Ruth Crabb – Google

Before the opening credits ended, I thought Renée Zellwegger should get the Oscar. I've read some reviews that say that this film focuses on the tragedy of Judy Garland's life rather than her resilience; to me it depicts the competing demands on all women who have children and a career, not to mention the desire to know that somebody genuinely loves and cares for you for who you actually are and has your welfare at heart. Another article actually talked about Judy Garland's CHOICE to lead a life that wasn't normal: how can anyone think she made a free choice in her early life when she was controlled by her mother and the studio? Much of her erratic behaviour is a symptom of the control exerted over her, her attempts to escape that control and possibly the result of being controlled too by the drugs given to her by those vested in their own interests rather than her welfare: the chances of her overcoming addiction later in life were next to zero. Her suicide attempts were also ways to escape a life not of her own choosing and a way out of desperation; resilient, definitely: was it a choice to be? Questionable. I was going to write something about anyone who isn't a straight, white, able-bodied, cis-gendered, affluent male being able to identify with trying to have agency and authenticity in a world not designed for them, but don't want to take away from the focus on what women still endure today.

I wonder if it was a male teacher and female student if either character would be portrayed in the same way? For example, would we ever see a male teacher asking someone to hit them? What are the statistics - if there are any - on the numbers of male teachers having sexual interactions with students and the numbers of female teachers having sexual interactions with students? Of course taboos must be tackled and it isn't only men who overstep boundaries, but is society more judgemental of women who transgress? If more male than female teachers have sexual interactions with their students, this programme is not representative of what's actually happening. How many female students have had their lives ruined without it ever being depicted in the way Eric's experience is in this programme? Does society acknowledge the impact on female students and hold male teachers to account in the same way? Whether a perpetrator is male or female and the victim is male or female, sympathy for the victim and accountability for the perpetrator should be the same.

Firstly, I am not a trans girl or woman. After watching this film, I thought it was a sympathetic portrayal of a person in a difficult, if not impossible, situation. Many girls and women of colour have experienced size and shape discrimination in the field of ballet and any girl would be subject to intense scrutiny. Many cis girls have not been able to avoid internalising that scrutiny, which a lot of teenagers put themselves through when they are neither ballet dancers nor trans. My interpretation is that the demands to be a female ballet dancer conflict with the need to maintain a healthy body in order for surgery to go ahead. From a psychological perspective, putting that much pressure on your body has a psychological impact, as well as being a form of self harm in itself. Those with knowledge of anorexia will know that thought patterns become distorted, so it's not too much of a stretch to the worst act of self harm in this film, which seemed to me to be born out of desperation. To find out after seeing the film that it is in collaboration with the real life person whose emotional life it portrays, begs the question of whether a(nother) trans voice is being criticised and unfortunately some of the loudest voices seem to be those in the trans community.

Do the people who made these films have a problem with their mothers? Poppy's dad is in the first film - prince gristle's too - but neither of their mum's and the same with barb in the second film. When a lot of old fairytales were written, there was a high rate of maternal mortality; fortunately, that is no longer the case (at least in first world countries): are the writers misogynistic? Is this also the reason DJ suki has disappeared? Surely she is the perfect character for the second film? Satin and Chenille are worthy of a higher profile too, not just the two minor male characters who get their own storylines in the second film. Thirdly the attitude to disco is troubling because it was where people of colour, gay and female partygoers found respite from the white, straight, male dominated world - do the producers of the film not know about the attitude of rednecks towards disco? They need to learn their history and decide whether they want to perpetuate what were outdated opinions, although with the current president, maybe they're bang on trend, unfortunately ..... Footnote: Lady Glittersparkles is classic disco - is that why she doesn't appear in the second film - neither as Bridget nor her truly fabulous alter ego?

Interesting visuals but totally amoral. Demonstrates very clearly that our desire to have children is purely selfish. Any child subjected to the behaviour of these people would be psychologically damaged, let alone a child that had already experienced psychological trauma inflicted by the same people, if not also prior to having the misfortune to come into contact with them. And would there really be no consequences to taking a child out of the school? Ok it's a film, so maybe the female lead was that alluring, but that none of the characters would come out from under her spell and get themselves and any children as far away from her as possible is beyond belief.

I was looking forward to seeing this film (on tv) although a friend had said that it wasn't as good as he thought it would be. Firstly, let me say that I am a liberal white woman. From the start, I felt that the tone was slightly off and I wasn't sure what the film was trying to be. If it is supposed to be a satire, it falls short. The advantage of the comedic elements is that they make the footage at the end more impactful, while at the same time, that footage undermines the attempts to ridicule the type of characters responsible for the atrocities committed in real life. If the real life footage of events at Charlottesville hadn't been added on at the end afterwards (as some articles say that it was) this film would fail altogether. It left me wanting to watch 'In the Heat of the Night ' again.

I applaud this film for having a woman as the protagonist and also for the narrative being her survival and evolution instead of the tragedy of her daughter's disappearance defining every part of her life and the film itself. (The irony that the American Woman is actually a British actress notwithstanding) Sienna Miller gives an outstanding performance that will hopefully lead to more roles of similar calibre, although of course that depends on scripts being written and made into films that have women in the lead role and which depict women's experiences and perspectives.