Best read as a continuation of; https://watchitdie.blogspot.com/2025/04/lets-all-go-to-movies-pt6.html
The Substance (2024): This tells the story of Elisabeth Sparkles, played by Demi Moore. Once a popular Hollywood actress as she's aged Elisabeth Sparkles has been reduced to being an Aerobics instructor on Daytime TV. When she reaches her 50th birthday Elisabeth Sparkles is fired from even her Daytime TV show. She is then introduced to a mysterious blackmarket drug known only as; "The Substance."
After injecting herself with the drug Elisabeth Sparkles, essentially, gives birth to a younger version of herself known as; "Sue" and played by Margaret Qualley. Sue then goes on to replace Elisabeth Sparkles on the Daytime TV show, essentially getting Elisabeth Sparkles her job back. However Elisabeth Sparkles and Sue cannot exist in the World at the same time. They need to alternate every seven days with one body remaining unconscious for that week. Elisabeth Sparkles much prefers her younger, popular, Sue body so she stops alternating every seven days. After three months this causes both bodies to deteriorate.
The Substance is a movie that explores women aging in the Entertainment Industry. How their careers were seen to be coming to an end by the time they turn 40 years old and are certainly over by the time they're 50. The mysterious blackmarket drug serves as a metaphor for all of the anti-aging cosmetic treatments that women in the Entertainment Industry will try to keep themselves looking young and in work. Botox, Collagen, Hyaluronic Acid, Peptides, Salmon sperm facials. The list seems to be endless and ever growing with a hot new fad seeming to emerge every day.
Although strictly speaking a weight-loss rather than an anti-aging treatment the injectable nature of the mysterious substance seems to particularly reference the current fashion for Semaglutide (Ozempic). Weight being another example of how women in the Entertainment Industry are judged on their looks. Back in the 1970's and 1980's, prior to the invention of weight-loss drugs, women were expected to control their weight with rigorious Aerobic exercise routines. Often being commanded by TV presenters such as Jane Fonda, Olivia Newton-John and Richard Simmons.
The movie almost seems like a call for women to reject all of these substances and fads. Making the argument that the only substance actresses should need is the substance of their character; their talent, their skill. Assuring us that true talent will win out despite the Entertainment Industry's misogynistic and ageist attitudes towards women.
The Substance is far from the only movie to explore the Entertainment Industry's attitude towards aging women during this year's Awards Season.
In "Challengers" (2024) Zendaya plays two versions of her character Tashi Duncan. In the movie's present day Tashi Duncan is around 40 years old, yet was being played by the 27 year old Zendaya. This is a common practice in the Movie Industry with characters of women in their 40's and 50's being played by female actors in their 20's and 30's. Sometimes they're even playing the mothers of male actors who are also in their 20's and 30's. However in the flashback sequences of Challengers Zendaya also plays a version of Tashi Duncan who is around 18 years old. This is also a common practice in the Entertaiment Industry; actors of both genders in their 20's playing teenagers. Something Zendaya herself is famous for from her role in the TV show; "Euphoria" (2019-Present).
Challengers seems to be asking the Entertainment Industry what is the mysterious point where it is no longer acceptable for actresses to play characters younger than they are and have to switch to playing characters which are much older than they are? The answer seems to be when they turn 18 and become adults in terms of labour laws and their ability to consent to nude and sex scenes.
In "The Brutalist" (2024) Raffey Cassidy plays Zsófia Tóth. She also plays Zsófia Tóth's own, unnamed, daughter. Essentially giving birth to herself. Raffey Cassidy also worked with The Brutalist director Brady Corbet on; "Vox Lux" (2018) in which she also gave birth to herself. Playing Celeste Montgomery and then Celeste's daughter Albertine Montgomery. Both The Brutalist and Vox Lux involve substantial time jumps. So while Raffey Cassidy plays her own daughter she is doing so at the age the mother had been and that Raffey Cassidy herself is. However it does touch on how actresses are given roles so much older than they are they sometimes find themselves playing the mothers of actors who are pretty much their own age.
