We’re now over a month out of the Kavanaugh drama, and the Hollywood left still has the public largely unconvinced that they have devoted themselves to #MeToo’s goals of respecting survivors and women as a whole. Since that time, we’ve seen HBO hire an “intimacy coordinator” to ensure that scenes of sexual abuse can still grace our screens, and now we have a movie which attempts to portray the “sugar baby” lifestyle in a positive light.
Dory Jackson of Newsweek published on Nov. 13 highlights of an interview that she conducted with the director and star of the film The New Romantic, which was released on Nov. 9. The plot of the movie features a college senior named Blake whose disenchantment with her love life has stifled her fledgling journalism career. So, at the suggestion of her seasoned "sugar baby" friend Morgan, she decides to “date” an older man in exchange for material gifts and unabashedly writes about her experiences in the hopes of winning an award.
Jackson revealed that actress Camila Mendes was drawn to her character Morgan’s “bluntness” and thought “a film of this caliber [was] needed in the romance film genre.” Said Mendes: “I was really attracted to the fact that this character was shamelessly living her life. She knows what she wants. She isn’t ashamed of what she wants.” Those sentiments were echoed by director Carly Stone, who expressed to Jackson her hopes that moviegoers will “... walk out discussing different viewpoints on the topic and recognize the importance for young women to tell and share their stories and own their own experiences.”
But what about the view that women ought to be cherished for who they are and not as romantic vending machines, or the evidence that women value sex mostly as a form of genuine emotional attachment? Mendes isn’t moved: “We grow up with these rom coms...and ideas of love that we have in our heads...Romance, love and relationships are so complex. One is never like the other, so I don’t think people should ever inhibit themselves.”
This film, just like other media that cheapen sex and love, need to be recognized for what they are -- attempts to dissolve America’s values, not appreciations of the “complexity” of an issue.
