blog 2 : promising young woman

 Promising Young Woman (2020)

Director : Emerald Fennell   

For my second post, I decided to do one of my favourite films that I have seen this year. Emerald Fennell's directorial debut Promising Young Woman. Nominated in 5 categories at this year's Oscars including Best Picture and Best Director, and winning Best Original Screenplay, it's a film that has caused division in its viewers, with most people either loving or hating it. I, however, loved it, or at least really liked it. And largely because of how much discussion it can generate due to the plot, and what the film entails. Emerald Fennell's ability to cleverly merge so many genres; rom-com, dark comedy, thriller; into one film while still keeping a cohesive plot impressed me beyond words, and is also on the list of reasons I loved the film. 

! Spoiler warning !  ! TW : mentions of SA and rape ! 

For those who haven't seen it, I highly recommend watching the film, so you can then come back and read this, but also because I feel it's a film that everyone should watch. I will try my best to avoid spoilers (mainly about parts 4 + 5), however I will be talking about situations in the film, what happens in it, and why it's so important. So if you want to go into the film not knowing much, stop reading now! Go and watch it, then come back here! For anyone who has seen the film, please feel free to leave comments with your opinion on it! One thing I have noticed from reading people's reviews of the film is that almost everybody has a different view, or something different to say about the film, which is what I loved!!! I will be speaking about the positives and negatives of this film, so if that sounds up your street, keep reading!

So, what is Promising Young Woman?

Promising Young Woman is a thriller that follows Cassandra (or Cassie) as she attempts to seek revenge for her best friend who was a raped in college. At night, Cassie goes to bars and feigns being drunk in order to seek out supposedly 'nice guys' who try to take advantage of her because of her apparent intoxication. Throughout the film, we see her writing down names in a notebook in different colours. Could these different colours suggest the level of violence the encounter got to? Green - not violent, blue - slightly violent, red - very violent? Emerald Fennell has never confirmed this, and has (unfortunately) said she will never tell what the colours mean, but I like to imagine that Cassie has some sort of colour key that she uses to write a name down. Or could it be to do with how the boys reacted to her not actually being drunk? Could it mean nothing? There's endless possibilities and theories to it, sadly which we will never find out the true reality to it. If you have any thoughts of what it could mean, feel free to comment below!! 

So, I've talked a bit about what the film is about, but what about the title? What does 'Promising Young Woman' mean? While it could refer to how Cassie used to be a medical student, but dropped out before she graduated, it actually goes a lot deeper than that. The title is actually a play on words of 'Promising Young Man'. This was the phrase used by the judge of the case of Brock Turner as he was being sentenced. Brock Turner is a convicted rapist and registered sex offender after he was found guilty of physical sexual assault on multiple occasions. Throughout the duration of his trial, the media tended to not refer to him as what he was, but rather by calling him the 'Stanford Swimmer' or talking about his 'promising future' as an Ivy League swimmer, and keeping his level of prestige, none of which he deserved. When predominantly straight, white men commit a crime, why is that the media always seem to refer to them in a nice way, or by their accomplishments? Why is it that whenever there is a conversation around sexual assault, there are always people who only care about how it could ruin a mans life, never about the effects it could have on the victim? 

Victim blaming attitudes in Promising Young Women

Victim blaming attitudes are apparent whenever someone talks about sexual assault or harassment. This can range from questions such as 'Well, what was she wearing?' and 'How drunk was she?' to statements such as 'She should've expected it going out in that' . Victim blaming attitudes are shown throughout Promising Young Woman, from when Cassie visits the medical school dean who also dismissed Nina's case to her ex classmate who refused to believe Nina. Firstly, I want to talk about the scene in which Cassie goes to visit the medical school dean, and eventually asks her about Nina, to which she responds with that she can't remember what happened to her due to how many 'accusations like that' they get. Emerald Fennell shows the reality of the attitudes that survivors of sexual assault are so commonly met with  -  victim blaming, and it's shown through how Dean Walker talks about what happened to Nina :

'I don’t mean that. I just mean that it isn’t always a good idea to go back to a dorm room full of boys after a party. It gives them the wrong idea...We do advise against it. We try to warn girls to be more careful. To teach them about self- respect' 

'None of us wants to admit when we’ve made ourselves vulnerable. And sometimes these kind of mistakes are very damaging. It’s much more common than you’d know'

'What would you have me do? Ruin a young man’s life every time an accusation is made? Have them expelled? That wouldn’t be fair. Accusations like this, they ruin lives'

These quotations of Dean Walker's dialogue from the film show how she is blaming Nina for what happened to her. That she shouldn't have gone back to the dorm, that she made herself vulnerable by being drunk, and how they teach girls to be careful and to have self respect, insinuating that being a girl and being drunk is losing respect for yourself, and gives other people an excuse to take advantage of you. Which it doesn't. What about teaching boys about consent? Or not to sexually assault or rape someone? Or just basic respect for women and their boundaries? In the films context, Nina shouldn't have had to place limits on how much she drank just so that 'nice guys', who people think are perfect, wouldn't take advantage of her intoxication. And this doesn't just go for the characters in the film, it goes for everyone. 