Stacy Martin worked with Brady Corbet and Raffey Cassidy on both The Brutalist and Vox Lux. A big theme of this year's Awards Season is how her career has been impacted by the very sexually explicit; "Nymphomaniac" (2013).
I think that Stacy Martin was around 22 years old when she made Nymphomaniac. However she plays the character Joe through a range of ages, from a young looking 15 through to 35. When Charlotte Gainsbourg takes over the character of Joe at 35 it's noticeable how much older the character suddenly appears. Despite Charlotte Gainsbourg only being around 42 years old. Only 7 years older than the character but almost twice the age of the actress who'd played the character in the previous shot. Despite a time jump significant enough for Raffey Cassidy to play her own daughter in Vox Lux Stacy Martin plays Eleanor Montgomery throughout. Apart from drawing everyone's attention to Stacy Martin's ability as an actor this also touches on how far you can go and how far you should go in terms of getting, particularly, actresses to play roles older and younger than themselves.
While many aging actresses must think that the Movie Industry still has a long way to go it really has improved in the last 20 years or so. It used to be that actresses would literally just disappear when they turned 40. Now it is common to see actresses not only continuing to work but also having successful careers into their 50's and 60's. Of the Best Actress Oscar winners of the past 15 years nine of them have been over 40. Making that the normal, with younger actresses like Mikey Madison, Emma Stone and Jennifer Lawrence the exception, rather than the rule.
Obviously it would be nice if that change was simply the result of the people who make up the Movie Industry undergoing personal growth and becoming better people. However I think that much maligned Social Media and the Internet in general has been a significant driver of this change. It used to that once an actress hit 40 no studio would cast them in a movie. With them not being cast in any movies no TV talkshows would book them as guests, no newspapers and magazines would bother interview them. Now actresses are able to communicate with their community of fans via Social Media without having to go through the gatekeepers of traditional media.
As a result they don't disappear, even if they're not working. Being able to show studios that they still have large fanbases who want to see them in movies helps actresses to convince studios to put them in movies. Demi Moore's fanbase has been particularly vocal on Social Media during this Awards Season. Keen to see the 62 year old win her first Oscar for playing the 50 year old Elisabeth Sparkles.
As, predominately, a visual medium the Entertainment Industry is particularly harsh of women as they age. As is the Fashion Industry. However the issues that are acute within those industries also affect women in all walks of life. So rather than just looking at physical appearance The Substance also addresses other challenges that women face.
In the workplace one uniquely Female challenge is Motherhood. At what would be considered the peak of a man's career women have to take a break of up to a couple of years in order to give birth and raise their children at a time when they need constant care. Demi Moore herself took a similar career break at the age of 35 to raise her daughters between 1998 and 2007. Her nomination at The Oscars 2025 could be seen has her career finally overcoming that break to catch up with her Male contemporaries in the; "Brat Pack" of 1980's. Sean Penn received his first Oscar nomination in 1996 and his first win in 2004.
In The Substance Elisabeth Sparkles, essentially, gives birth to Sue. While they are supposed to be the same mind spilt between two bodies Elisabeth Sparkles and Sue think of themselves as two different people. They rapidly come to hate each other, fighting constantly. Something which is, no doubt, familiar to every mother of a teenage daughter. Or anyone who has ever been a teenage daughter.
In an interesting piece of casting Margaret Qualley is something of a Nepo Baby. Her actual mother is Andie MacDowell, one of Demi Moore's Brat Pack contemporaries. So a lot of the causes of conflicts between Elisabeth Sparkles and Sue represent the sort of Bourgeois rich people problems specific to the Hollywood elite and their Nepo Baby offspring. Things like excess illegal drug use, partying and casual sex.
At around 17:10 on 28/4/25 (UK date) it's highly unlikely I'll be able to pick this up tomorrow.
Edited at around 16:50 on 1/5/25 (UK date) to tidy all of the above and copy & paste;
I'm not part of the Bourgeoisie. I'm not even part of the Proletariat. However if you are a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences (AMPAS), the Hollywood elite, watching the movie in your private cinema with your dreadful Nepo Babies. Then I think you're likely to find The Substance to be an intense Psychological Horror. The sort of movie that's constantly seeking out your private, inner-self and trying to stab you in it, repeatedly.
