about all the other women are they all familyless or something in the dinner scene Alice points out that Chris supplies all the food for the town but they have no idea where it comes from if this is a simulation why wouldn't he just have the food seem like it was coming from a third party Source like Supply trucks most of the scares are alicine weird things like on her TV getting stuck in the wall seeing static so we're just gonna assume those are glitches right well that feels lazy that means it could have been literally any weird thing placed in any order in the movie and it wouldn't have affected the plot in the case of Alice's reflection turning on its own girl didn't even see that so it was only for the audience wow strange of the Matrix to give us a personal jump scare what happened to Margaret the obvious answer is that she kh'd herself but Jack implies that women can't die at Victory so did she just wake up from the simulation imagine the awkward conversation with her husband after that actually while we're on that subject the men can die in the simulation but the woman can't why seriously what was mirror Alice looking at while jump scared the audience like it was a Paranormal Activity movie okay got admit this one's kind of a nitpick but if you really want to talk about insoles in your film why would the guys want to live in the 1950s you're telling me that not a single one of these guys wants to bring his Xbox into the simulation think about it if you're an incel and you can literally create whatever house you wanted why wouldn't you make it like the most dorky man cave possible like you're telling me not one of these guys would want to decorate their house like they're in a phantom menace video once again if the clues help support the twist I wouldn't have these questions but nothing is answered by the end of the film I really need to stress this the glitches give the audience no indication that the town is a virtual simulation the answer could have been drugs or the government and the entire second act wouldn't change okay B you're probably thinking obviously you don't like how the writers executed The Twist why don't you tell us what would have been a better alternative and you know what I will in my opinion for the scares to be more effective they would need to make sense in hindsight due to their connection with Alice's past how the victory project works and the themes of the movie a film that does all three of these is Christopher Nolan's The Prestige warning I'm about to spoil the ending of this film watch the film blind it's a great experience for those who don't care here's a synopsis the movie is about two magicians trying to outdo the other in a decade spanning Feud this melee has one man Robert trying to figure out how the other man Alfred performed the teleporting man a trick where he walks into a closet and reappears in another door on the other side of the room Robert is obsessed with this trick calling it for a long series of events he enlists the help of Nikola Tesla yes I mean like the real historical figure to find the answer to the trick this leads to Robert opening a new show where Alfred is framed for his death while in prison he's visited by Robert saying LOL I'm alive and I may or may not put your daughter in an orphanage Alfred's naturally mad but he can't really do anything cause or can he while getting rid of his cloning machine Robert is shot by Alfred in a turn of events Alfred Borden was the Alias of twin brothers but that's not all we find out that the drowned body was actually Robert when trying to figure out teleportation Tesla accidentally invented cloning the film ends on a panning shot revealing the Roberts that were drowned for the trick to work there are some surface level similarities between the prestige and don't worry darling though for period pieces that revealed to have sci-fi elements at the end of the movie both twists are commonly used but the difference is that we're not asking questions about prestigious sci-fi mechanics because the film told us inadvertently we see Tesla working on the machine and the device only has one function so what's important to the plot is how Robert uses it the same is done with the twins throughout the film Alfred is described as a man with a mysterious past and a Fickle personality switching his love between different women the audience just guesses that he doesn't like commitment but it's actually because the brothers can't express their love without giving away their trick furthermore what's brilliant about these twists is that they perfectly reflect the magician they revolve around and how each performs if done in a worse movie I would be complaining about how overused the twin twist is but in Prestige The Twist reflects Alfred's tricks simple but used really well the simpleness is even pointed out by characters like cutter and Olivia but Robert and by extension the audience believe that there has to be more to the trick Robert's inability to believe it could be a double is because he is incapable of making illusions that simple his personality is Crete tricks that are showy and otherworldly and even if an audience member catches on to Borden's secret the film is entertaining figuring out the teleporting man isn't the main conflict it's only Robert's driving force in the film the film's focus is on the Twins and Robert's Feud and how their obsession with sabotaging the other ruins all three of their lives well this is all well in goodbye but the prestige is a very different film from don't worry darling the latter wants to say something about Society okay let's look at another film that executes their plot twist well get out in fact when you look at the story beats in both films one wonders if the writers took some inspiration from director Jordan peel and like wild peel wants to make social commentary about race and how it's viewed by Rich liberal white people a trend not even talking about the film script this immediately works in the movie's favor because at the time it was released this was a fresh group to commentate about the film's comedic tone adds to when the twist is revealed due to the extreme angle the movie takes we find out that Chris's girlfriend Rose works with her family to steal black people and replace their brains with that of the old Elite The Twist turns the old people's jokes from earlier in the film funny to foreboding don't worry darling wants a serious style of commentary talking about men radicalized by the internet but you don't know that's what Jack is until right before he's killed get out understands that its twist needs time to be explained and explored so it has Chris learning the truth and in the basement before the third act starts we get to learn about the treatment how it's done the methods the family uses to get victims and explains why the armitage's staff was acting weird earlier in the film get out structure is my personal perfect blueprint for what don't worry darling should have done and I understand why the writers in Wild missed the