nepo babies nepo babies nepo babies
writers are the worst people alive
There I was, having brunch at my favorite restaurant, blissful and not knowing what was going on online at all.ย
Then my cousin asked me my opinion on โthe Lena dramaโ I suppose because I am known amongst my family for being the Too Online one. I was so out of the loop that I asked if she was referring to Lena Waithe or Lena Dunham! Oh, how innocent I was.
She began to explain the situation and tried to show me the second TikTok โ the one where this Lena describes what a great writer she is โ and I pushed the phone away because though I attempt to hide in my old haggard shell, I still am allergic to writers who brag about themselves.
I played this off by yelling โWRITERS ARE SO ANNOYINGโ at the same time my cousin yelled โWHITE GAYS ARE SO ANNOYING!โ and you know, how true it all became. As a writer and a white gay, we are both qualified to insult our ilk. And this situation indeed proves how often oneโs own ilk deserves insulting.
I donโt even go to the movies anymore. I actually turned down an invitation to see this specific movie because COVID has made me lose my taste for going to the movie theater. Not for like, COVID and/or breathing reasons. For a much lamer reason, which is โฆ I canNOT sit through two hours in a dark room without being able to get up and dink around and/or fall asleep. I like playing on my phone! I like texting! Iโm sorry! Iโll just watch it at my house later if I feel like it.ย
So to quickly recap the โwhat happenedโ portion โ umm Bad Lena reviewed Bodies Bodies Bodies and made a comment about boobs โ that the film was an advertisement for cleavage. Then one of the stars of the film (Amandla Stenberg) direct messaged Lena: "Great review, maybe if you had gotten your eyes off my tits, you could have watched the movie."
Lena took this DM to TikTok and said, among other things, โโIโm posting it because I donโt want this person who has more social power than me to think that itโs fucking okay to do something like this.โ Online fight ensues, everyone on earth weighs in, etc etc.
So this is the type of thing I would have thought Iโd been able to squarely avoid, as a person who no longer watches current movies and thus doesnโt read movie reviews. (I do, however, read ten year old reviews of Homeland episodesโฆso if you have any favorites, please, do direct me towards them.) But no, this horror managed to penetrate my thick outer brain membrane, as everything in this cursed world of Being Online eventually does.ย
As many have rightly pointed out: if a star DMโed youโฆ..you simply go with it. I literally spend half my time on Instagram scheming to get Aaron Rodgers to notice my heart eye DMs. I have also criticized Aaron Rodgers online โฆ you see two things can be true at once. But I digress. Email me Aaron!!!
Amandla eventually replied: "It's quite surprising, but I guess it shouldn't be surprising at this point, the amount of commentary that I receive on my boobs is so extreme, and this has happened since I was a teenager. I can literally be wearing a T-shirt, and just because of the size of my boobs, there will be some sort of sexualization or commentary on my chest.โ As a person of โpeople are always looking at my boobsโ experience, I would be naturally inclined to side w/ Ms. Amandla regardless ofย everything else that went off the rails in this ordeal.
Of course, commenting on your review of a film based on the amount of cleaveage being shown is a juvenile criticism โ but that is indeed what you get with film criticism by a juvenile. Everyone knows that if youโre under 25 youโre still a teenager! If youโre smart, you use and abuse that power to be cute and dumb and fun for as long as possible. Definitely donโt waste that time getting people to take you seriously! Youโre fighting a losing battle and also just literally enjoy being a baby. DEFINITELY donโt waste that time pulling sneaky shit that people will rightfully call you out for.
I admire Amandla for laughing through her instagram story reply (yes, this went back and forth through several social media mediums, sorry for not recounting the entire play by play. But also not sorry. Lots of people have done that you can just google it.) All you can ever do is laugh! It is the only response!ย
โA nepotism hire masquerading as a film criticโ is such a good line! I am both tired and not tired of the rollout of nepotism babies on twitter dot com. Tired because itโs depressing, not tired because itโs funny.ย
If you have to ask yourself if your parent was culturally influential enough to help you with your position, the answer is so obviously yes. Itโs a privilege to have parents who READ the New York Times, let alone parents who write for it!ย (My parents DID read the New York Times but did NOT write for it, my mom is a freelance law editor and my dad was his momโs elder caretaker. Become a paying subscriber today! teehee)
Meanwhile, things got SOOO much worse when someone on TikTok asked LW how she got her niche position at the New York Times. Instead of the obvious and true answer (see above, dad editor, etc etc,) she replied
โNumber one and the most crucial thing is that I am a very talented writerโ Obsessing over oneโs own talent is, well, definitely #vintage23, but also indicative of someone who is engaging in any kind of art more for self validation than for either a living or the love of the game. People who have to make a living actually worry far less about talent than getting the work done accurately and on time. People who care about the art like to be challenged to be better rather than commenting on how they are already great.
โI have a point of view and I am good at expressing it,โ she continued. Okay honestly at this point I am starting to feel bad, itโs just so juvenile and embarrassing to talk about yourself like this! I canโt even keep making fun of it without feeling guilty! Iโll just say that LW said โthis sure is somethingโ twice within the first few lines of her Twitter tirade. A bit of a self-knock against her claim to be a great and talented writer if I do say so myself.
Something that I really love and find almost always plays out to be true is that people will tell on themselves, people will show their asses, people will absolutely ruin their own lives if you let them. I used to believe in revenge, and to be honest, revenge is still very good, but you donโt have to expend your own energy to do it. If someone deserves to be ruined they will make it happen all by themselves.ย
I wish this ended here, because then it would mostly be fun and silly. But alas, psychotic nepo babies always have a darker secret lurking under the surface.
On a serious note, it is really horrifying to see that anyone with a cultural platform has ever participated in this kind of behavior. It may not be surprising, given the context and the absolute air of BS rising from this supposed film critic, but that doesnโt make it any less upsetting. Being a terf and/or displaying any kind of terf-y behavior to try and dissuade people from their identities is evil and inexcusable.
Any behavior that is transmysoginist should be put on blast, full stop. One of the few good things the internet is for is to file away the disgusting things that supposedly self-righteous people do in their secret corners and posting it on a later date. Iโm glad that this user felt comfortable coming forward and sharing this.
In the end, if you actually read the NYT review, which I wish I hadnโt, the author criticizes the film in several ways that end up being apt descriptions of her own behavior: โBut this film is not special, and like its shallow characters, it is persistently unaware of its own inanity,โ could just as easily read, Lena Wilson is not special, and like her shallow opinions, she is persistently unaware of her own inanity.
Answers to this question welcome in the comments :)
this was a really good commentary/summary! i found all other ones like totes unbearable