Of course it is not just the Entertainment Industry nor wider society that starts to lose interest woman by the time they reach 40 or 50 years old. It is also Biology, their own bodies.
Women's reproductive cell is the Ovum or; "Egg." Each woman is born with all the Ovum she will ever have. At the onset of puberty, normally around 13 years old, woman experience the; "Menarche." The Ovaries start releasing one of these Ovum a month into the women's Uterus. If the Ovum is not fertilised by a man's reproductive cell, the Sperm, then it is expelled from the woman's Uterus via the Vaginal Canal. The release of each Ovum to the Uterus is accompanied by the release of the Hormone Oestrogen. The release of each Ovum from the Uterus is accompanied by the release of the Hormone Progesterone.
Between the ages of 40 and 50 years old most women have expelled all of the Ovum they have. So this monthly cycle comes to an end. The; "Menopause." The end of the release of Oestrogen has a massive impact on many aspects of women's bodies. One of the most immediate is that the Vaginal Canal stops producing lubrication, making it easier for it to be penetrated during sex; "Vaginal Dryness." The tissue of the Vaginal Canal also weakens, shrinking the size of the Vagina; "Vaginal Atrophy." It is almost as if at the age of 40-50 the doors to a woman's primary sexual organ, literally, slam shut.
The drop in Oestrogen also causes women's bones to lose density and weaken (Osteoporosis), making them easier to break. Oesterogen is essential for the production of Collagen so the drop in Oestrogen also causes a loss of Collagen which weakens the soft-tissues which protect the ends of bones within joints. Making them more susceptible to joint pain (Osteoarthritis). A lack of Collagen also causes hair to thin and skin to loosen and wrinkle. The drop in Oestrogen also affects the way that the body stores fat. Typically leading to more of it to build up in places like the belly and less of it to build up in places like the Breasts.
The monthly process of each Ovum itself is rarely regular and uniform. So the Menopause is not a single event, like flicking a switch on and off. Instead it can take around a decade.
During this process around the Menopause - the; "Perimenopause" - Oestrogen levels spike and vary wildly. This can have a range of other impacts on women's bodies, alongside the effects of Menopause. These Perimenopause impacts are primarily related to the way the body regulates the flow of blood though vessels (Vasomotor Function). They include things like the inability to regulate body temperature (Hot Flashes), flushed skin, dizziness, heart palpitations and a loss of energy. Although the relationship between Perimenopause, Emotion and Cognition is not well understood it has been linked with impacts such as Depression and extremely mild Dementia (Brain Fog). They though could just be the effects of other impacts, such as not being able to sleep through the night due to Hot Flashes for example.
The Menses, the Perimenopause and the Menopause itself are all normal bodily functions. Rather like how breathing, eating and your hair growing are all normal bodily functions. However there are some bodily functions which make us more squeamish than others. Particularly sticky, smelly ones like going to the bathroom. People often use humour to distract themselves from those uncomfortable, squeamish feelings. So toilet humour is funny, wherever you go in the World.
Particularly amongst men the squeamishness around the Menses and associated bodily functions is particularly high. Something which is reflected by the shocking horror of all the blood, gore and bodily fluids in The Substance.
Modern science is perfectly capable of synthesising chemicals which replicate naturally occurring Hormones; Synthetic Hormones. So the impacts of Menopause and Perimenopause can be mitigated through the use of Synthetic Hormones, typically Oestrogen and Progesterone. A similar combination of Synthetic Hormones can also be used to regulate the Menses and act against Conception (Contraception). Oestrogen to trigger the release of the Ovum to the Uterus then Progesterone to expel the Ovum from the Uterus before it has a chance to meet a Sperm and become fertilised.
A similar type of Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) is also used in Feminising Gender-Confirmation Treatment; changing a Transgender person's outwards appearance from Male to Female. However there are a number of differences. The most important being the dosage used. In Gender Confirmation Treatment much higher doses of Synthetic Hormones are used.