Dean Walker had no problem with blaming Nina for what happened to her and dismissing her enquiry, but when Cassie tells her that her daughter is in a dorm room with college boys, she suddenly panics and urges Cassie to tell her what room she's in. That's understandable, right? Her panic? Of course. But why did she not worry in this way when one of her students came to her about what had happened in confidence about what she had experienced on the college campus? This reflects how so often in society, or in politics, when a woman comes forward about their experience of sexual assault, there are always people who never believe them no matter, but will go to extreme lengths to think go excuses or ways to blame the woman. Cassie's methods of helping the women in this film realise the severity of sexual assault and rape are morally questionable, and there is definitely better ways of helping someone realise this, but nevertheless she is able to show how common victim blaming attitudes are institutionally and among social circles. 

The importance of victim blaming attitudes being shown in Promising Young Women, or film/TV in general, is that it can help show how prominent they are in society surrounding sexual assault and sexual harassment. This is shown once again when Cassie goes to meet Madison, a classmate from medical school, and when what happened to Nina is brought up, Madison exhibits a disgusting victim blaming attitude. Madison is also perpetuating the stereotype shown by Dean Walker, that a girl being drunk is justification for boys revolting actions towards her. Which it isn't. :

'I don’t know why you’re mad at me! It wasn’t just me who didn’t believe it! When you have a reputation for sleeping around then maybe people won’t believe you when you say something’s happened! I mean...it’s crying wolf'

'I don’t make the rules, ok? If you get that drunk things happen! Don’t get blackout hammered every night and then expect people to be on your side when you have sex with someone you didn’t want to!'

Similarly to the previous situation with Dean Walker, when Madison believes that something may have happened to her without her consent, she understandably panics and eventually gives to Cassie a phone, with concrete proof of what happened to Nina years earlier. Whilst there was definitely different ways Cassie could have helped Madison realise the impact of her attitude towards Nina's situation, it nevertheless does make Madison feel shame about her previous actions . Although, she never actually directly apologises to Cassie for her impact on what happened to Nina, suggesting that she maybe wasn't entirely apologetic about it all but rather wanted to reduce the guilt on her conscience. Portraying these victim blaming attitudes in women, as well as men, shows the misogyny that can also possess women and how they can also blame women for what happens to them. It shows how women can participate in a misogynistic, victim blaming culture just as much as men.

The 'nice guy' superiority complex

To me, there are two types of 'nice guys'. The actual nice guy, such as Peeta Mellark from The Hunger Games or Peter Parker from the Marvel universe; or the guy who thinks he's a nice guy and uses it as an advantage to get girls. The latter is shown continuously shown throughout Promising Young Woman, from Jerry in the first scene to the main perpetrator - Al Monroe. The first nightclub encounter we see is between Jerry and Cassie, where Jerry is the only boy out of the 3 stood together who doesn't say something derogatory towards Cassie, making him look a lot nicer and better than the others. The other 2, Paul and Jim, are heard making comments like:

'You know. They put themselves in danger, girls like that. If she’s not careful someone’s going to take advantage and then she’ll be the one in tears tomorrow morning'

'I’m sorry that is asking for it. You’d think you’d know better by her age, wouldn’t you? Where are her friends? Fucked off somewhere and left her lying around for anyone to pick up'

Contrasting to these comments, Jerry offers to take her home and seemingly cares about her wellbeing (spoiler: he doesn't). He eventually offers to take her home, offers her another drink, offers her a place to lie down, before trying to make sexual advances on her whilst she is practically unconscious. Later on, less so than Jerry, Neil is another example of a 'nice guy' using compliments in order to advance with a woman. He "constantly compliments" Cassie, trying to be nice but in reality just being incredibly backhanded and trying to mansplain the patriarchal system that oppresses woman:

'I just feel like women feel so much pressure to look a certain way now. All the extensions and fake eyelashes and porno nails. It’s like, guys don’t even like it, you know? It’s just a soul-sucking system designed to oppress women'  

