Hulu’s “Not Okay” — Is It Real?
And if it was, what does it say about society?
“CONTENT WARNING: This film contains flashing lights, themes of trauma and an unlikable female protagonist. Viewer discretion advised.”
Hulu released its satirical new film titled “Not Okay” and yes, that is a real content warning that was put at the beginning of the film. “An unlikeable female protagonist” is not typically the warning you’d see but it was surely appreciated because god damn, she was unlikeable.
The film follows the misguided aspiring writer, Danni Sanders, who is played by Zoey Deutch. Danni is a lonely young woman who is desperate to become an influencer. After meeting a famous influencer with the username @weedboiiiCollin (insert eye roll here) played by Dylan O’Brien, she lies to him about leaving to go to Paris for a writer's retreat to gain his attention. And his follow on Instagram.
As Danni frantically takes and edits photos at home to make it seem like she is in France, tragedy strikes as the news of a string of terrorists attacks occurs at various landmarks in Paris. Landmarks she posted about minutes before the attacks. Instead of coming clean about her lie, she is so tempted by the attention and sympathy gained from her peers (and the stoner boy) that she continues to pretend that she was in Paris and therefore a survivor of the attacks. Yeah… yikes.
The film can be described in one word, meta. “Not Okay” has become a viral sensation for its dark comedic messages about influencer culture. The film even features real world influencers from social media. Influencers in a film commenting on influencers. Woah. But the most meta aspect of all is the internet's reaction to the film. Internet users voiced their take on influencer culture, yet influencers wouldn’t have a platform without, well, internet users. That’s the irony in it all. But one question that seems to be on people's mind is “could something like this actually happen?”
Is “Not Okay” Real or Based on a True Story?
In short, no. But it might as well be real.
4.62 billion people are now using social media as of recently. And to see people that were once your average Joe gain fame, fortune and fans from social media, it can drive people to wish the same fate for themselves. That is the exact trap that the main character, Danni, falls into. She wishes so badly to be noticed and have people talk about her that she didn’t care what it was for. Some influencers purposely try and get a rise out of people to gain internet attention, so it doesn’t seem too far-fetched that something like this could actually happen. Yes, what she did was f**ked up, period. But, is all the blame on her?
What Does “Not Okay” Say About Us as a Society/Internet Users?
It can be easy to feel sad about your real life when you are constantly fed information and images of other people’s so-called “perfect lives.” Influencer culture can be best described as a clown.
To make sense of this analogy, picture a clown with all its makeup and goofy outfits. The clown goes to parties all dressed up with its happiest face on and ready for all the photo ops. The party goers think of this clown as a fun and a great time when in reality, it is all a show. That clown will clock out, take off its make-up and most likely eat take out food in sweatpants on the couch like the rest of us. Just like influencer culture, it isn’t really real. And to think it’s real is where influencer culture drives us apart from each other and ourselves.
Even in the film, the stoner influencer character is putting on an accent and is called out on it when another character says, “Collin, you’re from Maine,” and poof, the accent fades away.
The point to be made is that social media and influencers can make us feel like we are not living up to our fullest potential and we forget that what we see isn't always the truth. Influencer culture can make us feel lonely and depressed about ourselves. So much so, that we do things we otherwise wouldn’t have in order to feel seen and accepted in today’s distorted reality.
This film isn’t saying that influencers suck and everyone should delete social media, but it is definitely a cautionary tale about the imaginary world some of us get stuck in.
Did you see “Not Okay?” Tweet us and let us know your take @PulltabSports