The mix is also a little different. Sometimes Testosterone is used to mitigate the impacts of Menopause and Perimenopause, primarily to counter a drop in sex drive. Progesterone actually produces Dihydrotestosterone (DHT) which I'm tempted to describe as; "Testosterone on Steroids." Except that Oestrogen, Progesterone, Testosterone and DHT are all Steroids. In Feminising Gender-Confirmation Treatment much of the Synthetic Hormone Therapy revolves around DHT Inhibitors; chemicals which either prevent DHT from being produced in the first place or stop it having an effect.
It has long been an argument by women that even a Transgender person who has completed full Feminising Gender-Confirmation Treatment still cannot be considered a woman. Due to them lacking the experience of being a woman. The experiences of Gender-Based Violence and Menstruation being the most often cited. Both which sound like a massive nuisance to me, probably the scariest man most of you will ever meet. By the Menstruation benchmark there is certainly an argument that a Transgender person can be a post-Menopausal woman.
Over the years I think I've got to know around half a dozen Transgender people who completed full Feminising Gender-Conformation treatment. Which, when you consider how rare Transgenderism actually is, is a pretty massive sample size. However these were people I just knew socially rather than was interviewing for a research project. I still got the general impression that they'd all spent their entire working lives saving up in order to afford Feminising Gender-Confirmation Treatment. In order to allow them to retire as non-sexual, post-Menopausal women.
The caveat being that on that Grand, Operatic, Crayola - or if you're so bad at science you decided to become a Biologist instead; "Micro" - scale a Transgender person who has fully completed Gender-Confirmation Treatment will still be tied to their original Biology.
One of the most commonly used DHT Inhibitors has the generic name; "Finasteride." In very small doses Finasteride is sold as part of a snake-oil solution under brand-names such as; "Propeica" and; "Proscar" to convince men it combats hair loss. However I think it's just their shrinking genitals which convince them their pubic hair is growing longer. In much higher doses Finasteride is used to treat enlarged Prostates and cause Prostate Cancer, if you're that way inclined. Due to them not having much DHT to inhibit at those doses Finasteride causes Liver Failure in women. So they have to wear latex gloves, even while handling film-coated tablets. Meaning that if Elliot Page were to ever to end up as a minimum-wage care worker. That's something he would have to inform his employer about.
Menstruation and its phases; Arche, Pause, Peri-Pause are all normal bodily functions. However many of the impacts of, particularly, Menopause, can result in abnormal bodily functions. The sort of thing you want treated as a Medical Problem. The fractured and dislocated hips and crumbled spines associated with Osteoporosis are definitely the sort of things you want to have treated by a Doctor who actually knows what they're doing. So there is this constant conflict between whether Menopause and Perimenopause should be treated as a Medical Problem or just accepted as part of life. I don't think any of us enjoy having to wipe our own asses, yet we don't call an ambulance every time.
The term; "Menopause" was actually coined by the French Medical Student Charles-Pierre Louis de Gardanne in Paris in 1812. He and his contemporaries observed that although they experienced a permanent pause to their Menses Menopause wasn't a disorder or disease which affected women of the Peasant class; the Proletariat. It only affected rich women; the Bourgeois. Menopause is, literally, a Bourgeois affliction or; "Bougie Disease." A similar divide was found in Japan; Menopause is a Luxury Disease which only affects rich women.
One possible explanation being that Bourgeois Trophy Wives are seen merely as; "Arts Décroatifs" where working women have a purpose beyond being pretty little sex toys. So are likely to suffer fewer adverse Emotional impacts to the gates slamming shut on their sexual organs. In an age before widespread contraception it was probably something to be welcomed by women who couldn't afford a; "Nanny" - etymologically an older woman who cares for her children's children.
So in The Substances the mysterious blackmarket drug also serves as a metaphor for all the lotions & potions, Vaginal Lubricants, Vaginal Balms, HRT's and magical healing crystals that can be used to alleviate the impacts of Menopause and Perimenopause.