mark alpha males is a more modern idea and don't worry darling needs us to believe that's the 1950s for this twist to work but in doing the misdirection the film loses a lot of opportunities to comment on in cell culture the only guy who displays any modern unique forms of sexism is Frank with his social commentator speeches but even then he just uses regular gaslighting techniques and we know so little about the rest of the men in Victory that they don't seem unusual all we have to go off of is their Devotion to Frank but that isn't specific to incels any a 4D base work can have a beloved boss comparing the two better films Prestige and get out both have a Twist involving sci-fi but they're not complicated and they don't need much World building their twists are strongly linked to their themes The Prestige is about Obsession the alfreds trick the entire world just for their act and angler babes himself daily so he can one-up Borden get out is a commentary on race with the wealthy white people using minorities as a character customizer don't worry darling is about modern misogyny and how we view the American dream so it's set in the 1950s for most of the film here's a genuine question how does a time period of Victory help the film it hides the fact that it's in the modern day and there's a bunch of nice visual and audio accompaniments but the fact that it's that far in the past doesn't affect the actions of the characters Jack never displays the sexism of a 1950s man insisting that Alice is a housewife making misogynist comments and everyone in the town seems surprisingly Progressive B the men are from Modern Times yeah and they are like the most politically correct sexist I've ever seen in a film wild you have a character that you've stated was directly inspired by Jordan Peterson and he doesn't bring up freedom of speech once how am I supposed to believe that these guys listen to Alpha podcasts if they don't make a single joke about the biracial couple the way I see it don't worry darling didn't use its run time to properly give clues or context to its twist a lot of complaints I've heard about this film is that it feels both too long and Too Short at the same time the problem comes from not enough happening in the second act and nothing being explained in the third the this film's second act is such a drag to watch on a second viewing it wouldn't harm the film to cut out a few scares and like the whole party scene the only relevance that it has is that it causes the rift between Bunny and Alice but nah we can just info drop at the end but no time to explain it clearly though we got a car chase to film add some Gaelic chanting to Hype things up okay now that I've laid out why I think don't worry darling's twist was poorly executed let's try to remake this film using the themes of misogyny and privilege to its Advantage as I see it the director has to choose which is more important to them the themes of the film or the shock of the twist for the latter choice I want the things that are happening to Alice be personal to her old life instead of random creepy dancers how about she sees the lights of the operation room and her Visions could include her house turning into a hospital hallway and doctors performing surgery on her we could also get more insight into real world Jack the historic voices of him and Al's arguing could be played on the TV having these Works increased the horror but also gives insight into Alice's old life that's what I would do if I wanted to stick as closely to the original film as possible personally I feel like there isn't a lot of good criticism of the American dream and misogyny in film so I want to explore these fiends better Wilde wants to talk about women who turn a blind eye to misogyny but that doesn't work when Alice is the main character the only wrong thing she did was not listen to Margaret but really why would would she Margaret lost her kid and she had no reason to doubt victory at that point if we want to better explore these themes we need another protagonist I believe bunny the friend who was in on Victory or Shelley Frank's wife should have been the main character they are participating in the society due to them benefiting from the system I'll use Shelley as the example because her relationship with Frank would allow us to focus on the alpha male types helping to make the film current in this version Shelley went into Victory because she wants to be a housewife and is disgusted by modern feminism she believes the program is what's best for women and works with Frank to make sure the wives conform with her leading the woman she'll be the main person gaslighting Margaret so when the Shaving incident happens Shelley starts to question her actions in victory's effect on these people the dream sequences and glitches can be the victory program personifying her guilt in internalized misogyny I also want to show how in cell type men treat women so at the start of the film Shelley believes that her marriage is an equal playing field but as she she starts to question Frank he becomes verbally aggressive there's also another commentary opportunity of Shelly and Frank's relationship that wild and the writer's Mist Shelley's a Chinese woman and if you looked a little at political commentators online there's a pattern of these white men having East Asian wives so much so in fact it's kind of a meme usually these men fetishize and or be racist to Asians then use their spouse as a shield let's show Frank doing similar things and have Shelley justify it in her mind that's the main thing I want to change in this rebrite I want Shelley to have obvious flaws in her worldview with don't worry darling's female characters it almost feels like wild scared to criticize them bunnies revealed to have been gaslighting Alice throughout the entire film and she doesn't confront her about that it's just like wow my kids are dead leave now some accountability would have been nice while researching this video I watched a lot of the clips of wild explained her film it's interesting to list because she explores the themes better in these short interviews than the entire two-hour run time she would talk a lot about people who turn a blind eye towards Injustice which is something I didn't notice at all in the film I think Wilde was too focused on the visuals of the film to the point where it clashed with the script like I mentioned before the time period doesn't affect the characters and the men don't act sexist enough and during the marketing Wilde emphasized the focus on female pleasure in the movie but that doesn't match her themes why would these men who feel insecure about their control over women also be okay with performing pleasure on them so in conclusion I'm not angry just disappointed this could be a great commentary on conservative expectations of women but relies too much on its simple predictable twist [Music] foreign [Music]

Channel: BeeBuzzly

Views: 14,133

Keywords:

Id: gtELzxvNVDM

Length: 19min 21sec (1161 seconds)

Published: Thu May 18 2023