Promising Young Woman's portrayal of the 'nice guy' is important, as it dispels the notion that sexual assaulters or rapists are always massive, scary men who creep around in the dark (which, don't get me wrong, there are those types of men). The film shows that friends, acquaintances, classmates, or random men in a club can also be these people who use their nicety as a way to harass women, and practically get away with it because they are 'nice', or successful, or clever. An interesting way this was shown was through the casting of the men in the film, from Christopher Mintz-Plasse to Sam Richardson. Actors who stereotypically play the charming, funny guy in films or shows were cast as these perpetrators, inciting shock in the audience when they see an actor who they love playing such a horrible character. When New Girl heartthrob Max Greenfield's character shows up, and dismisses Al Monroes actions as 'not his fault', it reflects on how compliant other people can be in these situations of assault and harassment, the same is shown when Ryan's involvement in what happened to Nina is revealed. This situation of by standing in situations of harassment, or discrimination, is far too common but in reality, it all contributes to rape culture and shouldn't go unnoticed. 

Part IV

! If you haven't seen the film but are still reading this, I strongly advise you turn off now as I will be massively spoiling the film !

To me, the last part of the film is one of the most interesting whilst simultaneously being the most disappointing. We see Cassie go to Al Monroe's bachelor party, and from then on it goes pretty much downhill. As Al refuses to admit his actions by using excuses like 'we were just kids' and 'she was into it', it shows his lack of remorse or guilt for what he did. This leads to him pathologizing Cassie for ultimately wanting to avenge her best friend. Before I talk about why this part disappointed me, there was a couple of lines that really stuck with me. Al Monroe says:

'I was affected too, you know? It’s every guy’s worst nightmare, getting accused like that.'

To which Cassie responds:

'Can you guess what every girl’s worst nightmare is?

Al Monroe is only bothered by how his own actions affected himself, and the damage those actions can cause on men themselves. Whereas Cassie's response about the reality of women shows the contrast in their characters personalities and attitudes towards the situation. 

If you've seen the film, you may be thinking 'But Al gets arrested! He will do time for his actions! How could that disappoint you?'. The main disappointment for me is that it doesn't explicitly show Al Monroe facing the repercussions of what he did to Nina, does he get arrested for being a rapist? Does he get arrested for murdering Cassie? Does he even receive a sentence? My impression of the ending is that he got arrested for the murder, rather than the rape. Whilst I could be wrong, it felt a bit haphazard. The ending is open to interpretation, and allows viewers to form their own opinion on it, but it felt like it left Cassie's story almost unfinished. It felt like it was further perpetuating the trope of someone having to die in order for justice to be served. Cassie goes through so much to cope with the trauma of losing Nina, amongst other things, only to die before getting her rightful justice for Nina and not only making Al Monroe realise the severity of what he did, but all of his friends for allowing it to happen. An interesting ending would have been if Cassie survived, Al Monroe and his friends were correctly sentenced, but Cassie still can't find the strength to move on. From this, it could show her continuing grief for Nina even after getting closure for what happened. This would've also showed how difficult it can be to move on from the death of a loved one, that it doesn't suddenly disappear or go away. 

Part IV does, however, show Cassie's intelligence. Her pre-planned text messages to Ryan and Jordan Green clearly illustrate how she had already thought through what might happen to her at the hands of Al Monroe and all of his friends, how she knew there was the risk of something fatal happening. This intelligence is what does help the police turn up at the cabin where the bachelor party is. However, this seems like one of the only redeemable things in the part IV. 

Finally,

As a conclusion, Promising Young Woman is an interesting film which can spark interesting dialogue. It combats topics that often feel so taboo in mainstream Hollywood, such as sexual assault or rape, in unusual ways. In an industry that so commonly allows men with multiple allegations against them to still have a platform and book jobs, having a film discuss rape culture in such a head on way is important, or at least it feels so to me. From the colour palettes to the music choices to the victim blaming attitudes, there are things to like about this film and there are also things to dislike. It's not a film for everyone, and should definitely be watched with caution due to the common mentions of assault, harassment and rape, but it feels like a film that has numerous messages to take away from it, especially the impact of victim blaming attitudes and not believing people when they come forward about such topics. 

I hope this has been an interesting analysis of Promising Young Woman, as I wanted to focus on more of the themes portrayed/discussed in the film. As always, please feel free to leave any comments with further thoughts about this film! Reading other peoples interpretations or theories or takes is definitely something I've enjoyed after watching it, and they are so many, which I love. Until next time!

More films directed by women :

Booksmart (2019)

Director : Olivia Wilde

Lady Bird (2017)

Director : Greta Gerwig

Detroit (2017)

Director : Kathryn Bigelow

One Night in Miami (2020)

Director : Regina King

Nomadland (2020)

Director : Chloe Zhao