It is the Menopause which causes the drop in Oestrogen which causes the loss of Collagen which causes saggy skin and wrinkles. So, technically, all the anti-aging skin-creams are actually treatments to alleviate the impacts of Menopause. Definitely not the sort of thing that should be used Premenarche. Not that anything that can be found between the crystals and the snake-oil on a lifestyle guru's Ecommerce platform is going to have much effect, negative or otherwise.
At around 17:20 on 1/5/25 (UK date) I am going to have to pause this now, in order to address a different phase in my life. I hope this pause will last less than a month.
Edited at around 15:15 on 23/6/25 (UK date) to refresh myself on the above and copy & paste;
This issue of whether Perimenopausal women should be reduced to only being thought of as a Medical Problem doesn't just apply to the Menopause. It runs through the medical profession and wider society. I'm sure we can all still, just about, remember 2020. When we entirely reduced our societies to this clade and that strain, PCR and lateral flow tests. Just as I'm sure we all know that the lockdowns did not work. The vaccines did not work. Covid-19 is still very much with us. The only thing that's changed is our attitude. The people who spent their lives dreaming of the day there's a deadly Pandemic have finally got it out of their systems and we're back to accepting Covid as just a part of life. Just as we did back in 2019.
If we were to apply that reductionist attitude to Selena Gomez then we wouldn't be able to talk about her billion dollar Rare Beauty cosmetics company, the Rare Impact Fund Mental Health charity it supports. The acting awards she won for her role in; "Emilia Perez" (2024), the most nominated movie at The Oscars 2025 or her TV show; "The Only Murders in the Building" (2021-Present). We wouldn't be able to talk about Selena Gomez's successful music career that she seems able to dip in and out of as she pleases. We'd only be able to consider Selena Gomez as Bipolar Disorder and a Kidney Transplant as the result of Lupus. Likewise we wouldn't be able to talk about Elliot Page in terms of his acting career and accolades. Only the fact that he is Transgender makes him susceptible to Liver Failure from contact with DHT inhibitors.
If you reduce Transgenderism in that way then you have to talk about it in terms of being a Birth Defect. Interestingly during pregnancy the Female Hormone Progesterone transforms into the Male Hormone DHT. It is this very powerful form of the Male Hormone Testosterone which drives the formation of Male genitalia in foetuses. So a lack of either Progesterone or DHT could be what causes a foetus which has Male DNA to develop into a child which has Female genitalia. The type of Transgender that Elliot Page seems to be. Likewise too much Progesterone or DHT could be what causes a foetus with Female DNA to develop into a child with Male genitalia.
The 2025 Awards Season has looked extensively at the Totalitarian Social Engineering central to The Brutalist school of Urban Planning, likening it to traditional computing. Along with its opposite, the Libertarian Social Ecology of the likes of Murray Bookchin. Something which actually contributed to the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) computing.
Murray Bookchin's first book was; "Our Synthetic Environment" (1962) which was originally published under the pen-name; "Lewis Herber." This looked at how environmental pollutants affect the Human Endocrine System - the system which governs Hormones like Oestrogen, Progesterone, Testosterone and DHT. How those pollutants' effects on the Endocrine System can cause Cancers and Birth Defects. Later that year Rachel Carson published; "Silent Spring" which took a less politically radical look at the same issue.
Combined these books had such a massive impact on the public consciousness that they totally changed the way that the public thought about pollution and how their environment affects their lives. Leading to the removal of Dioxins from most consumer products and a total ban on the Pesticide DHT. They ushered the birth of the Environmental Movement which continues to be common place in discussions over politics and the Social Contract across the globe.
Back in early January, around the start of The 2025 Awards Season the US Congress received an official report showing that 1 in 1000 American adolescents are undergoing Hormone based Gender-Confirmation treatment for Transgenderism. Which works out as 1 child in every High School in America. At the same time only 1 in 10,000 American adolescents are being treated for Cancer.
