As we mentioned in our review, we've supported such moments in the past, but here the camera lens plays the leering observer ogling Jocelyn's body, rather than her pleasure being the focal point. This is again the case with Jocelyn's two masturbation scenes. Here, the coordinator is essentially the villain for taking Jocelyn's bodily autonomy away from her when, in reality, he's safeguarding her. While trying to position Jocelyn as sex-positive star who has autonomy over her body, Levinson only seems to be criticising the protections put in place for women in entertainment. The coordinator is then framed as a "cockblocker" for pointing out that Jocelyn's rider doesn't permit her to go topless, at which point Jocelyn's manager locks him in a cupboard. In one toe-curling sequence from the first episode, Jocelyn's team argue with an intimacy coordinator over whether Jocelyn is allowed to expose her breasts during a photo shoot, after Jocelyn insists she wants to. While this might be what Levinson thinks he's created, in our opinion it's far from it. Instead of offering up substance and fully developed female characters who truly have something significant to say, we'd argue that what we get is the male gaze with a priority on eliciting a big response from audiences.Ĭonsider Jocelyn, a character who could have been utilised to comment on the historical exploitation of women in the entertainment industry. The Idol appears to revel in its own shock factor, which echoes a problem felt in Levinson's other work in Euphoria. In response to Rolling Stone's report, Levinson said: "I think we're about to have the biggest show of the summer." While we're not sure it's as pearl-clutching as the reviews made it out to be, it's certainly no feminist masterpiece.īut even with all the controversy surrounding The Idol, its creators haven't seemed concerned. It's not long before Joss strikes up a destructive relationship with Tesfaye's character Tedros, a rat-tailed self-help guru and cult leader who's every bit as creepy as he sounds.Īside from Rolling Stone's cutting exposé back in March – which noted reports (via Deadline) that the show's original director Amy Seimetz was replaced with Levinson after Tesfaye felt the show was leaning too much into the "female perspective" (oh, the horror?) – many critics who watched The Idol's first two episodes at Cannes Film Festival slammed it for its gratuitous nudity and explicit content, comparing it to that of "torture porn". The (apparently satirical) series follows Lily Rose-Depp's glossy pop star Jocelyn, who is attempting to get her career back on track after having a breakdown following the death of her mother. Even before the premiere of HBO's latest series The Idol, which was marketed as coming from "the sick and twisted and minds" of Euphoria creator Sam Levinson and Abel 'The Weeknd' Tesfaye (need we say more?), it was already making headlines.
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