While it's far from the only way to think about it Transgenderism can certainly be considered as a Birth Defect, likely caused by environmental factors affecting the Endocrine system. When Murray Bookchin and Rachael Carson showed that environmental factors affecting the Endocrine system were causing childhood Cancers there was a first national, then international outrage. Huge public demand insisting that the pollutants be banned. We are now being asked to believe that Transgenderism is ten times more common in the US than Cancer. Yet rather than there being national outrage and demands that the pollutants causing it be found and banned people actually seem to be celebrating it.
One likely explanation is that no-one really believes that the majority of people claiming to be Transgender are actually Transgender. They're just making it up for attention. Transgenderism is really significantly less common than Cancer in America. Rather than being the result of some pollutant the tiny handful of cases of Transgenderism are likely being caused by something going a bit wrong within the Endocrine system itself. Something as impossible to predict and guard against as the mother being annoyed by someone doing something small in some supermarket checkout queue. Causing the exactly the wrong level of a stress Hormone to be released at precisely the wrong moment during pregnancy.
If that's the case then America is facing another scandal. That one child in every US High School is being subjected to completely unnecessary, life-long and life-changing medical treatment. A national epidemic of Munchausen's Syndrome. Yet there's no mass outrage. Demands that the US government, America's Sovereign, protects America's children from these unethical, unscrupulous medical professionals who, no doubt, would perform Kidney Transplants on any child who wanted and was prepared to pay for one.
At around 16:00 on 23/6/25 (UK date) I'll pick this up on Wednesday, amateurish jump-scares permittting.
Edite at around 16:30 on 25/6/25 (UK date) to copy & paste;
Perhaps showing how the Entertainment Industry is changing for the better Demi Moore has worked pretty consistently since returning from her career break in 2007. In 2020 she appeared in the NBC/Peacock adaptation of; "Brave New World" based on the 1932 novel by Aldous Huxley. Playing "Linda," the mother of the gifted storyteller from the Savage Lands who was trying to be integrated into the futuristic, Socially Engineered Utopian city. As with George Orwell's later, 1949 novel; "1984" Brave New World is an attempted to warn about the Totalitarian Social Engineering that was inspired by; "Metropolis" (1927) and went onto inspire both Nazism and The Brutalist School of Urban Planning. In its visual style the 2020 adaptation of Brave New World borrows heavily from Metropolis.
The female lead in Brave New World (2020) is played by Jessica Brown Findlay who is probably best known for her role in the TV show; "Downton Abbey" (2010-2015). However people who only know Jessica Brown Findlay from Downton Abbey will probably be unaware that she's an actress who seems very comfortable with onscreen nudity.
In 2014 Jessica Brown Findlay had nude photos and videos of her stolen by hackers and leaked on the Internet. I cannot remember if this was part of the same massive leak of celebrity nudes that included Jennifer Lawrence as I didn't pay it much attention at the time. Although I remember reading it as a headline in a newspaper and flamboyantly turning the page without reading the story while thinking; "That seems like a waste of effort. Downton Abbey's the only thing I've seen her in where she's kept her clothes on!"
As I was watching Brave New World (2020) I increasingly came to regret not paying more attention to Jessica Brown Findlay's leaked nudes as it became obvious that they were a big subtext to the show. Part of wider discussion about the increasingly blurring of the line between actor and sex-worker then through hacks, leaks and Internet porn sites, now through AI. Along with how to minimise the negative impacts on the people who appear in nude and sex scenes. That big theme of The Oscars 2025, one which disproportionately affects women in the Entertainment Industry.
A particularly notable sex scene in Brave New World (2020) involves Hannah John-Kamen playing "Wilhelmina - "Helm" - Watson." A character who, very deliberately, shares the same first name and initials as Richard Wagner's first wife. The sex scene is notable for the way in which it doesn't show Hannah John-Kamen's nipples, in a show which features a lot of nipples, nude and simulated sex scenes.
If you've seen really any US network TV show regulated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) then you'll know how it is possible to do even very graphic sex scenes without showing nipples in such a fluid and natural way you don't even notice. This sex scene from Brave New World (2020) was different from that. It was as if a censor or the actress' agent had forced their way onto set and was holding a metal bar in place to stop the camera panning down to show nipples. It felt very unnatural and forced, really drawing attention to the fact that they weren't showing Hannah John-Kamen's nipples. All the while you're sitting there thinking; "The fact we can't see her nipples doesn't change the fact she's fully nude in a vast warehouse like room surrounded by a gang of, essentially, scaffolders!"
Margaret Qualley's previous work also touches on that big theme of actors as sex workers. Her breakthrough role came in the US TV show; "The Leftovers" (2014-2017) where she played; "Jill Garvey." In the first season her best friend was played by Emily Meade, a very sexually precious character who is constantly trying to seduce her best friend's middle-aged father into an inappropriate relationship. I can't remember if Emily Meade actually appeared nude in The Leftovers but not being regulated by the FCC it is certainly a show which has nude and sex scenes in it.
One particularly memorable nude scene involves Jasmin Savoy Brown's character and her group of female friends, who are all around the same age as Emily Meade's character, running fully nude through the woods. For reasons the show doesn't even begin to attempt to explain. The Leftovers being the sort of show that takes a great deal of pleasure in not explaining its many mysteries. The only explanation I can think of is that it was a reference to a similar scene in the 2013 movie; "How I Live Now."
How I Live Now revolves around the "Daisy Rybeck" character played by Saoirse Ronan. A teenager of about 17 or 18 years old Daisy is visiting Britain from America and falls in love with "Eddie" played by George Mackay. The two are then separated amid the aftermath of a Nuclear Terrorist Attack. The early part of the movie, before the attack, is almost all building towards a sex scene between Daisy and Eddie.
Aged just 13 Saoirse Ronan was nominated for Best Supporting Actress at The Oscars 2007 for her breakthrough role in; "Atonement" (2007). How I Live Now was really the cute 13 year old actress' first role since turning 18 and being able to appear in nude and sex scenes. So as the movie builds towards the inevitable sex scene you find yourself sitting there almost praying; "Please don't be creepy! Please don't be creepy! Please don't be creepy!" When the sex scene comes it is very tastefully done in a way that even the FCC would allow. It's just enough to establish the nature of Daisy and Eddie's relationship. Making it clear that they're more than just good friends, they're each other's all important first true love. Then later on in the movie there's a dream sequence in which Saoirse Ronan is running fully nude through the woods. It's the Horror movie using her full-frontal nudity as a jump-scare. Which has got to be a rather dubious thing to have said about yourself.
Following The Leftovers Emily Meade went on to have a rather central role another HBO TV show; "The Deuce" (2017-2019). Arguably The Deuce is a show about Urban Geography. It tells the story of the section of 42nd Street between Seventh Avenue and Eighth Avenue in New York City in the 1970/80's, all the characters who interact with that small piece of a city. Many of the characters interacting with The Deuce at that time are sex-workers, including Emily Meade's "Sarah/Lori Madison." So it includes many example of actors as sex-workers such as in; "Anora" (2024).
Initially the sex-workers are drug addicted street prostitutes. However some of them gradually also become Porn actors. First in movies shown in Porn Cinemas and then in movies released on newly invented VHS tapes which people can own and watch at home. What allows this journey into Porn to begin is the relaxation of New York State's Obscenity Laws. I can't remember the exact quote but a lawyer describes the change by saying something like; "The Courts are increasingly finding that New Yorkers don't have any morals to outrage!" Rather like how the German public didn't seem to have any morals left to outrage during The Weimar Republic, allowing it to become the gay capital of the World for a time.
Particularly for Emily Meade's character her Porn journey is driven by the rise of the new technology of VHS tapes. This sees her become a Porn Star, crossing into the mainstream appearing in music videos for rock bands in the 1980's. Margaret Qualley's spandex clad scenes in The Substance seem deliberately similar to her The Leftovers co-star Emily Meade's spandex clad scenes as a 1980's Porn Star in The Deuce.
At around 16:45 on 25/6/25 (UK date) I should be able to pick this up tomorrow.
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